Between 1881 and 1915, census officers, district gazetteers and army recruiters all wrote about the Kethwals. Read together, their accounts agree on one point: we were in the Murree Hills first.
The 1881 census
The Census of India of 1881 counted 1,834 Kethwals. At that time the whole tribe lived in five villages of Murree Tehsil, with Charhan by far the largest.
The Rawalpindi Gazetteer, 1907
The district gazetteer describes the Kethwals as wedged between the Dhund to the west and the Satti to the east. It records that they owned three villages: Charihan, the largest village in Murree Tehsil, and two small hamlets split from it at the last land settlement. It compares their character to that of the Dhund, notes that they took no part in the Mutiny, and accepts their claim to be the oldest of the four chief hill tribes.
Rose’s Glossary
H. A. Rose’s Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province calls the Kethwal a Rajput tribe of Rawalpindi. He places them in the hills south of the Satti country, groups them with the Dhund and Satti, and records their claim to be older inhabitants than either. He also notes a tradition that the Dhund once nearly wiped them out.
Wikely’s Punjabi Musalmans, 1915
Written as a handbook for army recruiting officers, J. M. Wikely’s Punjabi Musalmans gives the Kethwals a strength of 1,250 men, living on the Charihan spur of the Murree range. It names the Zaildar of Charihan and one or two pensioned Indian officers as the leading men of the tribe, and records that Kethwals intermarry with the Dhund, Satti and Dhanyal.
These colonial accounts were written by outsiders and should be read with care. They are still valuable: they are the earliest written proof of the Kethwals’ place in the Murree Hills. See the full list on our sources page.