The Greatest Courage
Farmer Giles of Ham is a little known tale from J.R.R. Tolkien. I chanced upon it while reading Tolkien’s Miscellany. The story is of how a farmer, Giles, of the village Ham conquers a dragon and wins half a kingdom. When that tale begins, he is a quintessential farmer: minds his farms, does not like his neighbors much when they come to borrow things, does not like to be owed, has a love-hate relationship with his dog. And one day, he pits himself against a dragon, Chrysophylax. Now you can call it fate, you may call it circumstance, you can call it chips falling where they shall or simply the craft of a great story teller. But against those odds, Farmer Giles of Ham defeated that dragon. Tolkien likes to cross the paths of his smallest pawn with the greatest antagonists. And he strikes gold when he makes Gandalf say this:
“Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps because I am afraid, and he gives me courage.”
This courage may be evolutionary: it could stem from being a cornered animal. A part of me agrees with this, but then again, a part of me disagrees. If that were true, everyone would be a knight having killed dragons when they roamed the land. This resilience comes, I think, from contention. How else, come to think of it, would the deers live in the same forest as the lions? Then again, it could be just that one person. Bilbo Baggins and Frodo and Sam, and Farmer Giles of Ham.
It was while I was reading this story, that I realized that I had read this story before. Not in the same form, not the same characters, but that plot resonated. Charankanya is a poem by Jhaverchand Meghani, a poet laureate of Gujarati, language spoken in Western India, where I come from. This poem tells a story of a 14 year old girl who fought with a lion to get her lamb back. Asiatic Lions are native to south Gujarat, where this poem is set. Charan is a tribe, and the conjugate word Charankanya literally translates to a girl of the Charan tribe. And while the semantics are different, and the styles are different and the ends are different, they resonate the fact that greatest courage stems from humble beginnings. Maybe, it is, as Terry Pratchett said (and I firmly believe that it always is):
“Sometimes glass glitters more than diamonds because it has more to prove.”
The Original Poem [Gujarati Script]
સાવજ ગરજે !
વનરાવનનો રાજા ગરજે!
ગીરકાંઠાનો કેસરી ગરજે!
ઐરાવતકુળનો અરિ ગરજે!
કડ્યપાતળિયો જોધ્ધો ગરજે!
મોં ફાડી માતેલો ગરજે!
જાણે કો જોગંદર ગરજે!
નાનો એવો સમદર ગરજે!
ક્યાં ક્યાં ગરજે?
બાવળના જાળામાં ગરજે!
ડુંગરના ગાળામાં ગરજે!
કણબીના ખેતરમાં ગરજે!
ગામ તણા પાદરમાં ગરજે!
નદીઓની ભેખડમાં ગરજે!
ગિરિઓની ગોહરમાં ગરજે!
ઊગમણો આથમણો ગરજે!
ઓરો ને આઘેરો ગરજે!
થર થર કાંપે !
વાડામાં વાછડલાં કાંપે!
કૂબામાં બાળકડાં કાંપે!
મધરાતે પંખીડાં કાંપે!
ઝાડતણાં પાંદડલાં કાંપે!
સૂતાં ને જાગંતાં કાંપે!
જડ ને ચેતન સૌ એ કાંપે!
આંખ ઝબૂકે !
કેવી એની આંખ ઝબૂકે !
વાદળમાંથી વીજ ઝબૂકે!
જોટે ઊગીબીજ ઝબૂકે!
જાણે બે અંગાર ઝબૂકે!
હીરાના શણગાર ઝબૂકે!
જોગંદરની ઝાળ ઝબૂકે!
વીર તણી ઝંઝાળ ઝબૂકે!
ટમટમતી બે જ્યોત ઝબૂકે!
સામે ઊભું મોત ઝબૂકે!
જડબાં ફાડે!
ડુંગર જાણે ડાચા ફાડે!
જોગી જાણે ગુફા ઉઘાડે!
જમરાજાનું દ્વાર ઉઘાડે!
પૃથ્વીનું પાતાળ ઉઘાડે!
બરછી સરખા દાંત બતાવે!
લસ! લસ! કરતી જીભ ઝુલાવે!
બહાદરઊઠે!
બડકંદાર બિરાદર ઊઠે!
ફરસી લેતો ચારણ ઊઠે!
ખડગ ખેંચતો આહીર ઊઠે!
બરછી ભાલે કાઠી ઊઠે!
ઘરઘરમાંથી માટી ઊઠે!
ગોબો હાથ રબારી ઊઠે!
સોટો લઇ ઘરનારી ઊઠે!
ગાય તણા રખવાળો ઊઠે!
દૂધમલા ગોવાળો ઊઠે!
મૂછે વળ દેનારા ઊઠે!
ખોંખારો ખાનારા ઊઠે!
માનું દૂધ પીનારા ઊઠે!
જાણે આભ મિનારા ઊઠે!
ઊભો રે’જે !
ત્રાડ પડી કે ઊભો રે’જે!
ગીરના કુત્તા ઊભો રે’જે!
કાયર દુત્તા ઊભો રે’જે!
પેટભરા ! તું ઊભો રે’જે!
ભૂખમરા ! તું ઊભો રે’જે!
ચોર-લૂંટારા ઊભો રે’જે!
ગા-ગોઝારા ઊભો રે’જે!
ચારણ — કન્યા !
ચૌદ વરસની ચારણ કન્યા!
ચૂંદડિયાળી ચારણ કન્યા!
શ્વેતસુંવાળી ચારણ-કન્યા!
બાળી ભોળી ચારણ-કન્યા!
લાલ હીંગોળી ચારણ-કન્યા!
ઝાડ ચડંતી ચારણ-કન્યા!
પહાડ ઘુમંતી ચારણ — કન્યા!
જોબનવંતી ચારણ-કન્યા!
આગ-ઝરંતી ચારણ-કન્યા!
નેસ-નિવાસી ચારણ-કન્યા!
જગદંબા-શી ચારણ-કન્યા!
ડાંગ ઉઠાવે ચારણ-કન્યા!
ત્રાડ ગજાવે ચારણ-કન્યા!
હાથ હિલોળી ચારણ-કન્યા!
પાછળ દોડી ચારણ-કન્યા!
ભયથી ભાગ્યો!
સિંહણ, તારો ભડવીર ભાગ્યો!
રણ મેલીને કાયર ભાગ્યો!
ડુંગરનો રમનારો ભાગ્યો!
હાથીનો હણનારો ભાગ્યો!
જોગીનાથ જટાળો ભાગ્યો!
મોટો વીર મૂછાળો ભાગ્યો!
નર થઇ તું નારીથી ભાગ્યો!
નાનકડી છોડીથી ભાગ્યો!
Transliteration
The Lion Roars!
The king of the jungle roars!
The kesri of Gorkaantha roars!
The scion of the line of Airavats roars!
The warrior of hell roars!
Opening his jaws wide, raging madly roars!
As if under a trance, roars!
As if a small ocean, roars!
Where all he roars?
From behind the thorny shrubs, he roars!
From valleys in between hills, he roars!
In the farms of Kanbi, he roars!
In the outskirts of village, he roars!
On the rocky beds of rivers, he roars!
In the caves of mountains, he roars!
At sunsets and sunrises, he roars!
At times near and far atimes, he roars!
Who-all shiver?
In the backyard, the cattle shiver!
At home, the children shiver!
Come midnight, the birds shiver!
The very leaves of trees shiver!
People, awake and asleep, shiver!
Animate and inanimate, all, shiver!
Eyes Aglow!
How his eyes glow!
Like a lightening from the cloud glows!
Like a far-off light glows!
Like embers burning glows!
Like ornaments of diamond glows!
Like the flame of the trance glows!
Like the valor of the brave glows!
Like two burning lamps glow!
Like death standing in front glows!
Bares his teeth!
Like mountains bares its flanks!
Like a thief opening secret caves!
Like opening Satan’s gateways!
Like opening hell’s doors!
Like a sword showing its sharp edge!
Swish! Swash! He swirls his tongue!
The Brave Rise!
The ones with strong bloodlines rises!
The cane carrying Charan rises!
The staff bearing Ahir rises!
The swords, spears, sticks rise!
From every home the earth rises!
The hard handed Rabari rises!
Carrying a rolling pin, a housewife rises!
The cows’ herdsman rises!
And the milkman rises!
The one who twirls his moustaches rises!
The one who coughs surrepitiously, rises!
Those who’ve drunk their mother’s milk, rise!
As if the minarets of skies, rise!
Wait there!
She roared, wait there!
You dog of Gir, wait there!
You slimy coward, wait there!
You Food stealer, wait there!
You hungry killer, wait there!
You robber-thief, wait there!
You killer of cows, wait there!
Charankanya!
Of fourteen years is she, is Charankanya!
Wears a stole, does Charankanya!
Beautiful is she, is Charankanya!
A young girl, is Charankanya!
Plump and red, is Charankanya!
Scales a tree, does Charankanya!
Roams around the hills, does Charankanya!
She is reaching adolescence, is Charankanya!
She is raining fire, is Charankanya!
She is residing on tethers, is Charankanya!
Like Jagdamba herself, is Charankanya!
Charankanya!
Lifts a staff, does Charankanya!
Lets out a roar, does Charankanya!
Swirls her hand, does Charankanya!
Runs after him, does Charankanya!
He ran afraid!
Lioness, your lion ran!
Leaving the battlefield, the coward ran!
The player of these hills, ran!
The slayer of elephants, ran!
The maned saint, ran!
The mustachioed brave warrior, ran!
Being a man, from a woman he ran!
From a little girl, he ran!
I would like to end on this one note. There is courage to be found and hope in small things and distant stars in the darkest of nights. There will always be a memory to conjure up a patronus charm.
