THE JETHWAS OP PORBANDAR

had so grown that almost all the principal rulers were
followers of that persuasion. But Brahmanism after-
wards asserted itself, and, its sister-religion dying out,
Buddhist converts became Kshatryas or Rajputs. The
Jethwas are undoubtedly the oldest Rajput race in
Kathiawad, and their history is so mixed with prehistoric
legends that it is almost impossible to trace their descent.
So far as these mythical tales go, those in respect of the
Jethwas afford excellent support to Darwin's theory of
the Evolution of man. For the bards say that when
Hanuman, the monkey-god, was crossing the bridge of
monkeys from India to Ceylon a drop of perspiration from
his body fell into the sea, where a crocodile swallowed it.
The result of this incident was the birth of the first Jethwa,
and among many of the ignorant peoples of Kathiawad
it is firmly believed to this day that the Jethwas possess
tails ! But such a legend, interesting as it may be, must
give place to a far more possible explanation of the
Jethwa origin. The similarity of the name " Jethwa "
with " Jit" and " Jat" makes it appear most likely
that the Scythians from the North were their ancestors,
and this is to a certain extent borne out by the bardic
legend to the effect that the Jethwas were first established
at Shrinagar. It is nearly certain, however, that this
cannot be the town of the name which is situated a few
miles West of the present home of the Jethwa family at
Porbandar. In the first place, their first settlement in
Saurashtra was not so far South, and what are now Morvi
and Nawanagar were the places they first occupied.
They do not appear, however, to have remained here long,
and migrated to Dhank, in the Southern portion of what
is now Nawanagar territory, where at the end of the
first century A.D. Nagarjana Jethwa held sway. Subse-
quently they built and fortified their stronghold at Ghumli
in the Barda Hills, moving at a later period, about the
year A.D. 1313, to Ranpur, and afterwards, in A.D* 1574,

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