Meo
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From The Tribes And Castes Of The Central Provinces Of India
By R. V. Russell
Of The Indian Civil Service
Superintendent Of Ethnography, Central Provinces
Assisted By Rai Bahadur Hira Lal, Extra Assistant Commissioner
Macmillan And Co., Limited, London, 1916.
NOTE 1: The 'Central Provinces' have since been renamed Madhya Pradesh.
NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from the original book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot these footnotes gone astray might like to shift them to their correct place.
Meo
Mewati
The Muhammadan branch of the Mina tribe belonging to the country of Mewat in Rajputana which is comprised in the Alwar, Bharatpur and Jaipur States and the British District of Gurgaon. A few Meos were returned from the Hoshangabad and Nimar Districts in 191 1, but it is doubtful whether any are settled here, as they may be wandering criminals. The origin of the Meo is discussed in the article on the Mina tribe, but some interesting remarks on them by Mr. Channing and Major Powlett in the Rajputana Gazetteer may be reproduced here. Mr. Channing writes : ^ "The tribe, which has been known in Hindustan according to the Kutub Tavvarikh for 850 years, was originally Hindu and became Muhammadan. Their origin is obscure. They themselves claim descent from the Rajput races of Jadon, Kachhwaha and Tuar, and they may possibly have some Rajput blood in their veins ; but they are probably, like many other similar tribes, a combination from ruling and other various stocks and sources, and there is reason to believe them very nearly allied with the Minas, who are certainly a tribe of the same structure and species.
The Meos have twelve clans or pdls^ the first six of which are identical in name and claim the same descent as the first six clans of the Minas. Intermarriage between them both was ' Rajputana Gazetteer, vol. i. p. 165.
the rule until the time of Akbar, when owing to an affray at the marriage of a Meo with a Mina the custom was discontinued. Finally, their mode of life is or was similar, as both tribes were once notoriously predatory. It is probable that the original Meos were supplemented by converts to Islam from other castes. It is said that the tribe were conquered and converted in the eleventh century by Masud, son of Amir Salar and grandson of Sultan Mahmud Subaktagin on the mother's side, the general of the forces of Mahmud of Ghazni.
Masud is still venerated by the Meos, and they swear by his name. They have a mixture of Hindu and Muhammadan customs.
They practise circumcision, nikdJi} and the burial of the dead. They make pilgrimages to the tomb of Masud in Bahraich in Oudh, and consider the oath taken on his banner the most binding. They also make pilgrimages to Muhammadan shrines in India, but never perform the Haj. Of Hindu customs they observe the Holi or Diwali ; their marriages are never arranged in the same got or sept ; and they permit daughters to inherit. They call their children indiscriminately by both Muhammadan and Hindu names. They are almost entirely uneducated, but have bards and musicians to whom they make large presents. These sing songs known as Ratwai, which are commonly on pastoral and agricultural subjects.
The Meos are given to the use of intoxicating drinks, and are very superstitious and have great faith in omens. The dress of the men and women resembles that of the Hindus. Infanticide was formerly common among them, but it is said to have entirely died out. They were also formerly robbers by avocation ; and though they have improved they are still noted cattle-lifters." In another description of them by Major Powlett it is
stated that, besides worshipping Hindu gods and keeping
Hindu festivals, they employ a Brahman to write the Plli
Chhitthi or yellow note fixing the date of a marriage. They
call themselves by Hindu names with the exception of Ram ;
and Singh is a frequent affix, though not so common as Khan.
On the Amawas or monthly conjunction of the sun and
moon, Meos, in common with Hindu Ahlrs and Gujars, cease
from labour ; and when they make a well the first proceeding
' A Muhammadan form of marriage.
is to erect a chabutra (platform) to Bhaironji or Hanuman. However, when plunder was to be obtained they have often shown little respect for Hindu shrines and temples ; and when the sanctity of a threatened place has been urged, the retort has been, ' Tuin to Deo, Hani Meol or ' You may be a Deo (God), but I am a Meo.'
Meos do not marry in their pal or clan, but they are
lax about forming connections with women of other castes,
whose children they receive into the community. As already
stated, Brahmans take part in the formalities preceding a
marriage, but the ceremony itself is performed by a Kazi.
As agriculturists Meos are inferior to their Hindu neighbours. The point in which they chiefly fail is in working their wells, for which they lack patience. Their women, whom they do not confine, will, it is said, do more field-work than the men ; indeed, one often finds women at work in the crops when the men are lying down. Like the women of low Hindu castes they tattoo their bodies, a practice disapproved by Musalmans in general. Abul Fazl writes that the Meos were in his time famous runners, and one thousand of them were employed by Akbar as carriers of the post.
