Kathia

The Kathia are a Muslim tribe. The Kathia is the sub cast of Jutts descended from a Jutt prince named Kathia who lived about the time of their conversion to Islam, in the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. An attempt has been made to identify the tribe with the Kathoei, who in their stronghold at Sangla Hill, who are said to have resisted the victorious army of Alexander the Great. Kathias are notorious for their background as warriors.

According to their traditions, the Kathia are descended from the legendary Rajah Karan of the Mahabharat. Originally they resided in Bikaner, whence they migrated and founded the state of Kathiawar, which takes its name from the Kathia tribe, and is in modern day Gujarat State of India. The region of Kathiawar is named after the Kathi tribe, who claim to be Suryavanshi and not Panwar Rajputs. Although it is possible, that groups of Kathi tribesmen migrated to Punjab in the middle ages, as the Kathi were also a pastoral tribe.

Coming back to the Kathia, there legends to talk about Sirsa as their first place of settlement in Punjab. From Sirsa, a further migration took them to Bahawalpur. In this migration, they were accompanied by a few families of the Baghela tribe. Next they crossed over to Kabula stream and went on to Daira Dinpanah. From this place they spread over to Kamalia, Sahiwal and Lalamusa.