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The Rashtrakutas and their Times c19.s1.t5: Police Department

The Rāṣṭrakūṭas and their Times c19.s1.t5

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Police Department

c19.s1.t5.1

The policing arrangements of villages were under the supervision of the headmen. The village watchman was in the immediate charge of the work, and it was his business to detect all the crimes, especially the thefts, that may be committed in the village. If a theft or robbery was committed, he had either to find out the culprit or to trace his footsteps to a neighbouring village; otherwise he was compelled to compensate for the loss. His liability was, of course, limited by his means and it was based on a shrewd suspicion that he himself might be the thief or in league with him. If the watchman refused to pay, his grain-share at the time of the harvest was cut off, his service-land was transferred to his nearest relative, or he was fined, imprisoned and given corporal punishment.⁵⁵ If the stolen goods could not be either recovered or full compensation for them could not be exacted from the watchman, the whole community or the government had to compensate the victim.

c19.s1.t5.2

⁵⁵ Altekar, *Village Communities*, p. 59,

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This communal and government liability has been recognised by several writers. Viṣṇu says that if the king is unable to recover stolen goods, he must pay their value out of his treasury.⁵⁶ The rules in the Arthaśāstra are more detailed. Kauṭalya says, ‘When any part of merchandise has been lost or stolen, the headman of the village shall make up the loss. Whatever merchandise is lost or stolen in the intervening places between two villages, shall be made good by the superintendent of the pasture. If there is no pasture-land, then the officer called Chorarajjuka would be responsible. Failing him, the boundary and neighbouring villages shall make up the loss, and if the property cannot be ultimately traced, the king shall ultimately make good the loss out of his own treasury.⁵⁷ That this communal and government liability, which has been admitted even by Kauṭalya, was actually enforced in practice is shown by a 12th century inscription from Rajaputana, which embodies an agreement on the part of the townsmen of Dhalopa, that they would be responsible for any thefts that might occur in their town. The king of the place had made the arrangements about the watch and ward of the place.⁵⁸ The principle of the communal responsibility was thus recognised by early writers like Viṣṇu and Kauṭalya, and was actually enforced in Rajputana of the 12th and in the Deccan of the 17th and the 18th centuries. It is, therefore, very likely that it was enforced in our period as well.

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⁵⁶ III, 67.

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⁵⁷ IV, 13.

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⁵⁸ E. I., XI, p. 40.

c19.s1.t5.7

Manu lays down that there should be established police stations in the kingdom, one being intended for 2, 4, or 5 villages.⁵⁹ Similar arrangements probably existed in our period. The police officers were known in our period as Choroddharaṇikas or Daṇḍapāśikas. The former are actually mentioned in the Antroli-Charoli copper plates of Karkkarāja of Gujarat,⁶⁰ and the latter in several Valabhi records.⁶¹ That only one Rāṣṭrakūṭa record just mentioned should make reference to the police officers is probably to be explained on the assumption that it was not deemed necessary to mention these officers in the copper-plate grants creating alienated villages, as these officers had no powers to interfere with the fiscal matters. There cannot be any doubt that the Choroddharaṇikas were fairly common in our period. Chola records of our period mention watchmen, whose duty it was to keep a watch over the paths;⁶² it is not unlikely that similar officers may have been employed in the Rāṣṭrakūṭa dominions as well.

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⁵⁹ VII, 114.

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⁶⁰ J. B. B. R. A. S., XVI, p. 106.

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⁶¹ E. g. Valabhi plates of Dhruvasena. dated 526 A. D. V. p. 204

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⁶² S. I. I., II, Nos. 23 and 24.

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Crimes, that could not be locally detected, must have been investigated by these Choroddharaṇika and Daṇḍapāśika officers. It is very likely that these officers worked under the directions of the Rāṣṭrapatis and Viṣayapatis, who being also at the head of the local troops, could have afforded military assistance to the police department, in case it was necessary for the apprehension of desperate robbers or dacoits.

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