1 176 PANJAB CASTES.
2 Multan. Tliey are supposed to be the same people as the Katlisei, who in their
3 stronghold of Sangala so stoutly resisted the victorious army of Alexander.
4 Tlie question is elaborately discussed Ijy General Cunningham at pages 33 to 42
5 of volume II of his Arckaoloffical Eepo)is, a,ud in Volume I, pages 101^' of
6 Tod^s BdjaslJiun [Madras Reprint, 1880). Captain Elphinstone thus describes
7 them in his Montgomery report : —
8 " Tlie remarkable fact tliat a people called ' Katliaioi ' occupied a part of the Gugaira district
9 "when Alexander invaded the Panjah, invests the Kathia tribe with a peculiar interest. After much
10 "enquiry on Ihe subject, I have come to the conclusion that the Kathias of the present day have a
11 " strong claim to be considered the descendants of the same ' Kathaioi ' who so gallantly resisted the
12 " Macedonian conqueror. Their own account of their origin i-, of course, far different. Like all
13 " Jats they take a particular pride in tracing their descent from a Rajput prince about the time of
14 "their conversion to Muhammadanism under the Emperor Akhar. l!ut an examination of their
15 "alleged pedigree shows tliat, like many other popular traditions of this kind, this account of their
16 " origin mu^t be altogether fictitious. They state that a priuce named ' Khattya ' reigning in
17 " Rajputana, was compelled to yield up one of his s-sters in marriage to the Emperor of Dehli.
18 " After brooding for some time over this great outrage to Rajput honour, ho contrived to assemble
19 "a large army with which he attacked the imperial forces: he was, however, overcome by
20 "superior numbers, and \vas made a prisoner after nearly all his adherents had been slain. He was
21 "then conducted with great honour to the Court of Dehli, wdiere the Emperor treated him with
22 "kindness, and at last induced him to embrace the Muhammadan faith, and placed under his charge
23 " an important post near the Court. Some time afterwards he was sent witli a force to subdue a
24 " portion of the Ravi tribes who bad risen in insurrection, and after conquering them was so much
25 " attracted by the beauty of the country, that he remained and received a grant of the whole tract
26 "for himself and his descendants. All the Kathias claim descent from tliis prince, but, unfortunate-
27 " ly for the credibility of this story, the only way that his S.OOO descendants manage to arrange the
28 " matter is by assuming that the prince had no less than 150 sons ; whilst in a pedigree prepared by
29 "the chief mirasi of the tribe, in which the increase of off^pi'ing in the different generations is
30 "arranged with more accordance to probability, the line is oidy Ijrought down (o a few of the priuci-
31 "pal families of the tribe.
32 " In their habits the Kathias differ little from the other Jat tribes. Before the accession of
33 " Ranjit Singh they lived chiefly on cattle graziug and plunder. Like the Kliarrals and Fattianas
34 "they still keep up Hindu ' Paroldts' who take a prominent part at all marriage festivities, an
35 "undoubted sign of their conversion to Muhamm.adanism having been of recent date. They are
36 " a handsome and sturdy race, and like nearly all Jats of the ' Great Ravi ' do nut allow their children
37 " of either sex to marry until they Iiave attained the age of puberty, because, as they justly consider,
38 "too early marriages would be detrimental to the 'physique' of the race. Tlieir chief and favourite
39 "article of food is buttermilk ; the consumption of wheat among them is very inconsiderable."
40 Mr. Purser, however, gives a somewhat different account of their migra-
41 tions. He says : —
42 " The Kathias have been identified with the ' Kathaioi ' of Alexander's time. According to
43 " their account they are descended fruni Raja Karan, Surajbansi. Originally they resided in Kfkaner,
44 " whence they emigrated and founded the State of Kathiawiir. From there tlicy went to Sirsa and
45 "then to Bahawalpur. Ne.xtthey crossed over to Kabula and went onto r)aira Di'upanah. Here they
46 "quarrelled with the Ijilochis and had to leave. They then settled at JVIirali SiiU in Jhang. They
47 "stole the cattle of Alawal Khan of Kamalia, who was killed pursuing them. Saadat Yar Khan
48 " obtained the release of tlieir leaders (who were imprisoned on account of this affair) on condition of
49 "their settling on the Ravi. Tlius the Kathias obtained a footing in this district. They always held
50 "by the Kiimalia KhaiTals, but plundered the others whenever they conld get a chance. The
51 " Kathias are Punwar Rajputs. There are two main divisions ; the Kathias proper, and the
52 " Baghelas."
53 Tliis would make the Kathias of the Ravi immigrants from Kathiawar.
54 But a Pandit of Gujarat who was sent into the Panjab by the Raja of Jazdau,
55 one of the principal Kathiawar States, to make enquiries on the subject, tells
56 me that the Kathiawar Rajputs, who also claim descent from Raja Karan,
57 have a tradition that they came to their present territory from the Panjab via
58 Sindh and Kach. The Kathia tradition is Ihat they were driven out of Sarsa
59 Rania, or the valley of the lower Ghaggar, about the time of Tamerlane's
60 invasion.