"The Charan was not the proverbial strife monger between rival clans adding fuel to the fire of fray on a point of honour; he was rather an agent of peace in the feud-torn land of the Rajputs. The typical Charan of Rajputana was fearless of speech, true to his word unto death, kindly and charitable to all, and genuinely devoted to his country's good and the welfare of the Kshatriyas particularly. The Charan, though as sensitive and proud as the Rajput, excelled the Rajput in humane virtues, moral courage and political morality. His weapon against the Rajput was only his moral force backed by superstition; namely, the threat to kill himself and thereby bring upon the obdurate Rajput the wrath of gods. The Charan was classed with "the cow and the Brahman," whose slaughter was forbidden to the Rajput. Next to the Rajput the Charan only enjoyed the privilege of giving sarna (protection) under his roof. When rival septs living in neighbourhood indulged in civil feuds, both sides would send their women and children to the houses of the Charans, which were a haven of refuge in a demilitarised zone as it were though within the striking distance of skirmishes. Thus the inviolability of the Charan's home saved the seed of the clan when its adults, were killed in insane feuds. A single determined Charan rushing in between the ranks of fighting warriors sometimes stopped blood-shed. If the exhortation of the well-wishing Charan went unheeded, he would kill himself with his katar in living faith that no Rajput would dare to cross the ban of Charan's blood. This was no fiction, but a long-established institution in the code of honour and morality barked by religious awe in that land of eternal vendetta."