e thief had passed beyond his village,
or to pay for the stolen property. Thieves were sometimes tracked by
the kotwar, and sometimes in Gujarat and Central India by a special
official called Paggal, [459] who measured their footprints with a
string, and in this way often followed them successfully from village
to village. [460] The rule that the kotwar had to make good all thefts
occurring in his village or perpetrated by criminals belonging to it,
can only have been enforced to a very partial extent, as unless he
could trace the property he would be unable to pay any substantial
sum out of his own means. Still, it apparently had a considerable
effect in the protection of property in the rural area, for which
the regular police probably did very little. It was similarly the
custom to employ a _chaukidar_ or night-watchman to guard private
houses when the owners could afford it, and this man was taken from
a criminal caste on the same principle.

The kotwar was also the guardian of the village boundaries, and his
opinion was often taken as authoritative in all cases of disputes
about land. This position he perhaps occupied as a representative of
the pre-Aryan tribes, the oldest residents of the country, and his
appointment may have also been partly based on the idea that it was
proper to employ one of them as the guardian of the village lands,
just as the priest of the village gods of the earth and fields was
usually taken from these tribes.

In some localities those members of an impure caste such as the
Mahars, who hold the office of village watchman, obtain a certain
rise in status on account of the office, and show a tendency to
marry among themselves. Similarly persons of the impure Ganda caste,
who joined the Kabirpanthi sect and now form a separate and somewhat
higher caste under the name of Panka, usually work as village watchmen
in preference to the Gandas. Under British rule the kotwar has been
retained as a village policeman, and his pay increased and generally
fixed in cash. Besides patrolling the village, he has to report all
cognisable crime at the nearest police post as well as births and
deaths occurring in the village, and must give general assistance
to the regular police in the detection of crime. Kotwar is used in
Saugor as a synonym for the Chadar caste. It is also a subcaste of
the Kori caste.

_Kowa_.--(A crow.) A section of Tamera and of Gond in Chanda.

_Koya_ A subtribe of Gond in Bastar.