In Hoshangabad the kotwar is allowed to glean for a day in the fields of each tenant after the crop has been removed.

It would appear that the kotwar was chosen from the criminal castes as a method of insurance.

The kotwar was held responsible for the good behaviour of his caste-fellows, and was often under the obligation of making good any property stolen by them.

And if a theft occurred in another village and the thief was traced into the borders of the kotwar's village he was bound to take up the pursuit and show that the 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.