ME WAT
313
MewāL-An ill-defined tract lying south of Delhi, and including
part of the British Districts of Muttra and Gurgaon, and most of
Alwar and a little of Bharatpur State. It takes its name from the
Meos, who appear to have been originally the same as the Minds of
.Rdjputana, but say that they have not intermarried with these since
the time of Akbar. The origin of the name Meo is disputed, some
deriving it from Mewdt, which is said to be the Sanskrit mint-vatz,
`rich in fish,' while the Meos themselves derive it from maheo, a word
used in driving cattle. Mind is said to come from Amina Meo or
`pure' Meo, a term applied to those who did not become Musalmans.
The Hindu Meos and Minds claim to be Rajputs, but are not so
regarded by other Hindus, and it is certain that outsiders have often
been admitted in the past. Their tribal constitution varies in different
places. The Muhammadan Meos call themselves Mewatis. In 19or
there were 10,546 Meos and Minds in the United Provinces, chiefly in
the Districts of Meerut (916), Bulandshahr (4,745), Agra (9o6), Bijnor
(1,263), Budaun (884), and Moradabad (1,070); and 51,028 Mewdti5,
chiefly in the Meerut'(22,576), Agra (7,316), and Rohilkhand (16,129)
Divisions. The large number in Rohilkhand, which was never part of
Mewat, is explained by a migration owing to famine in Mewat in
1761--2. The Meos of Rajputdna numbered 168,596, or nearly 2 per
cent. of the total population. Practically all are Muhammadans, and
they are found in thirteen out of eighteen States. In Alwar there were
113, 142, or over 13 per cent. of the population ; and in Bharatpur
51,546, or 8 percent. The Khanzada subdivision is represented by 9,317
members, most of whom are in Alwar. The Mewātis have preserved
many Hindu customs, such as exogamous rules and Hindu festivals.
According to tradition, the Meos first crossed the Jumna in the
period of anarchy which succeeded the invasion by Mahmūd of Ghazni
in soi8-9. The great Rdjput clans of Bulandshahr and Btąwah state
that they dispossessed the Meos at the order of Prithwi Raj of Delhi
towards the end of the twelfth century. Throughout the period of
Muhammadan rule the Meos, were the Ishmaelites of their own country
and of the Upper Doab, though harried again and again by the kings
of Delhi, from Ndsir-ud-din Mahmūd (1259) to Babar (1527). During
the troubled times of Timūr's invasion (1398) Bahadur Nahar, who
founded the subdivision of Mewatis called Khanzadas, members of
which were, for many years, rulers of Mewdt, was one of the most
powerful chiefs in this part of India. Under Akbar the tract was
divided between the sarkdrs of Alwar and Tijdra in the &bah of
Delhi. The rule of the Mewātis was subsequently challenged by the
Jats, who had already risen to importance before the death of Aurang-
zeb in 1707, and consolidated their power in Southern Mewat in the
first half of the eighteenth century ; and from this time the history of
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