In order to protect themselves from the depredations of these gangs
the villagers adopted a system of hiring a Ramosi as a surety to
be responsible for their property, and this man gradually became a
Rakhwaldar or village watchman. He received a grant of land rent-free
and other perquisites, and also a fee from all travellers and gangs of
traders who halted in the village in return for his protection during
the night. If a theft or house-breaking occurred in a village, the
Ramosi was held responsible to the owner for the value of the property,
unless a large gang had been engaged. If he failed to discover the
thief he engaged to make the lost property good to the owner within
fifteen days or a month unless its value was considerable. If a gang
had been engaged, the Ramosi, accompanied by the patel and other
village officials and cultivators, proceeded to track them by their
footprints. Obtaining a stick he cut it to the exact length of the
footprint, or several such if a number of prints could be discovered,
and followed the tracks, measuring the footprints, to the boundary
of the village. The inhabitants of the adjoining village were then
called and were responsible for carrying on the trail through their
village. The measures of footprints were handed over to them, and after
satisfying themselves that the marks came from outside and extended
into their land they took up the trail accompanied by the Ramosi. In
this way the gang was tracked from village to village, and if it was
run to earth the residents of the villages to which it belonged had to
make good the loss. If the tracks were lost owing to the robbers having
waded along a stream or got on to rocky ground or into a public road,
then the residents of the village in whose borders the line failed
were considered responsible for the stolen property. Usually, however,
a compromise was made, and they paid half, while the other half was
raised from the village in which the theft occurred. If the Ramosi
failed to track the thieves out of the village he had to make good
the value of the theft, but he was usually assisted by the village
officer. Often, too, the owner had to be contented with half or a
quarter of the amount lost as compensation. In the early part of the
century the Ramosis of Poona became very troublesome and constantly
committed robberies in the houses of Europeans. As a consequence a
custom grew up of employing a Ramosi as chaukidar or watchman for
guarding the bungalow at night on a salary of seven rupees a month,
and soon became general. It was the business of the Ramosi watchman to
prevent other Ramosis from robbing the house. Apparently this was the
common motive for the custom, prevalent up to recent years, of paying
a man solely for the purpose of watching the house at night, and it
originated, as in Poona, as a form of insurance and an application
of the proverb of setting a thief to catch a thief. The selection of
village watchmen from among the low, criminal castes appears to have
been made on the same principle.