Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.4.5

c48.s2.4.5

There seems to be little doubt but that the three tribes are all of allied Scythic origin, and became Rājput during the Brāhmanic revival, Jāṭ when the Sikhs rose to power, and claimants to Mughal blood now that the influence of Islām reigns supreme in this region. Among the tribes belonging traditionally to this part of India may be counted the Kāṭhī, though in the present day they are found under this title only in the western peninsula to which they have given their name, and even there in but small numbers. In the Panjāb they consider themselves a subclan of the Panvār Rājput, and are thus merged in the general mass of that order. In Kāṭhiāwāḍ they preserve the tradition of migration from Bīkaner and Mūltān, the latter being the very tract in which they were found by Alexander as a foreign nomadic body, successfully resisting the expeditions sent against them by neighbouring Āryan potentates. It is conjectured, therefore, that these, too, are Scythic tribes connected with the rulers of Taxila at that period, and were driven into exile through Sindh into Kach by the Muslim invasions. They are now principally cultivators, but keep green the remembrance of their original occupation of cowherds by breeding horses and cattle. They also retain their ancestral sun-worship, and a rude representation of that luminary is affixed to all their formal documents.