Kahut
Kahut (कहूत), Jat clan is found in Shahpur, Gujrat, Rawalpindi, Hazara and Jhelum in Pakistan.[1]
Origin
History
H.A. Rose[2] writes that Kahut give their name to the Kahuta hills of Rawalpindi (now hold by the Ketwal and Dhanial) and to the town of Kahuta now a Janjua possession. Their present head-quarters are found in the Salt Range and give its name to the Kahutani ilaqa of Chakwal tahsil. They now declare that they were originally located in Arabia, and are Qureshis, the present tribal name being merely that of their common ancestor: 24 generations ago, about the year A. D. 1359 their ancestor Said Nawab Ali migrated to Delhi, in the reign of " Firoz Shah Ghori": (Firoz Tughlaq, son of Muhammad Tughlaq, is no doubt meant: he reigned from 1351 to 1388 A. D.): on the way to Delhi
[Page-436]: they fought and conquered a pagan king of Sialkot, named Sain Pal, who was, they say, probably a Dogra prince. On reaching Delhi they paid their respects to the king who ordered them to hold the Dhanni and the Salt Range on his behalf: under the leadership of Kahut, the son of Nawab Ali, they accordingly retraced their steps to this district, and settled first at Gragnelpur, of which the ruined site is shown in Mauza Wariamal near the foot of the Salt Range : here they remained for some time, realising the revenue from the Janjuas of the hills and the Gujar graziers of the Dhanni, and remitting it to Delhi. The Mairs and Kassars had not then arrived in these parts, but came six or seven generations afterwards. The eastern Dhanni was then a lake, which on the coming of Babar was drained at his command, the Kahuts taking part in the work and colonising the land reclaimed. Chaudhri Sahnsar, 8th in descent from Kahut, was their ancestor in the time of Babar.
They have no peculiar customs, except that the males of the tribe never wear blue clothes, or, if they do, fall ill: this is ascribed to the vow of a sick ancestor. The tribe is not divided into clans. They inter marry to some extent with Mairs and Kassars, and now and then with Awans, both giving and taking daughters : but usually marry within the tribe.* The remarriage of widows is permitted, but is not customary in good families: where it is allowed, it is not necessary that the widow should marry her deceased husband's brother.
The mirasis of the tribe give some of the usual rhymes : one relates to the passage of Babar through Kallar Kahar, the first two lines being as given by the Kassar mirasis, with the addition of a third, :Kahut potre Abu Tālab de awwal a'e :
but the latter does not hang well together with what precedes it : the abu Talab referred to was the uncle of the Prophet. Another runs :
- Kahut charhia Dihlion sat mār nagāre :
- chār hazār bhirā aur kamani sāre :
- Kahut Dhonā surkhru hoiā :
- sunniā chandal sāre.
Dhona is the name of a Kahut leader, they say. A third is a war song relating to fights of the Kahuts with the Janjuas.
Like the Mairs and Kassars they seem to have been ever violent and masterful, and to have retained their independence in a singular degree, but though they differ little in character and appearance from those tribes it is doubtful whether they are of the same stock. Though they may be regarded as Rajputs by status they do not appear to have ever claimed Rajput descent and indeed their bards claimed for them Mughal origin.
Notable persons
External links
References
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