It tells the story of two ex-officers of the British Raj who become adventurers and become hailed as deities in a remote village in the Hindu Kush. [2], Kafiristan was recognized as a real place by at least one early Kipling scholar, Arley Munson, who in 1915 called it "a small tract of land in the northeastern part of Afghanistan," though she wrongly thought the "only source of information is the account of the Mahomedan traders who have entered the country. Lodges in turn are governed by administrative organizations that Peachey Carnahan and Dan Dravot refer to as “Grand Lodge”. ‘The Man Who Would Be King’ is the story of two men, Peachey Carnehan and Daniel Davrot, a pair of uneducated adventurers, drunkards, confidence artists and blackmailers, who try to establish themselves as god-kings of Kafiristan. Although Dan and Peachey have passed through the Third Degree and knows its symbols and forms of recognition, they are also out of practice. Dravot will pass as a native and, armed with twenty Martini-Henry rifles, they plan to find a king or chief to help him defeat enemies. Get tips and ideas in OUTLINE. The title “Past Grand-Master” exists in the York Rite, but is not relevant to ordinary Freemasonry. They tell Castiel that working with Crowley is wrong, and he knows it, which is why he kept his actions a secret from them. The Man Who Would Be King "Brother to a Prince and fellow to a beggar if he be found worthy." Back in the present, Dean convinces Sam and Bobby to call Castiel, but Castiel doesn't appear when Sam prays, too afraid of the questions they'll have for him. As a consequence, Dravot was killed and Carnehan was crucified but survived and then was set free. He asserts that opening a Lodge is “against all the law,” because he and Dan lack the necessary experience and do not have an appropriate “warrant” from any Grand Lodge. The English adventurers give each of the Chiefs and priests English names, and do not bother to learn their real ones. This was paralleled by Peachy and Daniel as they built their empire. Two years later, on a scorching hot summer night, Carnehan creeps into the narrator's office. A Grand Lodge is an administrative body that enforces uniform standards among the various lodges throughout the region and grants or denies applications to open or close a Lodge. This location has so far remade untouched by the British Empire and they hope to use this to their advantage. This different style of reasoning is not at all what Dan and Peachey expect. Castiel denies it, but it's clear that Dean, Sam, and Bobby no longer trust him. Kipling, as a consequence of the time in which he lived, held many of the same beliefs as most of the Westerners that they were superior to those of the other countries and territories that they had visited and imperialized. He begs for a sign and says that, if he doesn't get one, he's going to do whatever he must. Like “Brother to a Prince and fellow to a beggar if he be found worthy.” ― Rudyard Kipling, The Man Who Would Be King. Castiel: What happens when they reach the front? Sam is tracking a djinn in Omaha, and so Dean is going there to meet him. This story is a clear criticism from Kipling on the ills of the British colonialism occurring in India during this time, specifically the immorality of the motivations and methods of the imperialization, as well as a commentary on the problems created by the individual moral character of the men who would be kings. But Freemasonry, which is sometimes known as the Craft, consists of not just the formal elements but also the shared knowledge, culture, and traditions observed by all Masons. He references the natives hate for the occupational forces of Britain despite how they are supposedly trying to better them, a phenomenon he must have been well aware of having lived in India most of his life. During Dan’s first Lodge ceremony Peachey takes the office of the “Senior Warden”, who is the Worshipful Master’s second-in-command. This the narrator does, however his brotherly responsibilities to Dan and Peachey do not extend to helping them blackmail the head of a neighboring state. Although they know and observe the superficial parts of Masonry, they are not necessarily aware of the significance of the words, symbols, and rituals they use. The other angels, including Rachel, believed that God resurrected Castiel so that he could lead them, but Castiel told them that they had free will and didn't need a leader. The Kafirs practised a form of Masonic ritual, and Dravot's reputation was further cemented when he showed knowledge of Masonic secrets that only the oldest priest remembered. The nineteenth century was a period of great colonial expansion for the British Empire. Dan identifies himself as a Grand-Master of the Craft and asserts that he will open a Lodge in the Third Degree, to raise the local chiefs and priests to the Third Degree in order to appropriate their authority and cement his own. Beauty is easy to find within the basics of human nature, such as elemental love or the innocent playfulness of children, untouched by the world’s nastier truths. The mini-empire is founded on deceit; and once Davrot is revealed to be ”neither God nor Devil, but a man”, he is attacked and eventually killed by the native people. Birkenhead (p.100) regards this as one of Kipling’s three finest stories – see our notes on “The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes” also in this volume. In his eyes, the only thing that would make him more godly was to have a family and to raise a heir to his throne. Their schemes were dashed, however, when Dravot (against the advice of Carnehan) decided to marry a Kafir girl. Whilst on a tour of some Indian native states he meets two scruffy adventurers, Daniel Dravot and Peachey Carnehan. In the same way, the real-life British Imperialist tendencies almost always fell apart as the surface altruism fell away under the typical need to subjugate and exploit native peoples. They are unaware, for example, that there is a taboo against intermarriage with humans and that they are supposed to be invulnerable to injury. He's there when they torture the demon into revealing that he works for Crowley through a dispatcher named Ellsworth. Additionally, Kipling’s work ‘The White Man’s Burden’ also deals with the faults in the creation and governance of an imperial empire. The most senior officer in a Lodge is the “Worshipful Master”, who is elected by the men in the Lodge. Peachey never learns to speak to the Kafirs at all. Indeed, Masonry the way it is practiced in Kafiristan operates more like a religious cult. Dan, attempting to push the idea onto his friend, couldn’t see how getting himself a queen would be of any worry to his people. Each degree has a unique grip. Like “The Law, as quoted, lays down a fair conduct of life, and one not easy to follow.” This is another area in which Dan and Peachey blunder: their contract that they make with each other requires that each stand by the other if he is in trouble. Retrieved from, http://www.masonicinfo.com/recognition.htm, http://www.masonicinfo.com/fakemasonry.htm, http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/glossary/glossary_index.htm, http://phoenixmasonry.org/meaning_of_masonic_obligations.htm. Kipling’s view here is that a direct invasion of a native-foreign culture for the sole purpose of ruling, subjugating, and exploitation is never a good thing and is doomed to fail. There are several other offices through in which a Mason is expected to serve before he is considered eligible to be a Senior Warden or Worshipful Master, and there are always more opportunities for service than there are men willing to serve. Peachy even received direct warning from Billy Fish, a priest who was loyal both to his people and the two gods; “I can’t rightly say, but if you can make the king drop all this nonsense about marriage you’ll be doing him and me and yourself a great service” (Kipling 107). For other uses, see. Dean, Sam, and Bobby flee the approaching demons, and Crowley soon appears to free Castiel from the burning holy oil. Dean: No, actually, it's not, and you know that. They spend all their blessed time in governing it, and you can’t lift a spade, nor chip a rock, nor look for oil, nor anything like that without all the Government saying—‘Leave it alone and let us govern.’ Therefore, such as it is, we will let it alone, and go away to some other place where a man isn’t crowded and can come to his own… we are going away to be Kings.” This is coming on the tail of a discussion by Daniel and the narrator-a representation of Kipling himself- about how petty work and governance of the British Empire doesn’t allow a man to build wealth. The Meaning of Masonic Obligations. However when he tries to extend his power to far by taking a native girl to be his wife, in direct defiance of the traditions and culture of the native people, the girl bites him and draws blood proving he is in fact not a god. The core unit of organization is the “Lodge”: a collection of Masons who meet in a specific location, frequently a hall or building dedicated to the purpose. They declare that after years of trying their hands at all manner of things, they have decided that "India is not big enough for them". This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again. The British Empire often viewed the native people and ignorant and stupid, as by some measure less that human. As proof of his tale, Carnehan shows the narrator Dravot's head, still wearing the golden crown, which he swears never to sell. In this piece two men, Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnehan, grow tired of the stagnant and impractical rule of the British colonies in India. The next day the narrator sees him crawling along the road in the noon sun, with his hat off and gone mad. Castiel is alone, praying to God. The First Degree is followed by the Second or Fellow Craft Degree ritual, at which point he may be “raised” to the Third or Master Mason Degree, which is also a separate ritual. There are groups of people who form “irregular” lodges that purport to be Masonic but that are not acknowledged or recognized by the other Lodges due to serious departure from the traditions and principles of Freemasonry. ‘The Man Who Would Be King’ is the story of two men, Peachey Carnehan and Daniel Davrot, a pair of uneducated adventurers, drunkards, confidence artists and blackmailers, who try to establish themselves as god-kings of Kafiristan. ‘The White Man’s Burden’ is the act of building an empire as a noble service, bringing the benefits of the enlightened people-namely the British Empire-to the uncivilized masses. They convince the local peoples that they are gods and live among them for a time content with the kingdom they have acquired. Grips can be considered as secret handshakes. In reality it is a pitfall. The Masonic Order is what is known as a fraternal order. These forms of recognition are secret, and one of the oaths a Freemason takes during each degree ceremony is to never reveal them to outsiders. Instead, Crowley needs to focus on finding Purgatory, or they will both "die again and again until the end of time.". Seeing him bleed, the priests cried that he was "Neither God nor Devil but a man!" Thus, while The Man Who Would Be King is a rollicking adventure tale for many, it is also a morality tale. The disappearance of Kafiristan was so complete that a 1995 New York Times article referred to it as "the mythical, remote kingdom at the center of the Kipling story."[4]. Yet the resemblance is entirely superficial. They ripped up destiny, leaving freedom and choice, but after everything he's done since then, Castiel doesn't know if it was the right thing after all.