Kata (people)

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The Katir or Kator/Kata are a Nuristani tribe in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Contents

[edit] History

In 1895, following their conquest by Emir Abdur Rahman Khan, the Katir Kafir people in Afghanistan were converted to Islam. Every former Kafiristan Kafiri were renamed Nuristani (The Enlightened Ones) respectively Nuristan (Land of Light). In present time there are now known Nuristani Kata or simply Kata.

Around 1890, the Katir Kafir division was further sub-divided as under:

  • The Katirs of Bashgul Valley.
  • The Katirs or the Kti Valley,
  • The Kulam Katirs of the Kulam country and
  • The Ramguli Katirs of Ramgul Valley.

The Katir/Katir or Kata Kafir group was numerically the most dominant group of the Siah-Posh tribes. They owned approximately forty villages in the Bashgul valley and numbered about 40,000 (1890).

The upper part of the Bashgul Valley of Nuristan (Afghanistan) is known as Katirgul. It is called Lutdeh in Chitrali and Kamtoz in Pashto.

According to George Scott Robertson, the Katir Siah-Posh clan settled in Katirgul valley was called Kamtoz (or Camtoz) in Pashto and Lutdehhchis in Chitrali (The Kafirs of the Hindukush, p 71). But, according to recent American investigator Richard Strand's website, the name Kamtoz/Kamtozi seems to apply to all Katirs of the former Siah-Posh group, including the Ramguli and Kulam Katirs [1].

Alternative names for Kamtoz are Camtozi, Kantozi. Alternative forms of Katir and 'Kator and Kata. Katawar or Kator is also is the name of the northern mountainous region of Kafiristan.

Numerous scholars have connected the names Katir/Kator/Kata and Kam/Kom with ancient Kambojas and identified the Kafirs, especially the Siah-Posh Kafirs, as having descended from ancient Kambojas. (H.H. Wilson, M. Elphinstone, Bombay Gazetteer, D. Wilber, M. C. Gillet, W. K. Fraser Tytler, R. L. Mitra, H. C. Raychaudhury, J.R.A.S. 1843, J.A.S.B. 1874 etc etc)

[edit] Encounter with Timur

Timur invaded Afghanistan in 1398. On the basis of local complaints of ill-treatment and extortions filed by the Muslims against the Kafirs, Timur personally attacked the Kators of the Siah-Posh group located north-east of Kabul in Eastern Afghanistan .

The Kators left their fort Najil and took refuge at the top of the hill. Timur razed the fort to ground, burnt their houses and surrounded the hill where the Kator had collected for shelter. The relic of the historic fort is said to still exist a little north to Najil in the form of a structure known as Timur Hissar (Timur's Fort). After a tough fight, some of the Kators were defeated and were instantly put to death while the others held out against heavy odds for three days. Timur offered them the usual alternative of death or Islam. They chose the latter, but soon recanted and attacked the regiment of Muslim soldiers during night. The latter being on guard, fought back, killed numerous Kators and took 150 as prisoners and put them to death afterwards.

Next day, Timur ordered his troops to advance on all four sides to kill all men, enslave the women and children and plunder or lay waste all their property.

In his autobiography called Tuzak-i-Timuri, Timur proudly boasts of the towers of the skulls of the Kators which he built on the mountain in the auspicious month of Ramazan A.H. 800 (1300 CE) (See: Tuzak-i-Timuri, III, pp 400)

[edit] References

  • The Kafirs of Hindukush, 1896, George Scott Robertson
  • An Account of the Kingdom of Caubol, London, M Elphinstone
  • Tribes of Hindukush, Craz (Austria), 1971, J Biddulph
  • "The Kâta". Retrieved July 4, 2006, from Richard F. Strand: Nuristan, Hidden Land of the Hindu-Kush.

[edit] See also


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