Mughal Administration c8.s5: § 5. The kotwal and his duties.

Mughal Administration c8.s5

Language: English

§ 5. The kotwal and his duties.

c8.s5.1

In connection with the public peace, we may most conveniently discuss the kotwāl and his functions here. He was essentially an urban officer, being the chief of the city police.

The ideal KOTWĀL is described as a man who follows the regulations in his outward actions and fears God inwardly. He should attend when the sovereign or provincial viceroy holds a court of justice or grants public audience. On taking over charge, he should satisfy himself by a personal inspection that the horse and foot attached to his post are really up to the fixed strength and have their proper equipment, arms and stores, and that the appurtenances of his office,—such as long rods, fetters and lashes*,—are really of the number entered in the official list. He should check the number of the persons in the prison and ascertain [their] answers to the charges against them. Then he should report to his official superior the cases of those prisoners whom he considers innocent and secure their liberation. In the case of the guilty persons who can pay, he should take orders for exacting suitable fines from them and then releasing them. In the case of penniless prisoners, the *kotwāl* should report and take action as commanded. A statement of the cases of those deserving to be kept in prison should be sent to the officers of Canon Law, and the orders passed by the latter over their signatures should be carried out by the kotwal. In the case of those deserving death, the kotwal should, through proper officers, freely state their cases to the judge (in writing) on the day of trial, receive the qāzi's signed sentence of death, and execute the sentence.

c8.s5.3

Summoning the watchmen and sweepers, he should take bonds from them that they would daily report to him the occurrences of every *mahalla* (ward of the city) without suppression or exaggeration.

c8.s5.4

∗ Text reads *jaulānah* for *zulah*.

c8.s5.5

He should enlist a footman (*piāda*) singly from each ward and post him there as a spy to report all news, so that he may compare the reports from these two sources and thus know the truth and do the needful in the case.

c8.s5.6

"Do justice that the people may liken you to a qazi in the power of arriving at the truth of a case. On the public streets of the cities, post careful men to act as watchmen from sunset to 9 P.M. and from 9 P.M. to dawn, to scrutinize the way-farers and arrest those whom they consider to be thieves and evil-doers, and bring them to you.

c8.s5.7

"At places of sale and purchase, at places of entertainment (*shādi*) where spectators assemble, keep watchmen to seize the pickpockets and the snatchers-up of things and bring them to you for punishment.

c8.s5.8

"Summoning the 'professional women,' dancing-girls, liquor-sellers and vendors of intoxicants, take bonds from them that if they do any forbidden act they would pay so much as fine. Fine them if they break the bond. At midnight take horse with your followers and patrol round the city and in the streets also. In the lanes where you had previously sent your spies and they have found dens of thieves, you should go in time and nip their mischievous designs in the bud.

c8.s5.9

"Watch and guard the prisoners very carefully lest any of them should escape." (Manual, 57—71.)

c8.s5.10

The kotwal's functions are also minutely enumerated in the *Ain-i-Akbari* (ii. 41—43.) But most of Akbar's regulations which this officer is there directed to enforce were withdrawn after the Emperor's death; and the entire passage in the *Ain* also seems to me to point out only the ideal for a kotwāl and not to represent the actual state of things. Only a perfect man can satisfy what is demanded of the kotwal here. I, therefore, do not attach any value to this source.

c8.s5.11

Akbar's farman, as given in *Mirāt-i-Ahmadi*, i. 168—170, contains the following instructions for the kotwāl:—"The kotwāl...with the help of clerks should make a list of the houses and buildings of the place, and enter under each house [the names of] its inhabitants, stating what sort of men they are, how many of them are *bāzāris*, how many are artisans, how many are soldiers, how many darvishes. Taking security from every house, he should ensure their mutual co-operation, and defining the *mahallas* (wards), he should appoint a headman for each *mahalla*, by whose advice all things should be done there. Spies should come every day and night and cause to be written down [in the kotwāl's office] the occurrences of each ward...When a guest arrives, —be he a kinsman or a stranger,—it should be reported to the headman of the ward...The kotwāl should always keep himself informed about the income and expenditure of every man, because when a man spends in excess of his income it is certain that he is doing something wrong...In the markets he should fix the prices of things and prevent rich men from [creating a monopoly by] buying much and selling little. The kotwāl should stop the sale and drinking of wine in his jurisdiction."

c8.s5.12

Manucci (ii. 420—421) gives a more valuable account of the kotwāl’s work from actual observation. “It is his business to stop the distillation of spirits. He has to see that there were no public women in the town, nor anything else forbidden by the king [Aurangzib.] He obtains information about all that goes in, so as to be able to send in his report [to the ruler.] For this purpose there are throughout the Mughal Empire certain persons, known as halāl-khor (i.e., house scavengers.) These men are under obligation to go twice a day to clean out every house, and they tell the kotwāl all that goes on……..He also has the duty of arresting thieves and criminals. He is subordinate to the qazi, and receives orders from him...Under his orders there is a considerable body of cavalry and a great number of foot-soldiers ; for in every ward there is a horseman and 20 to 30 foot-soldiers, who, in a sort of way, go the rounds.”

c8.s5.13

In a *sanad* of appointment the kotwāl is urged to see that there may be no theft in his city and that the people of the place may enjoy security and ply their trade peacefully. He is to carry out the qazi’s written orders and not to act at his own discretion in keeping men accused of peculation in prison or in releasing them. If there is a ferry at the city, he should take care not to collect any toll on the ferries (as they were abolished by the Emperor), to prevent the boatmen from charging more than the proper hire, and to stop lawless men and oppressors from crossing the ferries.

c8.s5.14

There was a platform (*chabutra*) in front of the kotwal's office and bordering the public road, where malefactors or their severed heads were often exhibited.