Kata People - History

History

In 1895, following conquest by Emir Abdur Rahman Khan, the Katir Kafir people in Afghanistan were forcibly converted to Islam. The former Kafiristan Kafiri were renamed Nuristani (The Enlightened Ones) from the proper noun Nuristan (Land of Light). Presently they are known by Nuristani Kata or simply Kata.

Georg Morgenstierne visited the Bashgul Valley in 1929 during his field work on Nuristani (Kafir) languages. He encountered the two last remaining unconverted "Kafir" priests of the region, called Bagashai and Kareik. Both men were dead by 1935.

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 Kata of Chitral

The Katir/Katir or Kata Kafir group was numerically the most dominant group of the Siah-Posh (Turkish "Black Scarf") 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 Kantozi 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 American investigator Richard Strand's website suggests that the name Kamtoz/Kamtozi may apply to all Katirs of the former Siah-Posh group, including the Ramguli and Kulam Katirs .

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

Despite their fiercely independent nature the Katis together with the Kom tribe were tributary to the Mehtar of Chitral. The nature of this tributary relationship was inconsistent because the Katis and Koms would often raid Chitrali territory for livestock and head-hunting. In retaliation for this the Mehtars would invade the Bashgul Valley and enslave entire villages. During the reign of Mehtar Aman-ul-Mulk the relationship was formalized and the Kafirs would pay an annual tribute of slaves.

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.