Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c16.11

c16.11

The 'Kathaians' have been restored by some scholars into the Sanskrit 'Kshatriyas'.‡ This restoration is untenable. First of all the forms of words which the Greek writers give are based on Sanskrit pronunciation, and Katha would be a Prakritic form, and, therefore, an exception. When the whole country (Punjab) used Sanskrit forms, it is unreasonable to take Kathai as based on a Prākṛita form. Then, it is questionable whether even from the Prākṛita of Kshatriya we would get Kathai; we would get some word like *Khattiya*.