History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c12.11

v1.c12.11

Villages thus in those days were usually well regulated and self-sufficient communities whose life was easy, and well ordered. They were not however quite without their own troubles though petty. The usual pest of the villages then as now was the policeman and the soldier; the Chāta* and the Bhata as they are called in grants. The grantees of inam villages were, therefore, specially granted the privilege that their villages would not be entered by the policeman and the soldier. The word अचाटभटप्रवेश्य occurs in almost every grant and conveys this important privilege to inam donees. Sometimes an exception was made by the word चोरवर्ज्यम्. Dr. Fleet translates it by ‘with the exception of fines imposed on thieves.’ I would however translate it by ‘with the exception that villages may be entered for the purpose of pursuing or catching thieves.’ The exception plainly relates to the प्रवेश or entry of village. The word द्रोह is sometimes further added e. g. चोरद्रोहवर्जः in Khoh grant of Samkshobha (Corps Ins. III p. 115), and it shows that the right to enter inam villages extended to the pursuit or detection of traitors. It would be natural to expect that the state would not allow, as has been already noticed, inam villages to which the privilege of ‘non-entry by policemen and soldiers was granted, being the centres of the activity of robbers or traitors. The state villages of course remained open to the unavoidable oppression of the policeman and the soldier. The latter, however, must have troubled them at rare intervals only that is when on march or doing fight.