Irakli Makharadze is a documentary film director working in a Georgia State TV film company in Tbilisi, Georgia (former Soviet Republic).

Irakli has a deep interest in the history of the American West, and has written numerous articles about Western films in local newspapers and magazines. Having had much experience in producing TV shows about this magnificent genre, Irakli has also published a book entitled WESTERN FILMS, which is the first book written on this topic in his country.

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Datiko (David) Shevardnadze (1875-1909)

During the time when Americans had many famous heroic figures in the Wild West, a western part of Georgia (former Soviet Republic) could boast with a comparable number of heroes as well. These heroes emerged in the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century at the height of interesting and equally tragic events in the western part of Georgia, Guria, an integral part of Georgia.

Compared to all other parts of Georgia, Guria is a comparably young region, with its history dating back to the 8th century BC (Georgia itself is 3 thousand years old. It is an Orthodox Christian country since 337 A.D.). Bordered with an aggressive Muslim world, Gurians always had to be prepared to fight the enemy. Once, in the middle of the 19th century, a Gurian nobleman Bolkvadze came across six armed Turks in the woods. Bolkvadze didnt get lost: he attacked the Turks, who obviously did not expect such an action. Before the enemy could realize what was happening, Bolkvadze killed two of them, injured one and caught another. Only one of the Turks escaped.

Gurian people were well known around Georgia for their courage and audacity. According to the famous Georgian poet Akaki Tsereteli (1840_1915):Its hard to find people as lively, dynamic and open to innovations and progress as the Gurians are. Guria was also the homeland of the famous trick riders who arrived to the Buffalo Bills Show from Georgia. As to the Gurian songs they are just as hot-tempered, quick and mysterious as the Gurian character itself. When a famous American composer Igor Stravinsky first heard the Gurian song Krimanchuli, he became amazed by the singular vocal technique and exclaimed that this was the best thing he had ever heard.

Georgian people could not bear being annexed by the Russian Empire in 1801. Riots against the Russian occupation were quite frequent. Many of such rebellions broke out in Guria as well, (The most famous one in 1841), but Russia always managed to bloodily end them. The Gurian people still continued to fight against the restraint of their freedom. In the end of the 19th century the number of people opposing the Czars regime was growing rapidly. Together with the restraint of their freedom, the hot tempered and unyielding Gurian character could not bare witnessing the obnoxious behavior of the Russian governors, perpetual unjust trials, high taxes, poverty, and inability to own land.

A true Gurian would take a gun and run into the woods, in order to prove his own truth. Such people were called the pirals. The word pirali is derived from an Arabic word pirar, which means the escaped one. The Gurian pirals were quite different from ordinary outlaws. For example, they would rob only the rich and give it to the poor - their close ones or the people in their village. No other outlaw would ever approach a village from where a piral had escaped. For this reason, pirals were always loved and supported by people. (The name of the pirals is often mentioned in various folk poems and songs).

Not every Gurian peasant who encountered injustice would escape into the woods, however. Such an action required great physical strength and endurance. That is why a true piral was the one who was strong, agile, and courageous and a skilled marksman. Often when the disputes between the local government and the peasant would settle down, a peasant would return home and continue a peaceful living with his family.

The first wave pirals, as they were called (c 1870s to the end of the 19th century) often rebelled on the grounds of personal and social conflict. This continued till the beginning of 1900s, when the Marxist ideas were introduced in Georgia. Unfortunately for any Gurian, whose unyielding character requires being the first in everything, absorbed these ideas right away.

Marxism developed with the emergence of revolutionary committees and consequently Red troops, which terrorized ordinary people and anybody who didnt share their ideasan ordinary peasant or statesmen.
Their slogan was: Ill kill my mom, Ill kill my dad, if Revolution asks me that. If these committees ruled a death penalty for anyone, it would be executed in any way. The only person who ruled to be executed three times and each time found him safe and sound was a famous piral Datiko (David) Shevardnadze (1875-1909). One reason for that was that Shevardnadze was an excellent marksman. He could break a telegraph wire by firing a shot from Mauser 100 feet away from telegraph pole; he was able to place a bullet into the bullet, as they say.

His wife Gulichka recalled: Once being drunk, he insisted that I stood in the backyard, while he would put an egg on my head and place a bullet in it. I couldnt refuse. He counted sixty feet, fired and threw the egg off from my head without aiming at it! Shevardnadze did this while being drunk and it is not surprising that he managed to come out almost safe from almost every attack.

The newspaper Iveria wrote: December 27th in the village of Bakhvi, someone named Basilia made an ambush on the village of writer D. Shevardnadze heading the road and wanted to kill him. But Shevardnadze managed to fire the gun and deadly wound Basilia. Interestingly, Basilia fired the first shot, and Shevardnadze, did not even turn around, he fired from his back and into the aim. In a little while, Shevardnadze was attacked again, but this time he took off his felt cloak (a long woolen coat used in Georgia, ideal in cold and rain weather), left it on the road standing up, and ran away. The attackers following him thought that the felt cloak was a human and started shooting. Shevardnadze escaped death, but he was wounded in his arm. The enraged committee still tried to kill him, but as it turns out, Datiko shared their ideas later on and joined the red army. Now he started terrorizing. Who would escape from such a rifleman!

Before Shevardnadze reddened, joined the red army, he worked as a village writer and differed from some other pirals by his physical appearance (he was a tall, broad shouldered handsome man) as well as his education. He graduated from a gymnasium, was fluent in Russian and helped his villagers in any kind of organizational work, since most of them did not know how to read and write and made decisions only with Datikos help. He used his new position in the Red troops quite well. He would provide the comrades with fake passports and other necessary documents. Nobody escaped Shevardnadzes mauzer. He assassined several high authority people, and for this reason the authority offered a prize for anybody who would catch him.

Once the police was sent to catch Datiko. At that time, Shevardnadze was hiding in the mountains of Bakhmaro. He met the policemen on the road himself and threatened to kill them if they would not turn back. The scared policemen ran away. They were trying to explain that Shevardnadze shouted as if he had a cannon in his mouth and they didnt want this nutty man to kill them. After people heard about this incident, they started asking Shevardnadze where was the cannon that he had in his mouth. Shevardnandze laughed about this for the whole year. Shevardnadzes name was on everybodys lips. People were saying that he was bewitched and that the bullet would not kill him. There were no policemen in the places where he would show up. In the village of Askana a guard ambushed him, but even this time Shevardnadze managed to be faster and kill him on the spot. For this, the authority enacted a corporal punishment in the village. The village was taxed and the authority demanded to deliver up Shevardnadze. When Datiko heard about this, he wrote a letter to the police chief of Guria and suggested the corporal army leave the village immediately, or otherwise he would kill all of them. If you would like to meet me in person like a real man, wrote Datiko, I will be in Chokatauri (a village in Guria) this Friday and you can meet me there. As soon as the police chief received the message, he ran away with his army.

Usually, the last destiny of the pirals (and generally of any outlaw) was either jail or violent death. Here is what the President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze wrote about Datikos death in his book My Choice, (Datiko was his grandfathers cousin): "Surrounded by the punishing army, Datiko started fighting along with several of his comrades. One of these friends, the closest one, handed him a drink. It was a poison....  According to various sources, in December of 1909, Datiko was staying in the house of his friend Mose Chelidze, who was bribed by the government. Datiko had changed several houses before, because he had constantly been followed. During supper, Datiko was served a poisoned home made chacha (a strong vodka usually made from grapes or honey). Shevardnadze felt sick. The next day, December 14th 1909, he felt a little bit better and went outside, still being very weak. He encountered several policemen on his way, took out a gun and asked them not make him kill them, since he had nothing against them. We dont have anything against you either,   answered the policemen. However, when Shevardnadze disappeared beyond a little hill, the police followed him and shot him in the back. They still did what they had in mind! he shouted and fired twice. He killed one horse, wounded one policeman in his leg, but being poisoned could not defend himself adequately. Datiko was shot to death.

He was buried in the same place, but his grave was later moved into the churchyard. To revenge this murder, Shevardnadzes friends attacked the police office, killed several policemen and then visited Datikos grave. They sang "Marseillaize" there and fired several shots in his honor. Here is in short a story of one of the most famous Georgian outlaws. Despite the courageous traits possessed by many representatives of the "Red troops" their behavior and goals will never prove them innocent in front of their people and the history of their homeland. However, I believe that such people are great characters for a western movie.

Copyright © 2003  Irakli Makharadze. No unauthorized reproduction or transmission by any means whatsoever permitted under federal criminal law.