Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (S.Afr.) a derog. mode of address to an Indian.

1970		informant in DSAE.
1971		J. McClure Steam Pig 221: ‘Who?’ ‘Just a churra we know.’.
1974		J. McClure Gooseberry Fool (1976) 87: Trust the bloody churras to be Mohammedan.
1984		in Frontline Feb. 26: Maybe with a name like that B. Nanabhai isn’t so much a bushy anyhow, more like a chara [...] Maybe they sent him to Durbs, [...] where he had to live among other charas [...] Charas are tailors, unless they’re waiters [DSAE].
1989		D. Mullany in Scope 21 Apr. 4: The crafty ‘charra’ in his fur-dash, rust-crusted Cortina; the hunkheaded Transvaal ‘kay-daar’ in his Datsun Laurel, Toyota Cressida, or gold-wheeled Sierra [DSAE].
1990		J. Naidoo Coolie Location 47: More than once I was carelessly called ‘Sam’ or Coolie or Charra.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1971

J. McClure Steam Pig (1973) 201: Ach, it was real churra talk maybe it was a tip-off. I don’t think so.