Katirs
Categories: Ethnic group stubs | Indo-European
The Siah-Posh Kafir tribal group of Kafirstan (present Nuristan) includes five divisions or clans as under:
The Katir division is further sub-divided as under:
- The Katirs of Bashgul Valley.
- The Ktis or the Katawers of Kti Valley,
- The Kulam Katirs of the Kulam country and
- The Ramguli Katirs of Ramgul Valley.
The Katir group is 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 Nurestan (Afghanistan) is known as Katirgul. It is called Lutdeh in Chitrali and Kamtoz in Pushtu.
According to George Scott Robertson, the Katir Siah-Posh clan settled in Katirgul valley is called Kamtoz (or Camtoz) in Pushtu 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 Siah-Posh group, including the Ramguli and Kulam Katirs [1].
Alternative names for Kamtoz are Camtozi, Kantozi.
Alternative forms of Katir are Kator, Katawar, Katawer and Kata. Katawar also is the name of the northern moutainous region of Kafirstan.
Numerous scholars have connected the names Kamtoz and the Kams (Kamoz) with ancient Kamboja 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, J.R.A.S. 1843, J.A.S.B. 1874 etc etc)
Katir Siah-Poshes in History
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 Katirs of the Siah-Posh group located north-east of Kabol in Eastern Afghanistan .
The Katirs 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 Katirs 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 Katirs 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 gaurd, fought back, killed numerous Katirs 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 Katirs which he built on the mountain in the auspicious month of Ramazan A.H. 800 (1300 CE) (See: Tuzak-i-Timuri , III, pp 400)
See also: [2]
See also
External links
Kata [3]