221 
1894.] E. Vansittart— Tribes, Clans , and Castes of Nepal. 
makes no use of this material, out of which a regiment or two could 
easily be raised. 
Khattris. —About Khattris, Dr. L. Hamilton says :— 
“ The descendants of Brahmans by women of the lower tribes, although admit¬ 
ted to be Khas (or impure), are called Kshattris or Khattris, which terms are 
considered as perfectly synonymous.” 
It would seem, however, that some proper Khattris, called “Deo- 
kotas,” from Bareilly, did settle in the country, and intermarried with 
the Khas Khattris. All the Khattris wear the thread, and are consider¬ 
ed as belonging to the military tribes. 
Since the return of Jang Bahadur from England, a number of 
Gurkha Khas have taken to calling themselves Chattris. There is no 
such man in the whole of Nepal as a Gurkha Ohattri. 
Khas there are, and Khattris there are also, but Chattris there are 
none, and it is merely a title borrowed latterly from India. 1 
Brian Hodgson also mentions a tribe called Ekthariyas, the 
descendants of more or less pure Rajputs and other Ksatriyas of the 
plains. They claimed a vague superiority to the Khas, but the great 
tide of events around them has now thoroughly confounded the two races 
in all essentials, and therefore they will not be shown as a separate 
tribe, but be included with Khas. Brian Hodgson says :— 
“ The Khas were, long previously to the age of Prthvi Narayana extensively spread 
over the whole of the Chaubisia, and they are now to be found in every part of the 
existing kingdom of Nepal, as well as in Kumaon, which was part of Nepal until 
1816. The Khas are more devoted to the house of Gurkha, as well as more liable 
to Brahmanical prejudices than the Magars or Gurungs, and on both accounts are 
perhaps somewhat less desirable as soldiers for our service than the latter tribes. 2 
I say somewhat, because it is a mere question of degree, the Khas having certainly 
no religious prejudices nor probably any national partialities which would prevent 
their making excellent and faithful servants-in-arms ; and they possess pre-eminently 
that masculine energy of character and love of enterprise which distinguish so ad¬ 
vantageously all the military races of Nepal. 
Matwala Khas —To the north and to the west of Sallian numbers 
of Matwala Khas are to be found. They are rarely if ever found to the 
east of the Gandak river. There can be no doubt that this race found 
its origin somewhere about Sallian, or perhaps still further west. 
The Matwala Khas is generally the progeny of a Khas of Western 
Nepal with a Magar woman of western Nepal. If the woman happens 
1 Khattri and Chattri are really the same word, both being corruptions of 
Esatriya. Ed. 
2 This was written in 1832, namely, only sixteen years after our war with Nepal 
and it is on that account that Brian Hodgson says the Khas are somewhat less 
desirable as soldiers for our service—not for want of bravery or soldierly qualities. 
