Meo (ethnic group) should not be confused with Miao people.
See also: Mewat (disambiguation).
| Group: | Meo |
| Native Name Lang: | hi |
| Population: | 270,000 ~ 600,000 (1984) India Pakistan[1] Punjab
|
| Regions: | Haryana, Rajasthan |
| Langs: | Mewati, Haryanvi, Kauravi, Rajasthani, Urdu |
| Rels: | Islam |
Meo (pronounced: mev or may-o) (also spelled Mayo or occasionally, Mewati) are a Muslim ethnic group originating from the Mewat region of north-western India.[2] They largely prevalent in the Indian states of Rajasthan and Haryana and have a significant population in the Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan.
The term "Meo" semantically correlates with the historical region of Mewat. The term Mewati, in terms of use for ethnic classification, is also interchangeable with Meo. Although, not every Mewati is necessarily an ethnic Meo as the term is a general demonym for someone from Mewat.
The Khanzada Rajputs are often confused to be related to the Meos, however, this is not the case. The Khanzadas were always considered ethnically distinct compared to the Meos. This is the reason why the Khanzada Rajput rulers of Mewat are referred to as Mewati and not Meo.[3] This ethnic distinction is prevalent in the history of the region, where there was very clear class-divide between the Khanzadas of Mewat and the Meos, even until the British era.[4] [5] [6]
The earliest mention of the term Meo is in the 13th century in Persian records.[7] Meos consider their origins to be from the Kshatriyas, similar to the Ahirs, Gurjars, Rajputs and Jats. According to one theory of origin they were early Hindu Rajputs who converted to Islam between the 12th and 17th century, largerly during the Delhi Sultanate period until as late as Aurangzeb's rule under the Mughal empire.[8] [9]
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.[10] Though the general claim of Kshatriya descent may be true, some of them may be descendants of other castes who might have laid claim to this ancestry after converting to Islam to enhance their social standing.[11]
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. While the kinship structure is closer to the system of the Jats, which is prevalent in the nearby regions of Haryana and Rajasthan. It thus seems possible that the Meos belonged to many different castes and not just to the Rajputs;[12] [13] this phenomenon is also seen in other castes and communities and is not limited to the Meos.[14]
Meos speak Mewati, a language of the Indo-Aryan language family, 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.
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, although the latter has been mostly abandoned with the advent of Islam.[17] Some gotras of the Meos believe that they are direct descendants of Krishna and Rama.[18] [19]
Meos were divided into three vansh, thirteen Undetermined: pals and fifty-two gotras by Rana Kaku Balot Meo in the 13th century.[20] [21] Meos have twelve pals including a thirteenth inferior pal.[22]
| 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-Sukhera | 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 cousin marry the widow of the deceased by a simple Nikah ceremony.[23]
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. During 1947, Meo were displaced from Alwar and Bharatpur districts and there was significant loss of life in intercommunal violence.[19] The population of Meos drastically decreased in Alwarand and Bharatpur.[19] 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 "" or 'the backbone of the country', India. Due to this, the people of Ghasera still celebrate Mewat Day.[24] [25]
Although on the whole the community did not migrate, there were a number of gotras of the 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.
According to the 2023 Pakistani census, there are around 1.1 million Mewati speakers in Pakistan, predominantly in the Punjab and also in Sindh province.[26] While the estimated population of Meos is over 2 million.[27]
Resisting Regimes is the first political anthropological and social-historical study detailing the Meos.[28]