Chaube of Mathura || Part 4 of 8

Not all contacts with Moghul emperors were, however, so peaceful and so profitable. The emperor Aurangzeb, it is said, once summoned two Chaubes, Ali Datt and Kulli Dart, to dig a grave. Rather than dig one grave they started digging grave after grave, and soon they would have reached Delhi. Aurangzeb heard of this and ordered their appearance before him; he asked what they were doing. Ali Dart and Kulli Dart saucily replied that they were preparing graves for the time of the emperor's own death. Frightened by this bad omen, the emperor dismissed them and ordered them to dig no more graves. Chaubes today delight in this version of the story because it so defiantly portrays their witty but courageous impertinence.

When recounting such stories, or better, when recounting their history as they see it, to themselves and others, Chaubes produce and reproduce among themselves masti, a culturally inherited emotional disposition that lends a constituent continuity, mythological depth, and historical anchoring to their behavior and belief about themselves, their emotional character, and their emotional experience. They were too busy to be concerned about Krishna's hunger; they were so saucy as to dig a grave for a living Muslim emperor; and they are so self-assertive, boisterous, and carefree as to be envied, if not feared, by other communities in Mathura. Chaubes epitomize the quintessence of Braj character, themastram; they arc ever outgoing, often boisterous, sometimes pushy, occasionally quarrelsome, and always delighted by an in-suiting joke or a playful tease.

Chaube of Mathura || Part 3 of 8

Other legends tell of how their masti, their carefree courage, helped them become the dominant pilgrimage priests in Mathura city and district. One day the Moghul emperor Akbar, it is said, sailed by Mathura on the river Jamuna. He saw some strange people gathered at Vishram Ghat and wondered who they were, what they did, and why they gathered there. He summoned the people to him, but only one, Ujagar Chaube, had the courage to get in a boat and row out to meet the emperor. Ujagar Chaube told Akbar that Mathura was the birthplace of Krishna and that Vishram Ghat was a sacred bathing spot. Akbar put in the palm of Ujagar Chaube's hand a single cowry shell, as a dana (pious offering). When Ujagar Chaube arrived back at Vishram Ghat, the other Chaubes asked him to open his fist and, as was the custom, to share the emperor's gift with them. He refused. The other Chaubes started to fight with him, until Akbar again summoned Ujagar Chaube to return and explain the commotion and why he had not shown the cowry shell to the other Chaubes. Ujagar Chaube said that he would neither show nor share the cowry shell because it concerned the emperor's and his own honor. If the other Chaubes had seen the emperor's mite of an offering, then they both would have been ridiculed and dishonored. Akbar was so impressed that he gave Ujagar Chaube his wish to have, as his exclusive clients, all those from the surrounding fifty-two kingdoms and all members of the four Hindu sects. From that day, it is said, the system of individual clients (jajmani) was followed, rather than the system of all Chaubes pooling and sharing their earnings from one collection box.

Ujagar Chaube also established the relationship of the Chaubes with the Pushti Marg (Pusti^[*] Marga) sect upon which they are still most dependent. Chaubes say that Vallabhacharya, the founder of Pushti Marg, went on a pilgrimage around Braj, but it was unsuccessful. In a dream he was told to go to Vishram Ghat and to take the niyam (observances, promises, vows) of the pilgrimage from a priest. He went to Vishram Ghat, took pilgrimage vows from Ujagar Chaube, and thereafter successfully completed three pilgrimage rounds of Braj. From that day onward, all followers of Pushti Marg take one or another Chaube as their pilgrimage priest, and even today Vallabhacharya's descendants take pilgrimage vows from Big Chaube, Ujagar's descendant. This event was decisive for the history of the Chaubes because the wealth of Vallabhacharya's followers has been a major source of Chaube income and has supported many of them in a far. from destitute lifestyle.