They claim descent from Rao Mehraji, and so called Mehrat, later came to be known as Mehrat. Rao Mehraji was in the lineage of Rao Anhal Chauhan whome some believe to be the descendant of Nadol Chauhans and still some believe to be the descendant of Prithviraj Chauhan's brother Hariraj Chauhan. The evidence to it is the local folklores and verbal traditions. The mehrats held important thikanas whose ruins can still be seen; the fort of Athun, Jhak and the fort of Shyamgarh were the major ones. Many small thikanas were also held by mehrats, the ruins of the borwa rawala can be seen in the borwa village. All this proves beyond doubt that the Mehrats-Kathat are of rajput descent.webmagra.orf-----. Mehraji which received the title of Katha had four sons – Karnaji, Gajiji, Jodhaji and Haapaji which come to be known as Kathat. The descendants of the first three sons formed the three gotras or dangs of the Kathats, namely Gajawats,jodhas descendants of the rawla borwa, aapaji bore no child. The region they settled in is now called Merwara, after the Kathat-Mehrat, who are the dominant group in the region, which forms part of Ajmer District. They adopted and practiced three Muslim customs in 1393 to the present time; circumcision, nikah, and burial of the dead, the rest of all traditions were a hybrid mixture of Hindu-Muslim traditions. Later due to the activities of Islamic and Hindu hardliner organizations they have divided into two camps, the Kathat-Mehrat camp which use the word kathat to emphasize their three Muslim practices religion and the Chouhan-Mehrat camp that follow Hindu traditions like the Rawats. Kathat people are very brave, The English army had been defeated by their ancestors many time. Beawar was founded by Colonel Dixon in 1835 because they were afraid of Kathat people.
Distribution
The Kathat have four sub-divisions, known as dangs. These dangs are exogamous. They claim that the Rawat are also related to them. Harraji or kathaji, one of the ancestor of the tribe was the Cousin brother of Goraji, the ancestor of the Rawat. The Dang are arranged in hierarchy, with those descended from younger siblings having a lower status. So the dang of Chang village, descended from Karnaji, have the highest status, the present Thakur of Chang is Thakur Kalu Khan Each dang is headed by a patel, and there is no marriage within the dang. The Kathat speak Marwari among themselves, while Hindi with outsiders. Like other North Indian communities, they have a well organized council of elders. Each village has its own council of elders, who settle disputes within the community over land or theft. These councils often impose fines on those who commit acts that are seen to transgress the local norms. The Dang is headed by tikayats, who sit on these councils, and the tikayat of the Chang dang heads the caste councils. They are a community of farmers, but their landholdings are extremely small. The Merwara region also suffers from drought, and many Merat are daily wage laborers and Indian Army soldiers. The Kathat, unlike other Muslim Rajput communities of Rajasthan, such as the Qaimkhani, Meo, Sindhi-Sipahi and Rath, have still maintained a culture that is a hybrid of Hindu and Muslim traditions. Often their personal names are a mixture of both Hindu and Muslim names. Marriages continued to take place with the Rawat, a neighboring Hindu community, in previous time until at a community meeting both communities met to discontinue inter-community marriages in between the communities; now Kathat marriage only takes place with exogamy with other kathat dangs or with Cheeta of Ajmer. They visit the Lake Pushkar on the Kartik Purnima, as well as visiting the famous Muslim shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer.
