The Colas c27.25

c27.25

The term *pāḍi-kāval* occurring more than once in the lists of taxes and dues deserves more attention than most of the other items mentioned; for it refers to a universally prevalent system of safeguarding property from theft, especially at night. This was the system by which each village maintained its own *kāval-kāran* who, in return for certain regular payments to him, held himself responsible for the security of property in the village to the extent of either recovering lost property or making it good; this system survived in some measure almost till the other day in the Tamil country, and it seems to have been indeed of very ancient origin. A special staff of officials entrusted with this duty, and maintained from the proceeds of a special cess ear-marked for the purpose, the *pāḍi-kāval-kūli* as it is sometimes called, formed a regular feature of the Cōḷa administrative system. In the later Cōḷa days, we find these duties increasingly falling into the hands of the over-grown vassals whose rise was a symptom of the imminent dissolution of the empire. Humbler men in charge of relatively restricted areas also carried on their work more quietly and with less detriment to the well-being of the central administration. An inscription from Talaiccangāḍu (Tanjore district) dated a.d. 1221 states that the *pāḍi-kāppār* were provided with residences in the villages in addition to some allowances as their wages.⁶⁷ Examples of the other type are quite numerous; often an individual is found in possession of the *pāḍi-kāval-kāṇi* of a whole *nāḍu*, if not of a wider area, and such an individual often gave expression to his vanity or piety by remitting the fee due from sacred property belonging to temples, or requiring the temple authorities to burn lights or conduct festivals in the manner specified by him instead of paying the fee. The Vāṇakōvaraiyas, Malaiyamāns, Muttaraiyas, Śāmbuvarāyas and Kāḍavarāyas all furnish instances of the practice sketched above.⁶⁸ The terms *perumbāḍi-kāval*⁶⁹ and *mēr-pāḍi-kāval*⁷⁰ are sometimes employed, and these are perhaps meant to indicate the wider sphere of their police duties, or their higher status as compared to the ordinary *pāḍi-kāval* of the villages.