I probably should have mentioned "Gunga Din" during the awkward silence

When going through the epitaphs I was a little surprised that no one brought up the similarities between "A Servant", "Native Water-Carrier" and "Gunga Din"; though I'm more to blame for that than anyone else as the one who saw it and said nothing. There is some separation of years between the two, but coming from the same man it's hard not to see the evolution of his thoughts.
    For those not familiar with "Gunga Din", it's about a water carrier who is not treated well by the British soldiers. The speaker of the poem is shot, and Gunga Din comes to stop the bleeding and bring the man water, only to be shot dead. The famous closing lines of the poem are where I drew my connection to "The Years Between".
   Though I've belted you and flayed you,
   By the livin' Gawd that made you,
   You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
   Since "The Years Between" are in fact epitaphs I almost see the "A Servant" and "Native Water Carrier"  as about "Gunga Din". I don't mean to draw some detailed lineage between the poems and claim Kipling was specifically trying to write out a character, but the connection is to strong to be ignored. At the very least it shows just how strong Kipling felt about the use of native peoples and their treatment, as well as class divisions. In both "A Servant" and "Gunga Dun" Kipling claims that in death the servant and Din are the better men based on their actions and despite the obvious class separation.
   "Native Water Carrier" ends with the lines, "The Gods are jealous-now, as then, They gave no quarter" implying that the Gods showed no discretion when it came to the death of the water carrier, which argue for the equality of death. When taken into consideration with "Gunga Din" and "A Servant" Kipling's overall argument becomes more complex than this, his view of death is defined as the great equalizer that cares not for race, class, or quality of person. I don't mean to be overstretching any of this, but Kipling is not a poet of coincidence, and so I felt this was not to be ignored.