This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2023) |
Hindi: मेव; Urdu: میو | |
---|---|
Total population | |
270,000 ~ 600,000 (1984) [1] Punjab: Sindh: | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Haryana, Rajasthan | |
Languages | |
Mewati, Haryanvi, Khariboli, Rajasthani, Urdu | |
Religion | |
Islam | |
Related ethnic groups | |
• Rajputs • Jats • Cheetah • Merat • Qaimkhani • Sindhi-Sipahi • Deshwali • Bhatti Khanzada • Khanzada • Ranghar • Ahir • Meena |
The Meo (Hindi: मेव; Urdu: میو) (pronounced: mev or may-o) (also spelled Mayo or occasionally, Mewati) are an ethnic group from the Mewat region of north-western India. [3] [4]
The term "Meo" means a resident of Mewat, a region that consists of the former Mewat district of Haryana and some parts of adjoining Alwar and Bharatpur districts of Rajasthan and Western Uttar Pradesh. The term Mewati, in terms of use for ethnic classification, is also interchangeable with Meo.
The Meos have a diverse theory of origins. According to one theory, they were Hindu Rajputs who converted to Islam between the 12th and 17th century, [5] [6] [4] until as late as Aurangzeb's rule. Over the centuries, they have maintained their age-old distinctive cultural identity. According to S. L. Sharma and R. N. Srivastava, Mughal persecution had little effect on the strengthening of their Islamic identity, but it reinforced their resistance to Mughal rule. [7]
Another theory suggests that there is also common kinship with the Meenas (Minas), another group found in the Mewat region. [8] [9] A British Raj-era theory [10] that was first briefly suggested by the colonial ethnographer and political agent for Alwar State, Major P. W. Powlett, stated that the Meo are related to the Meenas. In Powlett's 1878 Gazetteer of Ulwur (later spelt Alwar), he comments: "The similarity between the words Meo and Mina suggests that the former may be a contraction of the latter". [11] : 38 He continues by pointing out that several clans in both communities (Singal, Náí, Dúlot, Pimdalot, Dingal, Bálot) have identical names. These are some of the thirteen pals of Meo, each pal a group of (rather than single) gotras or "clans". [12] The pals traditionally encompass a geographical area and may include non-Muslim allies of any caste within that territory. [10] : 141 Powlett mentions the Meo's traditional narrative ballad— understood by Meos as a cultural story, rather than as oral history —of Dariyā Khān ("Daria Meo") and the story of his betrothal to Sisbadani, a Mina woman, their separation and reunion, as possibly suggestive of historical intermarriage between the groups. [11] [10]
According to Shail Mayaram, author, and professor of Subaltern Studies at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, the term Meo was not an interchangeable term of the Minas, as Mewatees was the usual term describing Meos until the nineteenth century. [10] This view was likely constructed from political motives by those with colonial authority. In her view, following the 1857 insurrection in which the Meo joined action against the Company Raj, it was helpful to the British if they could conflate the still-resistant Meos with another nearby group whom they had already classified as "criminal", the Minas. While there had been some instances of Minas prosecuted for theft, dacoity, and similar, in the aftermath of the mutiny, there had been almost no Meo involvement in such cases. [10] Mayaram traces the theory of a Meo–Mina intermixing from its relatively tentative genesis with Powlett, through repetitions of varying strength in colonial reports, to its emergence as a fully-fledged "common origin" in Alexander Cunningham's Eastern Rajputana report. [13] Even the traditional epic of Dariyā Khān and Sisbadani was transmuted from the "story" in Powlett to an acknowledged "historical" event in the later text. [10]
Mewati make up majority of Muslims in Nawabo ka Nimbahera. Historically, the Gorwal Khanzadas of Mewat, Chauhan, Rathore, and Tomar clans of the Meo Rajputs ruled various states of India. [14] [ better source needed ]
Meos speak Mewati, a language of the Indo-Aryan language family, [1] although in some areas the language dominance of Urdu and Hindi has seen Meos adopt these languages instead. [15]
Hindu inhabitants of Mewat, although belonging to the same Kshatriya castes to which the Meos belonged before conversion to Islam, are not called Meo. Thus the word Meo is both region-specific and religion-specific. According to many, Meos come from many Hindu clans who converted to Islam and amalgamated as the Meo community, however there is no solid basis for this claim. [16]
Meos profess Islam but the roots of their ethnic structure are in Hindu caste society. Meos share most of their culture with their Hindu counterparts from neighboring areas in Haryana and Rajasthan. The neighbouring Hindu Jats, [16] Minas, Ahirs and Rajputs share the same mores .[ citation needed ] According to some sources, the Meo community may have a common origin with the Meena community. Such views were especially prominent in colonial-era ethnographies. [17] [18]
Like Hindus of the north, the Meo do not marry within their own gotras although Islam permits marriage with cousins. Solemnization of marriage among Meos was not complete without both nikah and saptapadi. [19] Meos believe that they are direct descendants of Krishna and Rama even as they claim to be among the unnamed prophets of God referred to in the Quran. [4] [20]
Meos claim high-caste Hindu Rajput descent. This may be true for some of them. However, some of them may be descendants of other castes who might have laid claim to Rajput ancestry after converting to Islam to enhance their social standing (Harris 1901:23; Channing 1882:28). The names of many gots (gotra) or exogamous lineages of Meos are common with other Hindu castes as Meena, Ahir and Gujjar who live in their vicinity. It thus seems possible that the Meos belonged to many different castes and not just to the Rajputs; [21] [16] [22] this phenomenon is also seen in other Rajput communities and is not limited to the Meos. [23] [24]
Meos were divided into three vansh, thirteen pals and fifty-two gotras by Rana Kaku Balot Meo in the 13th century. [14] [12] Meos have twelve pals including a thirteenth inferior pal. [25]
Agnivanshi | Chandravanshi | Surajvanshi (5 total) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Pawar (3 total) | Chauhan (10 total) | Tomar (18 total) | Jado (16 total) | |
Khokkar | Chaurasia | Kangar (Kanga) | Nai (Bhamdawat) | Dehangal |
Malik | Jamaliya | Tanwar (Mangaria-Surohiya) | Chhokar | Sengal (Badgujar) |
Pawar (Mewal) | Jonwal | Bilyana | Bhati | Kalisa (Pahat) |
Chauhan | Ratawat | Veer | Godh | |
Kalsia | Sukeda | Bhabla | Gomal | |
Kanwaliya (Kamaaliya) | Gehlot | Jhangala | ||
Mark (Mandar) | Karkatiya | Silania | ||
Pahat | Lamkhara | Kholdar (Untwaal) | ||
Sapolia | Nanglot | Sodola | ||
Saugun | Matyavat | Dulot | ||
Sagadawat | Chhirkalot | |||
Jatlawat | Bhegot | |||
Balot (Bugla) | Naharwad | |||
Kataria | Demrot (Boridha) | |||
Bodhiyan | Poonglot (Sekhawat) | |||
Ludawat or Baghodia | Gorwal (Khanzada) | |||
Majilawat-Jhelawat-Kadawat, Dhatawat-Lalawat |
Meos generally do not follow the Muslim law of inheritance and so among them, like various other communities in the region, custom makes a younger brother or a cousin marry the widow of the deceased by a simple Nikah ceremony. [26]
Despite pressure to do so from the regional princely states of Alwar and Bharatpur, ruled by Gorwal Khanzadas, the Meo Rajput community decided not to migrate to Pakistan during the Partition of India. [14] During 1947, Meo were displaced from Alwar and Bharatpur districts and there was significant loss of life in intercommunal violence. [20] : 191 Earlier, Kathumar, Nadbai, Kumher, Kherli, Bhusawar, Weir and Mahwa was heavily populated with the Meo population.[ citation needed ] The population of Meos drastically decreased in Alwarand and Bharatpur. [20] : 191 However, many old mosques from pre-independence era are still present there.
In 1947, Mahatma Gandhi visited Ghasera, a village in present-day Nuh district to urge the Muslims living there not to leave, calling the Meos "Iss desh ki reed ki haddi" or 'the backbone of the country', India. Due to this, the people of Ghasera still celebrate Mewat Day. [27] [28] Because of Gandhi some Meos were resettled in Laxmangarh, Nagar, Kaman and Deeg. Chaudhary Rahim Khan from the village of Sultanpur-Punahana is said to be the individual who united the Meo Samaj (Meo people) after they were scattered across India.[ citation needed ]
Although on the whole the community did not migrate, there were a number of gotras of the Rajput Meos who, on an individual basis, did decide to relocate to Pakistan during partition. They were mostly settled in Pakistani districts of Sialkot, Lahore, Karachi, Narowal, Dera Ghazi Khan, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Multan, Haiderabad and Kasur, among others. [14]
Resisting Regimes is the first political anthropological and social-historical study detailing the Meos. [29]
Alwar is a city located in India's National Capital Region and the administrative headquarters of Alwar District in the state of Rajasthan. It is located 150 km south of Delhi and 150 km north of Jaipur.
The Rajputana Agency was a political office of the British Indian Empire dealing with a collection of native states in Rajputana, under the political charge of an Agent reporting directly to the Governor-General of India and residing at Mount Abu in the Aravalli Range. The total area of the states falling within the Rajputana Agency was 127,541 square miles (330,330 km2), with eighteen states and two estates or chiefships.
Mewat is a historical and cultural region which encompasses parts of the modern-day states of Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh in north-western India.
Khanzada Mirza Khan Abdul Rahim, popularly known as simply Rahim and titled Khan-i-Khanan, was a poet who lived in India during the rule of Mughal emperor Akbar, who was Rahim's mentor. He was one of the nine important ministers (dewan) in Akbar's court, known as the Navaratnas. Rahim was known for his Hindustani dohe (couplets) and his books on astrology.
Muslim Rajputs or Musalman Rajpoots are the descendants of Rajputs in the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent who generally are followers of Islam. Reportedly, they converted from Hinduism to Islam from the medieval period onwards, creating various dynasties and states while retaining Hindu surnames such as Chauhan. Today, Muslim Rajputs can be found mostly in present-day Northern India and Pakistan. They are further divided into different clans.
Rajput is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Rajput covers various patrilineal clans historically associated with warriorhood: several clans claim Rajput status, although not all claims are universally accepted. According to modern scholars, almost all Rajputs clans originated from peasant or pastoral communities.
Gurgaon district, officially known as Gurugram district, is one of the 22 districts of Haryana in northern India. The city of Gurgaon is the administrative headquarters of the district. The population is 1,514,432. It is one of the southern districts of Haryana. On its north, it is bounded by the district of Jhajjar and the Union Territory of Delhi. Faridabad district lies to its east. To its south lie the districts of Palwal and Nuh. To the west lies Rewari district.
Mewati is an Indo-Aryan language spoken predominantly by the Meo people. It has three million speakers in the Mewat Region. While other people groups in the region also speak the Mewati language, it is one of the defining characteristics of the Meo culture.
Nuh district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana in northern India. The district is known for having the largest Muslim population in Haryana.
Nuh (Hind/Urdu: [nũːɦ], is a city and administrative headquarters of the Nuh district, located in the state of Haryana within the National Capital Region of India. It lies on the National Highway 248, also known as the Gurgaon-Sohna-Alwar highway, about 45 kilometres from Gurgaon.
Tijara is a city and a municipality in Khairthal-Tijara district of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Tijara comes under the NCR area and is situated 55 km to the northeast of Alwar. The nearest railway station to Tijara is Khairthal. Bhiwadi is a census town in Tijara. It is the biggest industrial area of Rajasthan and part of the historical Ahirwal Mewat region. Tijara is dominated by Yadav and Meo community. The new political map has not erased the ancient Ahirwal-Mewat boundaries. Ahirwal was a post-Mughal principality ruled by Ahirs or Yadavs.
The Gurjar are an Indo-Aryan agricultural ethnic community, residing mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were traditionally involved in agriculture, pastoral and nomadic activities and formed a large heterogeneous group. The historical role of Gurjars has been quite diverse in society: at one end they have been founders of several kingdoms and dynasties and, at the other end, some are still nomads with no land of their own.
The history of human settlement in the western Indian state of Rajasthan dates back to about 100,000 years ago. Around 5000 to 2000 BCE many regions of Rajasthan belonged as the site of the Indus Valley Civilization. Kalibangan is the main Indus site of Rajasthan, here fire altars have been discovered, similar to those found at Lothal.
Gandhi Gram Ghasera or Ghasera is a village in Nuh district of Haryana state in northern India. It is dominated by Meos. Gandhi was added to its name after it was visited by Mahatma Gandhi who asked the predominantly Muslim Meos to not migrate to Pakistan.
Ghasera Fort is a ruined fort in Ghasera village in Nuh district of Haryana state in northern India, which has been notified as a protected monument by the state government. Currently, the majority of the residents of the village are Muslim Meos, though Hindus also live there.
Raja Bahadur Nahar Khan was the ruler of Mewat and the progenitor of Khanzada Rajput clan who were themselves a sub-clan of Jadaun Rajputs. His original name was Sambhar Pal and later came to be known as Nahar Singh. He and his brother Sopar Pal embraced Islam under the influence of Firuz Shah Tughlaq after he annexed their estates. He was also known as Wali-e-Mewat Raja Bahadur Nahar Khan
The Badgujar also known as Bargujar is a clan of Rajputs. They are also a distinct caste in the Indian state of Maharashtra.
The Mewat State was a sovereign kingdom ruled by the Khanzadas of Mewat. They were a ruling dynasty of Muslim Rajputs from Rajputana who had their capital at Alwar. The Khanzadas were Muslim Rajputs who descended from Raja Sonpar Pal who was a Rajput who converted to Islam during the period of the Delhi Sultanate in India.
Deeg district is a district in Rajasthan state in northwestern India. It is bordered by Haryana to the north, Uttar Pradesh to the east, Bharatpur district to the south, and Alwar district to the west.
Resisting Regimes: Myth, Memory, and the Shaping of a Muslim Identity is a political anthropological account and social history detailing the Meo, an ethnic group native to the Mewat region in north-western India—the birthplace of Tablighi Jamaat. Authored by Shail Mayaram and published by Oxford University Press in 1997, this work is recognized as the first in its genre. Through a combination of archival research and fieldwork, the book scrutinizes the intricate processes of state formation and the evolution of ethnic identity within a dynamic milieu marked by nationalist fervor, ritual sovereignty, pan-Indian and global movements, tensions between Hindu and Muslim organizations, and instances of genocidal violence in the princely states of Alwar and Bharatpur during the twentieth century. The narrative develops through the lens of the Meo oral tradition. The author argues for a liminal identity for the Meos, incorporating elements of Hindu, tantric, and Islamic beliefs. Over time, historical events catalyzed an Islamization process within the Meo community, particularly influenced by the presence of Tablighi Jama'at. This book is an integral component of the author's broader project focused on Meo oral traditions in eastern Rajasthan.
The essentialist view of human nature can be seen from his attempt to establish the identity of both tribe and clan names. 'Meo' is even seen as a contraction of Mina. The evidence, however, indicates that up to the nineteenth century the Meos were referred to as 'Mewatees'. In Powlett's work we see a deliberate attempt to establish a Meo-Mina relationship. He describes the Minas as a former ruling group who are the 'famous marauders ...'
Though Meos claim to be of Rájpút origin, there are grounds for believing that many spring from the same stock as the Mínás. The similarity between the words Meo and Míná suggests that the former may be a contraction of the latter. Several of the respective clans are identical (Singal, Náí, Dúlot, Pimdalot, Dingal, Bálot), and a story of one Daria Meo and his lady love, Sísbadaní Míná, seems to show that they formerly intermarried. In Bolandshahr a caste called Meo Mínás is spoken of in the Settlement Report, which would seem further to connect the two. However, it is probable enough that apostate Rájpúts and bastard sons of Rájpúts founded many of the clans, as the legends tell.
A definite commentary may be discerned underlying this apparently descriptive statement. First, Powlett rejects the Meo's own claims to Ksatriya descent. This is difficult to reconcile with Powlett's later statement that 'apostate Rajputs founded many of the clans as the legends tell'. Second, his concern is obviously with a common racial stock. Powlett reflects a major problematic of nineteenth-century European anthropology and ethnology that centered on questions of race and racial classification in accordance with physical appearance.
The Meo kinship structure is closer to the Jat system prevalent in Punjab and Rajasthan where the subcaste comprises segmented exogamous intermarrying gots rather than to the Muslim system in which women are retained within the descent group.
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