Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c8.s1.8

c8.s1.8

But in the provinces of the empire where the Nāyaṅkara system was in vogue, the Nāyakas were made responsible for the preservation of peace in their respective areas. They by themselves did not attend to the police duties, but appointed persons for the work and they were known as the kāvalgārs. The origin of this system can be traced to the policy of setting a thief to catch a thief. These kāvalgārs belonged generally to the criminal tribes and they were required to prevent theft by their castemen and restore the property stolen within their locality, for which service they were paid by assignments of land for their maintenance. The kāvalgārs themselves appointed a talaiyāri for each village under them. These local policemen were liable to be punished if they did not discharge their duties properly. For instance an epigraph at Tiruvoṟṟiyūr in the Chingleput district mentions that some of agambaḍaiyārs (servants ?), 48 in number, serving under the chief of Paḍuvūr, lived in the village and protected it for a long time, but later since they neglected their duties for reasons unexplained and caused much loss to the people, they had to be punished.86