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[[File:Kathi man.png|thumb|A Kathi man, 1911.]]
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2019}}
The '''Kathi people''' is a small group of clans found in the peninsular [[Kathiawar]] (now called [[Saurashtra (region)|Saurashtra)]] region of [[Gujarat]], western India. It was from the Kathis that the [[Maratha Empire]] and later the [[British Raj]] named the [[Saurashtra (region)|Saurashtra region]] as Kathiawar until it was renamed Saurashtra, as the Kathis were prominent there during the 17th-18th centuries. According to A. M. Shah, Kathis are a peasant caste.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shah |first=Arvind |title=Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat |publisher=Hindustan Publishing Corporation |year=1988 |pages=4 }}</ref>

Their ''kuladevatā'' is [[Solar deity|the Sun]]. According to tradition, a Kāṭhī called Vāloji fled from Pāvāgaḍh. He defeated Jām Abdā of Thān with the help of the Sun god, and in return Vāloji repaired the sun temple on Kandolā Hill (originally built by Māndhātā in [[Satya Yuga]]). Vāloji's daughter Sonabāi became the priestess of the temple, and married Vālerā Jālu. Sonabāi's descendants, known as Bhagats, form the main sun-worshipping strand of Kāṭhīs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bhatt |first=P. N. |title=Proceedings & Transactions of the All India Oriental Conference: Seventeenth Session, Ahmedabad |publisher=All India Oriental Congress |year=1953 |pages=435 |chapter=The Sun-Cult in Gujarat and Saurashtra}}</ref>

There are several branches of Kāṭhīs, including Vaḷā, Sakhāyat, Khumān, Khācar, and Auratiya. The Vaḷā Kāṭhīs were formed when a Vaḷā Rājput married a Kāṭhī woman. The Auratiyas were formed on another occasion when Rājputs married Kāṭhi women. Historically, Kāṭhī women were known to marry Rājput men; however, marriages with Āhirs and Bābariās were more common.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Desai |first=I.P |title=Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat |publisher=Hindustan Publishing Corporation |year=1988 |pages=60, 134, 135 |chapter=A Critique on "Division and Hierarchy"}}</ref>

The Kathis practiced the partition of territory upon a rulers death, in which his territory would be carved out among his sons. However, the British encourage the practice of [[primogeniture]], in which a ruler's territory would be completely inherited by his eldest son (or whomever was next in succession). The British favored this practice because it was easier to maintain control over a few large states rather than hundreds of small ones. However by the late 1920s, only a few Kathi rulers had adopted primogeniture.<ref>{{Cite book|last=McLeod|first=John|title=Sovereignty, Power, Control: Politics in the State of Western India, 1916-1947|publisher=Brill|year=1999|pages=13, 196, XI}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Karve|first=Irawati|title=Kinship Organization in India|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal|year=1990|pages=172}}</ref><ref name=":0">International Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds Page 251-252</ref> Government of India has added them in [[Other Backward Class]] in the central list of Gujarat due to their educational backwardness.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Central OBC list, Gujarat |url=http://ncbc.nic.in/User_Panel/GazetteResolution.aspx?Value=mPICjsL1aLuo5Ww%2fEcQPqeqoATXAB7p%2fQEBF7wOoZVUZeNdA4Fs5xoHN3KPmF8ST |access-date=2021-07-13 |website=National Commission for Backward Classes}}</ref>

==Culture==
Kathi people are horse lovers and keep [[Kathiawari (horse)|Kathiawari]] horses, which are known worldwide.<ref name=":0">International Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds Page 251-252</ref>{{qn|date=July 2017}}<ref>, Bonnie Hendricks (1995). [https://books.google.com/books?id=CdJg3qXssWYC ''International Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds'']. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. {{ISBN|9780806127538}}. Pages 251–252.</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}6. Books of The [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25189489 History of Kathiawad from the Earliest Times by Captain Wilberforce-Bell]

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[[Category:Indian castes]]
{{India-ethno-stub}}

Kathi people - Revision history

CleanupBot at 06:16, 24 July 2023