They

themselves derive the name Kathi fror

Scythian (Skuthos) and were certainly in
India in the sixth century B.C. Indeed

they appear to have been one of the

earliest waves of that flood of invasion which
repeatedly overwhelmed India until the

Sikh monarchy closed once and for all the

northern passes. That the fate of the Kathi invaders was
the Rajputs* was due to their earlier coming.

less

fortunate than that of

The power of the Aryan conquerors of

India was still unbroken, and although
the Kathis might force their way into the
great peninsula,

its spoils

were not for them.

(c.A.kincaid, outlaws of kathiyawad page-5)

(

)

.

6

.

,

.
.
.
.

. ( ) .
Kathi landholders who
had been turned out of their villages by more
powerful neighbours.
their servants

and

They then called out

relatives

and ravaged and

murdered until they were either exterminated,

or until the wrong-doer realised,;that peace at
any price was his only hope of conducting the government of his taluka and
reinstated the

outlaw in his ancestral lands.(page-3)

;-

.

The
Kathis, however,

came

at last into their

Kingdom. For nearly 2,000 years a wandering

tribe, they in 1400 A.D. entered
Kathiawar from Cutch and seized Than
and Chotila from the Sodha Parmars. At
first mere robbers, they after man} struggles
establishced themselves at the breakup
of the Mogul empire firmly in the. 9
centre of the province. They were, however,
time of
Ranjitsing, a loosely knit confederacy, and
they were unable in the 18th century to
like the Sikhs before the

make headway against the growing power

of Junagadh. Then it was that many of
the smaller landholders wrote over part of
their lands to the surrounding administrations
in order to secure protection for thei^
remainder. But this promised protection was
not always obtained. It often happened that

when

the protecting State had acquired part

of the Kathis' land,

it

hungered

^for

the

'

remainder. It would then provoke quarrels,

and on some pretext or other violate its

agreement. It was useless for the Kathi to
seek redress in the State's

own

Courts, so,

and relatives, and

placing his wife and children in some friendly
shelter, he w^ould turn his back on the homestead
where his family had lived for centuries,
and, making the Gir his Sherwood forest,
proceed*' to rob and murder in every direction
calling together his servants

until death, treachery, or ,redress closed

his picturesque but baneful career.

;- 2000 ,
, 1400
. .

 . .

18 .
( ) .
( )
. . .
.

.

The
Kathisontheotherhandkept,andindeed
keeptothisday,thegenealogyoftheir
horsesforseveralhundredyearsandwith
muchgreateraccuracythantheirown.