The Kathia, Khagga, and Hans
This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. Being a reprint of the chapter on Lahore : Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1916. |
Kathia
The Kathia is another of the Great Ravi tribes, and comes next in importance among them to the Kharral. It is not shown in our tables as a separate caste, and nobody seems to have returned himself as Kathia. But there are 3,878 men in Montgomery and 1,972 in Multan who have returned their caste as Punwar ; and as the Kathias claim to be Punwar Rajputs, and were so entered in the settlement, it is pro bable that these are the Kathias. This is the explanation given by the Deputy Commissioner of Montgomery after local inquiry. These men have been in cluded under the head Rajput in our tables. The Kathias are almost confined to the Ravi valley of the Multan and Montgomery districts ; but they hold a considerable area in the south of Jhang, which they are said to have acquired from the Sial in return for aid afforded to the latter against the Nawab of Multan. There are supposed to be the same people as the Kathei, who In their stronghold of Sangala so stoutly resisted the victorious army of Alexander. The question is elaborately discussed by General Cunningham at pages 33 to 42 of volume N of his Areh aological Reports, and in Volume I, pages 101^ of Tods Rdjasthun [Madras Bejrrint, 1880). Captain Elphinstone thus describes them in his Montgomery report : —
The remarkable fact that a people called ' Kathaioi ' occupied a part of t1ie Gugaira district when Alexander iuvaded the Paujab, iuvests the Kathia tribe with :i peculiar interest. After much enquiry on (he subject, I have come to the conclusion that the Kathias of the present day have a strong claim to be considered the descendants of the same ' Kathaioi ' who so gallantly resisted the Macedonian conqueror. Their own account of their origin is, of course, far different. Like all Jats they take a particular pride in tracing their descent Irom a Kajput prince abont the time of their conversion to Muhammadanism under the Emperor Akbar. Ihit an examination of their alleged pedigree shows that, like many other popular traditions of this kind, this account of their origin mu^t be altogether fictitious. They state that a prince named * Khattya ' reigning in Rajputana, was compelled to yield up one of his sisters in marriage to the Emperor of Dehli. After brooding for some time over this great outrage tn Rajput honour, he contrived to assemble a large army with which he attacked the imperial forces : he was, however, overcome by superior numbers, and was made a prisoner after nearly all his adherents had been slain.
He was then conducted with great honour to the Court of Dehli, where the Emperor treated him with kindness, and at last induced him to embrace the Muhammadan faith, and placed under his charge an important post near the Court. Some time afterwards he was sent with a force to subdue a portion of the Ravi tribes who had risen in insurrection, and after conquering them was so much attracted by the beauty of the country, that lie remained and received a grant of the whole tract for himself and his descendants. All the Kathias claim descent from this prince, but, luifortunate ly for the credibility of this story, the only way that his 8,000 descendants manage to arrange the matter is by assuming that the prince had no less than 150 sons ; whilst in a pedigree prepared by the chief mirasi of the tribe, in which the increase of oif spring in the different generations is arranged with more accordance to probability, the line is only brought down to a few of the princi pal families of the tribe.
In their habits the Kathias differ little from the other Jat tribes. Before the accession of Ranjit Singh they lived chiefly on cattle grazing and plunder. Like the Kharrals and Fattiauas they still keep up Hindu ' Parohits,' who take a prominent part at all marriage festivities, an undoubted sign of then* conversion to Muhammadanism having been of recent date. They are a handsome and sturdy race, and like nearly all Jats of the ' Great Ravi ' do not allow their children of either sex to marry until they have attained the age of puberty, because, as they justly consider, too earh-^ marriages would be detrimental to the ' physic|ue ' of the race. Their chief and favourite article of food is buttermilk ; the consumption of wheat among them is very inconsiderable.
Mr. Purser, however, gives a somewhat different account of their migra tions. He says : —
The Kathias have been identified with the 'Kathaior of Alexander's time. According to their account they are descended from Raja Karan, Snrajbausi. Originally they resided in Bikaner, whence they emigrated and founded the State of Kathiawar. From there they went to Sirsa and then to Bahawalpur. Xextthey crossed over to Kabula and went onto Daira Dinpanah. Here they quarrelled with the llilochis and had to leave. They then settled at Mirah Sial in J hang. They stole the cattle of Alawal Klu'in of Kaunilia, who was killed pursuing them. Saadat Yar Khan obtained the release of their leaders (who were imprisoned on account of this affair) on condition of their setthng on the Ravi. Thus the Kathias obtained a footing in this district. 'J'hey always held by the Kamalia Kharrals, but plundered the others whenever they could get a chance. The Kfithias are Punwar Rajputs. There are two main divisions ; the Kathias proper, and the Baglielas.
This would make the Kathias of the Ravi immigrants from Kathiawar. But a Pandit of Gujarat who was sent Into the Panjab by the Kaja of Jazdan, one of the principal Kathiawar Stales, to make ciuiuiries on the subject, tells me that the Kathiawar Kibputs, who also claim descent from Raja Karan, have a tradition that they came to their present territory from the Panjab via Sindh and Kach. The Kathias tradition Is that they were driven out of Sarsa Ranla, or the valley of the lower Ghaggar, about the time of Tamerlane's invasion.
The Khagga and Hans appear lo have returned themselves as Qureshi, and are described in section 503under the head Shekh.
