INTRODUCTION:

The spread of Islam in India has been a contentious site of history-writing and politico-ideological polemics. Historians have grappled with the question of how and why Islam came to be accepted by vast sections of people during the precolonial period, offering explanations ranging from the coercive role and political patronage of state to the influence of Sufism and the appeal of egalitarianism in Islam. The question has also been linked to broader issues such as the nature of medieval state, the so-called ‘religious policy’ of rulers, the political alliances and conflicts between states, and processes such as agrarianization, peasantization and acculturation.

Furthermore, the question has been complicated by debates on the varying degrees of fixity and fluidity of precolonial religious identities among various social strata and communities in different regions and periods. Clearly, scholarly studies, not with standing disagreements, have shown that the phenomenon was anything but monocausal and uniform throughout the subcontinent. On the other hand, the complexity of the issue in the public discourse has often been reduced to simplistic, de-contextualized and generalized explanations for the spread of Islam such as mass conversions driven by inherent proselytizing zeal of Islam and effected by physical force, threats or material inducements. Such explanations forwarded and popularized from time to time by organizations, groups or persons, whether motivated by divisive political agendas or majoritarian biases or both, have had serious and adverse implications for inter-communal relations and political culture in a multireligious nation-state founded on the constitutional principle of secularism. These reductive explanations for Islamization, often projecting Islam as a ‘religion of the sword’ and medieval period as one of ‘Muslim tyranny’, have achieved a certain currency in recent times and thus have posed a renewed and serious challenge to historians and their academic approach to the issue.

In the backdrop of this fraught debate on the spread of Islam in academic and public discourse, the essay discusses the process of Islamization in medieval Mewat (parts of present-day Rajasthan and Haryana)¹ and its linkages to political and socio-economic developments, and explores the issue of the formation and articulation of Meo Islamic identity. Drawing upon medieval Indo-Persian court chronicles and Rajasthani archival sources and reports of colonial administrators,² it demonstrates that not only was the process spanning from the 13th to the 19th century was gradual and phased, but also that it involved far more acculturation than formal conversion, and that the religio-cultural identity thus created was far from being fixed and monolithic. Rather, when articulated it presents a case of syncretism of non-Islamic and Islamic beliefs and practices. Further, the agents of this process were both the ruling elite and common people, and several factors generally cited for the spread of Islam such as coercion, political patronage and liberal, egalitarian spirit of Islam do not seem to have played a major role in this region.

Richard M. Eaton, in his seminal study on Islamization in West Punjab (present-day Pakistan) and East Bengal (present-day Bangladesh),³ considers Islamic conversion a subject of serious research. According to him, the debate on conversion among historians is generally based on three theories that focus on Islam as a religion of sword, of political patronage and of social liberation. The first theory is the ground for communal history-writing and political propaganda; the argument based on it is that medieval Muslim rulers, driven by religious fanaticism and proselytizing zeal, forced Hindus to convert to Islam through the use or threat of force. Conversion by coercion thus made Islam a religion of sword. Underlying this theory are a set of historically untenable assumptions about precolonial India. Some of these are: ‘Islamic’ state was a well-established entity and an agent of conversion in all areas where Islamization occurred; most, if not all, medieval Muslim rulers were uniformly zealous Muslims bent on proselytizing non-Muslim subjects as a matter of policy; and the ‘converts’ had a uniformly monolithic self-conscious Hindu identity in contradistinction to a monolithic self-conscious Muslim identity. While none of these assumptions is supported by historical evidence, historians who dispassionately study the issue of Islamization and reject the theory of conversion by sword incur the risk of being accused—indeed have been accused—of sympathy for Muslim rulers and bias against their ‘Hindu’ subject population.

As far as the case of Islamization of Meos is concerned, evidence for the proselytizing role of state is virtually absent. Some colonial ethnographers such as F.C. Channing and Alexander Cunningham argued that the Meos adopted Islam due to the cruelties inflicted by Sultan Balban.⁴ However, during Balban’s reign, the Meos had neither become peasants nor formed a distinct community. Moreover, even Indo-Persian chroniclers of the time such as Barani and Minhaj Siraj do not state that Balban forcibly converted Meos to Islam. Others argued that the Islamization of Meos took place exactly during the period when Akbar carried out the territorial division of Meo pals (lineage groups). However, this view, too, lacks credibility because Akbar’s religious policy was not discriminatory but inclusive. Yet others pointed out that the conversion of Meos to Islam occurred during the reign of Aurangzeb as a result of his bigoted religious policy that was prejudiced against non-Muslims.⁵ There is no historical evidence to support this view either. Mewat was close to Delhi and Agra, and its resident Meo community historically had a conflictual relation with the Delhi Sultans and, to some extent, the Mughal emperors. Therefore, it may be argued that it would have been possible, even easy, for the Sultans and Mughal emperors to convert them by force while suppressing them. However, a khatoot ahalkaran of ce 1684 records a complaint made by the Meo peasants against the levy of jizyah and other non-customary taxes at the Mughal court. This suggests that even as late as Aurangzeb’s reign the Muslim identity of Meos had not taken shape. Further, the hasil farohi columns of arsattas maintained by the amil’s office in Alwar state contain detailed records of those who had been convicted of various crimes, including their names, as well as their castes, names of their native villages and the nature of their crimes and punishment, but telltale Islamic names cannot be found among the names of Meos.

The second theory of Islamization is that Muslim rulers extended political patronage to ‘Hindu’ officials by way of promises of material rewards or higher positions in order to induce them to accept Islam either individually or with their families. Political patronage by Muslim rulers could have facilitated the conversion of an individual, family or a group, as it indeed did for some families in Delhi and Agra. Even then, it did not play a significant role in religious conversion and upward socio-political mobility as evinced by the presence of a sizeable proportion of non-Muslim sections in the ruling elite of states under Muslim rulers. Further, the theory does not explain the mass conversion or Islamization as in the case of West Punjab and East Bengal. Even in the case of Meos who were inducted in the lower echelons of the imperial Mughal administration from Akbar’s reign and gradually adopted Islamic customs, political patronage was not a direct operative factor in their Islamization, as will be discussed in section III of this essay.

According to the third theory, Hinduism sanctions a rigid, hierarchical, Brahmanical social organization, viz., the caste system, while Islam is based—at least in principle—on the ideas of social equality and fraternity, and hence attracted the Hindu lower castes, discriminated against and oppressed by upper castes, especially the Brahmins. As a ‘religion of social liberation’, Islam, thus, offered the lower castes respite from caste inequities and served the cause of conversion. However, historical evidence shows that Islamization occurred in areas where Brahmanical caste system was rather weak such as West Punjab and East Bengal, pointing, again, to the limitations of this theory. This theory also does not explain the Islamization of Meos for various reasons. First, Meos were dominant in the rural society of Mewat and far from being oppressed by the Brahmanical caste system. Meos were socially organized into pals or tribal lineages of more or less equal status, each headed by a chaudhari (chief), though later they, like the caste Hindus, also came to be divided into gotras. They observed several Hindu cultural practices and had Brahmins officiating at almost all their rituals, including wedding, digging of a pucca well, birth of a son, etc. By the early 20th century, they were found to be celebrating Hindu festivals such as Holi, Diwali and Dussehra, though at the same time they had acquired an Islamic social identity. An instance of this interesting paradox is a practice recorded in 1920.⁶ In a Meo village near Khuteta Kalan in Alwar district, on the occasion of Diwali a Meo lambardar would put a silver coin in a basket, sit on a mora outside his home and had it announced by the beating of munadi (drum) in his and neighbouring villages that any Hindu who wished to have a darshan (glimpse) of a silver coin but did not have one could come to him (having a glimpse of and worshipping with a silver coin on Diwali was¾and is¾considered auspicious by Hindus in north India, since the act was thought to make Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, reside in the house and increase its wealth and prosperity). As long as the lambardar lived, he continued the practice year after year, welcoming people from many villages to see the coin (silver coin was a mark of great wealth possessed by a few in the rural society). This instance shows that Meos, even while being perceived as Muslim in the early 20th century, observed Hindu practices and were far from being victims of caste oppression. Thus, neither the might of Islam as a ‘religion of sword’, nor its appeal as a source of political patronage, nor a force of social liberation can adequately explain the diffusion of Islamic culture in Mewat.

The Khanzadas were the first Muslim ruling group to play an important role in the social, cultural and economic history of the region. The social history of the Khanzadas begins during the later part of the reign of Firozshah Tughlaq (r. 1351–88). After the death of the Firozshah Tughlaq, the Khanzadas formed their chiefdom in the vicinity of Tijara and emerged as a ruling class in the region. In the early days of their rule, Indori, Kotla and Tijara used to be their capitals; later, they extended their territory up to the Alwar town which became their capital. The local tradition of the Khanzadas testifies to their claim over a vast territory in the Mewat region, i.e. 1,484 kheras (towns and villages) under their jurisdiction in the early 16th century.⁷

There are disparate and late accounts of their origin, all pointing to their non-Islamic ancestry. Alexander Cunningham’s late-19th-century report on his tours in eastern Rajasthan offers an account of their descent from Jadon Rajputs who ruled over Bayana and Thangir before the invasions of Muhammad Ghori. In the 14th century, Lakhanpal, a Jadon Rajput, was the chief of a small tract of Mewat around Tijara. Lakhanpal’s two sons, Sambharpal and Somparpal, embraced Islam in order to save their domains from annexation by Sultan Firozshah Tughlaq. The former took the name of Bahadur Nahar and gained control over Sarehta situated four miles to the east of Tijara, while the latter took the name of Chhaju Khan, and got possession of Jhirka and renamed it Firozpur Jhirka.⁸ An early-18th-century Urdu work, Arzang-i-Tijara gives two reasons for the conversion of Bahadur Nahar: the first was his deep faith in the Sufi saint Hazrat Nasiruddin Chirag-Delhvi; and the second was his and his brother’s arrest and imprisonment in Delhi by Firozshah’s troops for his predatory activities in the neighbourhood of Delhi that posed a serious law and order problem for the sultanate of Delhi.⁹ A. Fraser in his mid-19th-century report on Gurgaon district recounts stories tracing the ancestry of the Khanzadas differently: ‘[One account] represent[s] them as being descended from the Jadoon [Jadon] Rajputs… [another] account…represents the Khanzadas as descended from a Dhanuk (low caste) named Beejbul converted to Mahomedanism as before with the title of Khan, and hence Khanzadas’.¹⁰ The Arzang-i-Tijara adds that during marriages they paid their respect to and worshipped Bejal, their ancestor.¹¹ It appears that one Bejal or Bejbul would have been the ancestor of some Khanzada families who might have embraced Islam during the reign of Firozshah Tughlaq. Thus, all these accounts, evidently drawn from local traditions about the Khanzadas, point to their conversion to Islam not earlier than 14th century, whether due to political pressures or not. Whatever and however disparate may have been their actual origins, the Khanzadas had forged their social identity as the local Muslim elite of Mewat by the end of the 16th century, as testified by their zamindari rights in many parganas of the region.¹²

According to Abul-Fazl’s 16th-century chronicle, Ain-i-Akbari, the Khanzadas were divided in two social categories. One comprised of the Khanzadas of Mewat, chieftains from Bahadur Nahar to Hasan Khan who were descendants of Jadon Rajputs and converts to Islam. The other were former slaves of Firozshah Tughlaq.¹³ The second category constituted mainly of the former Firozi slaves.¹⁴ The title ‘Khanazad’ or ‘Khanazadun’ was given to those Firozi slaves who happened to be close and loyal to the Sultan.¹⁵ According to Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi, after Firozshah Tughlaq’s death, a large number of former Firozi slaves, who opposed the new Sultan Muhammad Shah, were forced to leave Delhi and sought refuge with Bahadur Nahar, the Khanzada chief of Mewat, in his fortress at Kotla. These Firozi slaves, with their vast knowledge and experience in land revenue and military administration, were absorbed in the administrative structure of the infant Khanzada chiefdom and, in turn, must have played an important role in its consolidation. The key politico-administrative role of the Firozi slaves in the Khanzada chiefdom is attested by a traditional account of their ceremonial role of putting tilak (an auspicious mark) on the forehead of every new Khanzada chief—a role also performed by the Jats in Bikaner and the Meenas in Amber for the chiefs of these states.¹⁶ Though a ceremonial practice, it reminded them that the state acknowledged their cooperation and contribution in state formation and administrative functioning. Significantly, the title ‘Khanzada’ was conferred on Bahadur Nahar by Firozshah after he had embraced Islam and been enrolled into the Sultanate nobility¹⁷¾a title shared by the Firozi slaves as well. Hence, the fact that a section of the Firozi slaves were integrated into the Khanzada polity and shared the same title as their political patrons would have led to both constituting a composite ruling elite of the region known as Khanzadas. Not only did the Mewati ruling elite and the former Firozi slaves whom it inducted into its ranks share a common socio-political identity, but they also shared the religious identity of being Muslims, thereby giving impetus to Islamization in the region.¹⁸ The Khanzadas were the first Muslim ruling elite to not only induce the Meo tribes to give up their predatory lifestyle, relocate from hills to plains and take up agriculture, but also introduce Islamic culture in Mewat. Thus, processes of peasantization and Islamization ran parallel during this period. One of the agents of Islamization was the building of mosques by the Khanzadas in the region. The archaeological survey of the region by Alexander Cunningham shows that they had constructed many mosques in the towns and villages of the region. For instance, Bahadur Nahar built a fine stone mosque at Kotla in 1399 during the reign of Muhammad Shah;¹⁹ Hasan Khan Mewati, at Tijara in the early 16th century;²⁰ and Jalal Khan Khanzada at Indori.²¹ Similarly, mosques were constructed in other towns like Shahbad, Bhindusi, Nimali, Sarheta, Mandha, Masit Palah, Jewano, Sohna, Bhondsi, Pinangwan and Malab during the early 16th century.²² The Non-archival Records of the Alwar State, too, mention that forty-one mosques were constructed by the Khanzadas in the villages and towns of Alwar sarkar.²³ The large number of mosques also reflects the size of the Muslim population in the region.

Another important agent of diffusing Islamic culture in Mewat region were the qazis appointed by the Khanzadas to maintain the Islamic law (Sharia) among the Muslim population and settle local disputes (criminal and civil) between the Muslims (Khanzadas) and the non-Muslims (mainly the Meos). The Islamic laws, during the period of the Khanzada rule, must have also influenced the social life of the Meos who came from a tribal background. But the Meos, while being profoundly affected by Islamization, did not give up their pre- or non-Islamic practices and lived with an ambiguous religious identity that they retained well into the 20th century. This is corroborated by Powlett who writes:

The Meos are now all Musalmans in name; but their village deities…are the same as those of Hindú Zamíndars. They keep, too, several Hindú festivals. Thus the Holí is with Meos a season of rough play, and is considered as important a festival as the Muharram, Id, and Shabíbarát; and they likewise observe the Janam ashtmí, Dasehra and Diwálí. They often keep Brahmin priests to write the pílí chithí, or note fixing the date of marriage.²⁴

Cunningham adds that the Meos worshipped Sayyid Salar Masud with great respect, and the banner of Salar Masud was held in every Meo village at Shab-i-barat.²⁵

Yet another impetus to Islamization would have been the matrimonial relations that the Khanzadas established with the Meos (as also with the Meenas) in order to strengthen their social base. In the process, the Meos and Khanzadas would respectively have adopted Islamic and Hindu customs from each other, especially in the area of marriage which shows an array of Hindu rites around the core Islamic nuptial ceremony of nikah. Thus, the Khanzadas, despite being agents of Islamization, also did not assume a rigid Islamic identity. On the socio-religious position of the Khanzadas, Powlett writes:

[I]n social rank they are far above the Meos, and though probably of more recent Hindú extraction, they are better Musalmáns. They observe no Hindú festivals, and will not acknowledge that they pay any respect to Hindu shrines. But Brahmins take part in their marriage contracts, and they observe some Hindu marriage ceremonies. Though generally as poor and ignorant as the Meos, they, unlike the latter, say their prayers, and do not let their women work in the fields.²⁶

In particular, this interesting blend of Hindu and Islamic customs in the Khanzada wedding rituals is vividly described in Arzang-i-Tijara. A Brahmin priest writes a chithi (note) fixing the date of a Khanzada girl’s wedding after performing a customary puja, and ties as many knots of a red naal (thread) around the note as are the numbers in the date. Then, he, accompanied by a member of Muslim bardic caste (mirasi), carries the note to the groom’s house. The groom’s family keeps the note and sends them back with gifts. Three days before the wedding, the groom is smeared with a paste of turmeric, lemon and mustard oil, the note is opened and read by a Brahmin before everyone, and the groom is then carried back inside the house. On the day of wedding, the groom, wearing bangles in henna-decorated hands and red robes, goes to the bride’s house on horseback in a procession (baraat). After the departure of the procession, rituals are performed for three days at the groom’s house. As part of these rituals, negs (customary gifts) are given by the groom’s father to married women, and members of various occupational castes such as mirasi (minstrel), chamar (leather-worker), kumhaar (potter), khaati (carpenter), lohar (blacksmith), sakka (water-carrier), dhobi (launderer) and maniaar (bangle-seller). In the meantime, the groom upon reaching the bride’s house is welcomed on the doorstep by women singing songs and aarti. The groom then asks for the bride’s hand in marriage seven times in lieu of a bride price. Thereafter, the nikah or wedding takes place with Islamic rituals.²⁷ Thus, on the one hand, conversion to Islam under the aegis of Delhi Sultans; involvement in the politics and exposure to the political culture of Delhi Sultanate; and socio-political assimilation of Firozi slaves¾all led the Khanzadas to adopt and project their Islamic identity, as also spread Islamic culture in the region. On the other hand, matrimonial relations with local communities such as Meos and Meenas in their bid to expand their social base made them receptive to Hindu rites and customs without giving up their Islamic identity. Meos, too, would have undergone acculturation to Islam, though there is no clear documentary evidence of Meos assuming Islamic identity before the 18th century. Nevertheless, the religious identities of both would have remained fluid and far from being fixed and frozen, and thus made the growth of a syncretic culture in the region a corollary to Islamization.

III

The socio-cultural life of Meos was profoundly affected by the twin process of peasantization and Islamization initiated by the Khanzadas in the late 14th century. Even after the end of Khanzada chiefdom, these processes not just continued but accelerated from the sixteenth to 18th century under the aegis of the Mughal state which brought Mewat under its politico-administrative control after the decline of Khanzada chiefdom. From the late 16th century—although the Khanzadas had been integrated into the administrative machinery of the Mughal state since early 16th century—one section of Meos joined the Mughal administrative service as well and, due to their regular interaction with the Mughal state, began to adopt Islamic practices and way of life. However, one account in the medieval text Waqiat-e-Mustaqi²⁸ points to the employment of Meos in the pre-Mughal period. In this account from the reign of Sikandar Lodi, a horse stolen from the royal stable was recovered after three days from a Meo thief caught near Dholpur. The Sultan restrained his wazir Khan-i-Khana Nohani from awarding him death sentence on the ground that such a sentence would be un-Islamic, since the thief should have been put to death when he was committing the crime or when the stolen horse was recovered from him. The Sutlan, instead, ordered him to be thrown in the prison. After seven years, when a list of prisoners to be pardoned was prepared, his name was included. The Sultan offered him freedom on the condition of embracing Islam. He said that conversion would have been relevant to him even a week after his capture, but no so after seven years of captivity; nevertheless he would still accept it for the sake of his life. When released after accepting Islam, he pleaded before the Sultan that he had nowhere to go, since he had forgotten the art of thievery and would be shunned by his family and relatives for converting to Islam. When asked about his skills, he offered to become a khidmatiyya (palace guard) and assured him of preventing any theft or, if one was committed, of finding and apprehending the culprit. After a few days, when cloth traders in the bazaar of Agra reported the theft of clothes from their shops, the Sultan summoned him and asked him to find the thief. He asked for all khidmatiyyas to be assembled (majority of Lodi maliks or iqtadars kept Meo khidmatiyyas). When about 400–500 khidmatiyyas were assembled, he detected some thieves from among them and managed to recover the stolen clothes, thereby earning the praise of Sultan. The story suggests that before Akbar’s reign, Meos were in the service of Lodis as khidmatiyyas, and were known for thievery, a remnant of their predatory past; and that they had not converted to Islam in any significant number. Even if their induction in the administration can be considered to have begun in the pre-Mughal period, it was Akbar who attempted to accommodate them in the imperial service on a much larger scale.

In the Ain-i-Akbari, the Meos are broadly divided into two categories: (a) the agriculturists (peasants and primary zamindars), and (b) the Meoras and khidmatiyyas (post-carriers, spies and palace guards). During the Mughal period, it was the Meoras and the khidmatiyyas who played an important role in the diffusion of Islamic culture among the Meos of Mewat. The Persian and Rajasthani sources reveal that they were an integral part of Mughal postal and espionage system until the decline of the empire. About them, Abul-Fazl writes,

They are the native of the Mewat and are famous as runners. They bring from great distances with zeal anything that may be required. They are excellent spies, and well perform the most intricate duties. They are likewise always ready to carry out orders. The caste which they belonged to was notorious for highway robbery and theft; former rulers were not able to keep them in check. The effective orders of His Majesty have led them to honesty; they are now famous for their trustworthiness.²⁹

Muhammad Arif Qandhari, the author of Tarikh-i-Akbari, adds,

Emperor Akbar employed four thousand foot-runners (Dak-carriers). They are experts in espionage also; they are on his majesty’s service day and night so that news and reports reach everyday from all sides of the world. This class of men run as fast as lion, so that within ten days news comes from Bengal which is at a distance of seven hundred kurohs (kos) from Agra. His majesty gets all information of good or bad and profit or loss.³⁰

Irfan Habib, in his analysis of the organization of Mughal postal communication system, has pointed out that it was not possible for a single Meora who could have run at a speed of 70 kurohs, about 158 mi., a day and night to reach his destination. Therefore, it must imply a relay system.³¹ Indicating the existence of a relay system, Qandhari also states that Akbar established dak chowkis (postal stations) at every 5 kurohs (about 11 mi.), and at each chowki two horses were kept besides the Meora foot-runners.³² It thus appears that Akbar enrolled strongly built young Meos into the Mughal postal system who could run fast and survive in hostile weather and terrain. In doing so, Akbar not only developed the postal system as an important institutional mechanism for ensuring the security and consolidation of the Mughal Empire, but also successfully transformed the Meo youth into loyal and faithful servants of the Mughal state. The following incident serves as an evidence of this new relationship that Akbar established with the Meos. In 1567, when Akbar came to know that Ali Quli Khan and his brother Bahadur Khan—nobles of the Turani faction of Mughal nobility—had rebelled, he organized a military campaign against them. Upon reaching Manikpur, he sent Hatwa Meora to find out the exact position of the rebels. According to Abul-Fazl, Hatwa Meora, a swift and intelligent courier, brought the much-needed news within 24 hours that the rebel nobles had constructed a bridge over Ganga near Singraur (modern Nawabganj) and crossed the river. When Akbar heard about this development, he immediately proceeded to take action against them. Abul-Fazl further adds that Hatwa Meora was loyal to Akbar and always accompanied him.³³ Channing, too, mentions that Akbar trusted the Meoras so much that he kept them as his bodyguards.³⁴

Abul-Fazl observes that Akbar also posted Meo infantrymen, also called khidmatiyyas, outside the palace to watch, guard and see to it that his orders were carried out.³⁵ It seems that Akbar had understood the problems created by the isolation of the Meos who had been disparaged as trouble-makers in the earlier centuries. He thus not only administratively and politically integrated the Mewat region into Mughal state, but also brought about the social assimilation of the Meos. Once Akbar had developed the Mughal postal service with the help of the Meoras, the other Mughal emperors followed the same policy. For instance, chronicler Khafi Khan also points out that the Meoras were mainly dak-carriers during Aurangzeb’s reign.³⁶

Habib argues that the postal system was essential for a large centralized territorial entity like the Mughal Empire because news and orders had to be conveyed over great distances. The organization was essentially based on the twin methods of relay-runners and relay horses which were posted at various dak chowkis that had been set up along different routes throughout the empire. In one part of Gujarat alone, 94 Meoras were posted at the chowkis along the route from Khandap (Ajmer suba) to Ahmedabad and from there to Baroda and Broach. At least two Meoras were posted at each chowki because they had to be available round the clock. The Meoras were required to give a written undertaking that they would not carry along with the (official) nalwas, personal papers of individuals.³⁷ According to B.L. Bhadani, 164 dak Meoras were posted along the Agra-Ahmedabad route, of these 77 were stationed at the chowkis.³⁸ This shows that almost half of the Meoras remained on duty round the clock at the chowkis and presumably the remaining half always stood in reserve.

Dastur komwar, a set of documents pertaining to the Jaipur state, lists the names of more than 200 Meoras posted at dak chowkis on the routes from Delhi to Jaipur and from Jaipur to Agra.³⁹ Many of them were rewarded for their good services by the Amber state. For instance, Lalchand Meora and his son were known for their services as spies in the Mughal court during the reign of Aurangzeb.⁴⁰ Similarly, Khoja Avad Khan Meora was also rewarded with a jagir of three villages in pargana Jalalpur (Alwar sarkar) for his service by Aurangzeb.⁴¹ Tara Meora and Ram Singh Meora were also rewarded with one village each in pargana Pahari and Bharkol on account of their services.⁴²

The Ain-i-Akbari mentions that the monthly salaries of the dak Meoras ranged from 100 to 120 dams (Rs.2½–3) during the reign of Akbar.⁴³ An early 18th-century dastur komwar also informs us that generally the dak Meoras were paid monthly salaries ranging from Rs.2 to Rs.4.⁴⁴ However, it appears from the Rajasthani documents that the dak Meoras were not paid equally; some got perquisites for delivering politically crucial communication. For instance, in 1714, Bhoja and Madho Meoras were paid Rs.22 by the diwan of Amber for bringing a letter of Chhabela Ram from Allahabad.⁴⁵ Sunder and Chetan Meoras were paid Rs.14 for bringing a letter of Ruhla Khan (an imperial mansabdar) which assigned the ijara of the villages of pargana Chatsu to the Amber Raja.⁴⁶ Similarly, Hari Ram Meora and his ally—who brought a letter of an imperial mansabdar communicating that the zamindari rights of four parganas, viz., Averi, Bahatri, Niwai and Fagi were assigned to the Amber Raja—were paid extra money by the diwan of Amber.⁴⁷ Apart from monthly salary and perquisites for extraordinary services, the dak Meoras were also given concessions in the payment of land revenue on their personal land holdings by the Mughal state. The amils were asked to implement the state orders for such concessions after receiving them attested by the qazis.⁴⁸ Bhoja and Laad Khan Meoras, for instance, were respectively assigned 10 and 14 bighas of revenue-free lands (muwafik bighas) in pargana Bharkol (Tijara sarkar).⁴⁹ But it is not clear whether the dak Meoras got revenue-free land in lieu of their salaries or as a reward. However, upon their retirement from the service of the Mughal state, such concessions were automatically terminated.⁵⁰

The dak Meoras, like other Meos, came from the tribal background and their religious identity was in a state of flux. They found employment in the Mughal postal service socially and economically beneficial. From the economic point of view, they obtained a secure source of income by way of monthly salaries and other perquisites. Besides, they were also given concessions in the payment of land revenue on their personal land holdings. Socially, they now constituted a class superior to the ordinary Meo peasants. Therefore, whoever once got a job in the Mughal postal service, always tried to induct his family members into it.⁵¹ It seems that the dak Meoras had always enjoyed an advantageous position in the Mughal state in terms of creating job opportunities for their sons and relatives. This is how they must have transmitted their professional knowledge and experience in the field of postal service and their loyalty and faithfulness to the Mughal state to the succeeding generations. British ethnographers, too, had observed this spirit of fidelity among the Meos towards their masters.⁵²

Due to their regular interaction with the Mughal court as well as other imperial authorities, the dak Meoras found themselves closer to the Islamic culture and gradually began to follow certain Islamic customs and rituals associated with the Mughal court. The nature of the Islamic festivals and rituals was such that they involved a congregation of a large number of people. These festivals were Id-ul-fitr, Ramzan, Shab-i-barat, and the Urs of Sufi saint Khwaja Muin-ud-din Chishti with a large number of people, including palace staff and the emperor’s bodyguards, all taking part in the celebrations.⁵³ In particular, the Urs of Muin-ud-din Chishti, celebrated in the Mughal court since the days of Akbar, witnessed the participation of a large number of people from all classes like nobles, officers, khidmatiyyas, bodyguards and the dak Meoras. They walked 228 mi. from Agra to the tomb of Khwaja Saheb in Ajmer passing through the Mewat region. They carried the holy flag of the saint and a large number of people paid their respects to the flag on their way to Ajmer.⁵⁴ The dak Meoras and khidmatiyyas reverently observed these festivals, and after retirement started celebrating these festivals in their own villages.⁵⁵ They even invited their relatives and friends to take part in these festivals. They started inviting qazis to perform nikah for their children and contracting marriages with Muslim peasants. Thus, in more ways than one, they started regarding themselves as part of the Muslim community. The khatoot ahalkarans also underline the role of qazi appointed by the Mughal state to resolve the disputes of the people. Devidas Harkara (a spy) complained to the diwan of Amber that the qazi did not attend his own duties; rather he visited the villages to perform nikahs. Devidas further stated that although the qazi got a salary of Rs.240 from the Mughal state, he was very greedy; and that he should have concentrated on his job. Finally, he pleaded with the diwan to speak to the vakil so that he could raise the issue at the Mughal court.⁵⁶

After the battle of Khanwa, the Khanzadas lost their principality; Mewat became part of the Mughal state while the Khanzadas became part of the Mughal nobility. However, with the decline of the Mughal Empire, the socio-economic position of the Khanzadas also declined. Muhammad Makhdum, the author of Arzang-i-Tijara, states that they migrated eastwards, i.e. to the adjoining states like Awadh, Lucknow and Bareilly, while some joined the military service of the Rajput Narukas of Alwar and the British.⁵⁷ The Khanzadas left in Mewat cultivated fields as khudkashta peasants with the help of family labour, although they had never touched the plough before.⁵⁸ Many Khanzadas were also displaced from their villages by some Meo pals who coveted the Khanzada-owned lands for their high soil fertility and sweet ground water for irrigation. The social security of the Khanzadas was thus threatened by the rising power of the Meos, the Jats of Bharatpur state and the Naruka Rajputs of Alwar state in Mewat. In order to strengthen their social base, some Khanzadas began to enter into matrimonial relations with the former dak Meoras who had acquired a Muslim identity by then. Arzang-i-Tijara also adds that earlier Meos belonging to Gotwal and Duhlot clans had their matrimonial relations with the Khanzadas.⁵⁹ Corroborating this, Channing writes that the Meos belonging to Ghatawasan, Paul, Narainwas, Kherlikhurd and Mohammada Bas villages of pargana Firozpur Jhirka claimed that they were Khanzadas in the past, but merged with their identity with the Meo community as a consequence of their matrimonial relations with the Meos.⁶⁰ However, this does not mean that all Khanzadas had matrimonial relations with the Meos, though certainly the matrimonial relations between some Khanzadas and dak Meoras did encourage the Islamization of Meo community. It appears that the late-Mughal context of intermarriages between the Khanzadas and the Meos was substantially different from the pre-Mughal context of intermarriages between the Khanzada chiefs and their Meo subjects. In the former situation, the Khanzadas had been socio-politically ascendant; while in the latter, they, having lost their political power long ago, now became socially insecure as well. Nevertheless, intermarriage remained a catalyst for Islamization in both situations. Significantly, in contrast to the period prior to 18th century when evidence for Meos assuming an Islamic identity is virtually nil, in the late Mughal period such identity of certain sections of Meos was becoming quite evident. Indeed, the Jagga Records show that by the early 18th century, the Meos had begun to adopt Muslim names (See Table 3.1).

However, the Meos, like the Khanzadas, never managed to assume a rigid Islamic identity, forsaking their pre-/non-Islamic practices. As discussed earlier, Powlett commented on the fragile and incomplete process of Islamization among the Meos, who, according to him, adopted Muslim names, but continued to worship Hindu village deities and observe several Hindu and Muslim festivals. Further, only eight out of fifty-two Meo villages in pargana Tijara had mosques.⁶¹ Channing, too, made similar remarks about the Meos of Nuh-Firozpur Jhirka region:

They have been very lax Muhammadans sharing in most of the rites and customs of their Hindu neighbours, especially such as are pleasant to observe, their principle of action seems to have been to keep the feasts of both religions, and the fasts of neither. Recently some Meos now even observe the Ramzan fast, build village mosques, say their prayers, and their wives wear trousers instead of Hindu petticoat — all signs of a religious revival.⁶²

Although the process of Islamization among the Meos remained slow up to the early 20th century, it certainly created an Islamic identity of the Meos which distinctly separated them from other non-Muslim castes in the region. A case in point is an incident of 1905 that brought the Islamic identity of the Meos to the fore. In qasba Tapukada, about 5 kos to the north of Tijara, every year a fair was held near an old Sufi khanqah (hospice), where petty mobile traders, i.e. bisaati, both Hindu and Muslim, put up their shops and sold their ware. During the fair in the said year, one evening a Muslim bisaati who was staying in a sarai started giving a loud call (azaan) to prayer (namaaz), hearing which the local people as well as the Hindu bisaatis asked him to lower the volume. At this, the bisaati got angry and complained to the local Meo chaudhari. As the tension mounted up, the Meo chaudharis of neighbouring areas gathered and sided with him, while the Hindu bisaatis stood in opposition. Since the qasba was within the Alwar state, the news spread rapidly and the matter was taken to the Maharaja. However, the agitated Meo chaudharis deemed the opposition of Hindu bisaatis as an assault on their religion and, in retaliation, bought a house near a temple in the venue of the fair in order to build a mosque, and set about collecting money from every local Meo family and even a Meo butcher-usurer of Meerut. Eventually, in order to defuse the situation, the Maharaja of Alwar had to come in person and appeal the Meo chaudharis and influential local Hindu people to restore peace between the two communities.⁶³ This incident shows that even though the Meos observed several Hindu rituals and celebrated Hindu festivals, they were quite conscious of their Islamic identity.

Many Meo oral accounts are centred on their Islamization under the influence of Sufi saints or, more often, their close interactions with these saints that may have acted as a stimulus to their Islamization. While the Indo-Persian and Rajasthani sources do not provide any information about the impact of Sufi saints on Meos, these stories—some of which are furnished by colonial land settlement and ethnographic reports—suggest that some interaction may well have taken place between the Meos and the Sufis in the medieval period, though such intercourse would have remained localized. These accounts of interaction between the Sufi saints and the Meos need not be taken as historical evidence for deliberate proselytization; rather, they indicate the Meo community’s perception of the broader influence of Sufis on its socio-cultural life. These stories can also be read as an attempt on the part of the Meos to convey to the Islamic world that they should not be considered a lower category of Muslims because their Islamization was sanctified by renowned Sufi saints. Such postulations were constructed to attain religious legitimacy as Meos were the latest converts to Islam.

Among the several beliefs prevalent among the Meos regarding their relation with the Sufis, one is that Khwaja Muin-ud-din Chishti, while passing through Mewat on his way to Ajmer, blessed them to become Muslims,⁶⁴ though there is no evidence to prove this linkage. However, Channing’s land settlement report of Gurgaon district records a couple of charms used to cure scorpion bite by invoking the saint:

Hari dandi Munj ka baan;

Utr re bichu, Khwaja Muin-ud-din Chishti ki aan

[green stick, Munj rope, get out scorpion, I charge you by (lit. oath of) Khwaja Muin-ud-din Chishti]

Choti kothi, bara pahaan;

Utr re, Khwaja Muin-ud-din ki aan

[little granary with a big top (to it); get out by (oath of) Khwaja Muin-ud-din]⁶⁵

Another belief of the Meos is that they converted to Islam under the influence of Salar Masud, a semi-mythical figure who has been the subject of several stories recounted in oral traditions and textual sources. Abul-Fazl states in his Ain-i-Akbari that Salar Masud was one of the martyrs of the Ghaznavid army.⁶⁶ According to Mirat-i-Masudi, Salar Masud was the son of a sister of Mahmud of Ghazni. Born in 1015 in Ajmer, he participated in the Ghaznavid invasions of Hindustan at the age of 16, and died at the age of 19. A number of significant events were thought to be associated with Masud’s life, and he was worshipped by both Hindus and Muslims.⁶⁷ According to a traditional account,⁶⁸ the formidable chief of a Meo village named Toda in the Kala Pahad region, together with a section of Rajputs, used to raid the neighbouring areas and hoard the spoils in his village. Thus, the Meos were held in awe and fear in the surrounding areas. After the end of the rule of Chauhan Rajputs and the establishment of Turkish rule in Ajmer and Delhi, Masud, in order to conquer Mewat, attacked Toda, the power base of Meos. After days of bitter fighting and heavy casualties on both sides, the Meo chief surrendered and begged for his life. Masud pardoned him, and he embraced Islam. He was, in turn, conferred the title of malik; his followers, too, converted to Islam. However, many Meos fled and went into hiding in the forests of Kala Pahad, and their depredations continued unabated. Their Rajput accomplices, too, remained active in these raids. Subsequently, during the reign of Firozshah Tughlaq, these Meos and Rajputs were captured and converted to Islam. Thereon, the Rajputs merged their identity with the Meos, and the latter began to trace their ancestry from the Rajputs. The Meo pals linked themselves to Rajput gotras, assuming such names as Dahgal pal Kachhwaha, Singal pal Badgujar, Kalesa pal Chauhan, etc.⁶⁹ Salar Masud, on the other hand, has remained a revered figure among the Meos, his name being invoked on occasions of conflict-resolution. During disputes¾for instance on fixing the boundary between two villages¾both disputant parties carried the banner of Masud while negotiating for a solution.⁷⁰

Stories of two other Sufi saints appear in Channing’s report: Shah Chokha and Murad Shah.⁷¹ A marble mausoleum and khanqah (hospice) of Shah Chokha exists in village Khohri located between Firozpur Jhirka and Punhana as a testimony to his influence in the region. While no credible information about him—his original name, period or provenance—can be found in the medieval sources, the tomb is dated prior to 16th century. It is believed that he came from Herat, Afghanistan, and established his khanqah at Khohri in the 14th century, and that he belonged to the Chishti order (silsila).⁷² Channing’s report informs us that a week-long fair, beginning on a moonlit night in the month of jeth (5–7 April), was held on the occasion of Shah Chokha’s Urs after the harvesting of rabi crops. Associated with the assemblage of lovers and wooers, the fair attracted thousands of Meo men and women—the figure was 10,000 in 1870, according to the report. At this fair, many couples from Meo and other castes were married by mutual consent. The legitimacy of such unions, particularly inter-caste ones between Meo men and women of other castes, was not questioned by the Meo community, since they were believed to have been blessed by Shah Chokha himself (in fact, the groom would introduce the bride to his family stating that she had been gifted to him by the saint himself). Non-Meo women married to Meo men in this fashion had full rights and status in their households, and (male) children born of such marriages were entitled to their patrimony. The Meo community showed some flexibility in marital norms insofar as it allowed the practice of karewa, gharecha or gharijna whereby a widow could remarry or a woman could abandon her first husband and marry another man in lieu of some money, but what was significant about the cult of Shah Chokha was that it sanctified cross-caste marriages without the intervention of state or society. This practice was also associated with the Urs of Murad Shah or Madar Saheb of Qalandar silsila at Hasanpur Bara near Tijara. As in the case of Shah Chokha’s Urs, during the Urs of Murad Shah, men and women gathered on a moonlit night and forged nuptial ties. His cult was more popular among the non-cultivating sections of Meos such as sapera (snake charmers), bazigar (acrobats), saqqa (water bearers), faqir (mendicant), etc.⁷³

While the authority of Sufi Saints such as Shah Chokha and Murad Shah is invoked to legitimize certain marital practices outside the ambit of community norms, popular perceptions about them in certain sections of the Meo community also show the links forged between these quasi-historical figures and the origin myths of communities. A case in point is the legend⁷⁴ concerning the role of Shah Chokha in the settlement and prosperity of Chhiraklot Meo pal in the Firozpur Jhirka region. According to the legend, Shah Chokha scattered (chhirak) three fistfuls of grain in the region and blessed them to settle down there, this being the reason why the Chhiraklot Meos are so named and why they are settled there. Both Shah Chokha’s mausoleum and villages of Chhiraklot Meos are located in the Firozpur Jhirka valley where incidentally the soil is very fertile and produces a good yield of cotton. The Meos thus attribute their prosperity to Shah Chokha’s blessing. The myth links the origin of Meo settlement and agricultural productivity of the area to the Shah’s intervention, endowing the Meos with the sanctity of association with a saintly figure belonging to the well-established tradition of Islamic mysticism. However, Jagga records on the genealogy of Meo pals suggest that they earlier subsisted on predatory activities in the Kala Pahad region, and later migrated to this region, taking to sedentary life as peasants due to historical factors, particularly state pressure.

By far the most famous saint in Mewat was Shaikh Gadan of Tijara. He belonged to the Chishti order and is thought to have been a contemporary of Akbar. According to one account,⁷⁵ he was once on his way to Tijara with his disciples. As he entered the field of a Meo peasant, the latter’s wife saw him and thought that he had picked the sitta (barley pods) for eating. She yelled at him and called her husband who in a fit of rage shot an arrow piercing his chest and killing him. Shaikh Gadan’s tragic death at the hands of a Meo suggests that Meos were not drawn to him, even though he was a popular figure in the Tijara region, possibly among the Khanzadas. Nevertheless, the story does show that Mewat was a fertile ground for Sufi activity in the medieval period.

Besides the afore-discussed accounts of Sufis coming from outside Mewat, there are also those of local saints such as Peepa, Chuhad Siddh, Lal Das and Mohanram who are perceived to have deeply influenced the socio-cultural life of Meos. One account given in the Rajasthani sources concerns Peepa whose tomb is in village Guvalada near Tijara and who is believed to have been a contemporary of Akbar. At the age of 18, he was engaged to a Meo girl of Sarheta village. But, unbeknownst to him, her father broke off the engagement and married her off to another Meo boy, since people thought him crazed for he roamed aimlessly in the forest. On the day of marriage, when the groom’s party reached the bride’s house, Peepa, too, reached there on horseback and carried her to his native village Sarheta. The groom’s party chased him all the way, and near Guvalada killed both. Later, a tomb was built for him on that very spot, and the Meos of Dahgal pal would take the newly-wed couples to his tomb to offer worship, seek his blessings and perform the rite of untying the nuptial knot.⁷⁶

The foregoing discussion points to several factors that would have facilitated the Islamization of Meos in the medieval period. In the Rajasthani sources, particularly the dastur komwars and arsattas, while there are no clear references to the Islamic identity of Meo peasants, references to the dak Meoras from the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries indicate the beginnings of the process of Islamization of Meos in terms of their observance of certain Islamic rituals, such as nikah, burial, celebration of festivals like Id, and adoption of Muslim names. This can also be viewed as changes in the cultural life of the dak Meoras on account of their long service in the Mughal administration. These changes would have spread the influence of Islam among the Meo peasantry. At the same time, the early initiatives of Khanzada chiefs in introducing Islamic culture in the pre-Mughal period and the impact of Sufis on their socio-cultural life would have been instrumental in their acculturation to Islam, if not actual formal conversion. However, the religious identity of the Meos remained ambiguous, even as late as mid-19th century, since the first statistical report prepared by the British in 1840 recorded that about one-third of the Meo population in parganas Firozpur Jhirka, Nuh and Taoru were unaware of whether they were Hindus or Muslims. Thus, it may be concluded that many among the Meos began to assume Muslim identity only towards the end of the 18th century and this process continued well into the 20th century.

REFERENCES:

1. In terms of geographical location, Mewat region was/is situated approximately 64 km south-west of Delhi, roughly corresponding to present-day Alwar and Bharatpur districts of Rajasthan, and Nuh district of Haryana. Presently, it comprises of nine tehsils: Alwar, Tijara, Kishangarh and Lachhmangarh in Alwar district; Deeg Nagar and Kama in Bharatpur district; and Nuh and Firozpur-Jhirka in Nuh district.

2. The Indo-Persian chronicles used in this essay are Abul-Fazl’s Ain-i-Akbari and Akbarnama, and Muhammad Arif Qandhari’s Tarikh-i-Akbari. The Rajasthani archival records available from the second half of the 17^th century are arzdashts, arsattas, chithis, vakil’s reports, dastur komwars and khatoot ahalkarans. Arzdashts are petitions or memorials addressed to the Naruka Rajput chiefs of Amber written by amils (revenue officers), faujdars (chief police officers) and other officials of Amber, posted in various parganas which were held by the Amber rulers as jagirs (revenue-yielding land assignments) or whose ijara (revenue collection right) was obtained by them from Mughal mansabdars (Mughal officers holding military ranks). They contain details of political, social and economic conditions prevailing in various parganas. Arsattas are monthly treasury account of receipts and disbursements under different heads, maintained in Rajasthani by the Amber state. Chithis are letters written by the diwan of Amber to its officials, particularly amils and faujdars. Each chithi contains the substance of a complaint received by the diwan and his instructions for its redressal. The reports addressed to the Amber Raja by his vakil posted at the Mughal court are in the form of arzdashts, written in Hindi but incorporating Rajasthani and Persian vocabulary. These reports contain details of political developments at the Mughal court that the Amber Raja was regularly informed about. The khatoot ahalkarans are written in Rajasthani in the form of arzdashts and cover the period from 1633 to 1769. They provide useful information on various aspects of the internal administration of the jagirs in Mewat whose ijara was obtained by the Amber chiefs. The non-archival records of the Alwar state, preserved at the Rajasthan State Archives of Bikaner, are very useful for understanding the perceptions of people in the Mewat region, though some of this information is based on local folk traditions.All are dated in Vikram Samvat (vs) which is ahead of the Common Era (ce) by 57 years. The other important works used in this study are Sheikh Muhammad Makhdum’s Arzang-i-Tijara and Muhammad Habibur Rahman Khan’s Tazkirah-i-Sofiya-i-Mewat, both in Urdu.

3. Richard M. Eaton, The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996; Richard M. Eaton, ‘The Political and Religious Authority of the Shrine of Baba Farid in Pakpattan, Punjab’, in Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam, ed. Barbara Metcalfe, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.

4. Alexander Cunningham, Report of a Tour in Eastern Rajputana in 1882-83, Archaeological Survey of India Reports, vol. 20, 1885; repr. Varanasi: Indological Book House, 1969, pp. 29–30. Channing adds that the ancestors of the Meos embraced Islam during the reign of Qutbuddin Aibak (1206–10); see F.C. Channing, Land Revenue Settlement of the Gurgaon District, Lahore: Central Jail Press, 1882, p. 28.

5. J. Forbes Watson and John William Kaye, eds., The People of India, vol. 4, London: W.H. Allen and Co. for the India Museum, 1869, item 202. Watson and Kaye think that the conversion of the Meos was ‘probably the work of Sultan Firozshah Tughlaq in the 14^th century, when so many tribes were forcibly made Mohammadans, and that Aurangzeb completed what was then begun’. The settlement report of 1878 puts the date of Meos’ conversion somewhere around the time of Qutubuddin Aibak, while W.W. Hunter puts the date of conversion of the Meos at the time of Mahmud of Ghazni; see Channing, Land Revenue Settlement of the Gurgaon District, p. 28.

6. The story was narrated by Jagdish Jagga of village Khuteta Kalan, Ramgarh tehsil, Alwar district, in 2004.

7. Major P.W. Powlett, Gazetteer of Ulwur, London: Trübner & Co., 1878, p. 7.

8. Cunningham, Report of a Tour in Eastern Rajputana, pp. 15–16.

9. Sheikh Muhammad Makhdum, Arzang-i-Tijara (Urdu), Agra: Agra Akhbar, ah 1290/ce 1873, translated to Hindi by Anil Joshi, Alwar, 1989, pp. 15–16.

A. Fraser, Statistical Report of Zillah Gurgaon, Lahore: n.p., 1846, p. 14, note.

10. Makhdum, Arzang-i-Tijara, p. 6.

11. Abul-Fazl, The Ain-i-Akbari, vol. 2, tr. Blochmann, corr. and ann. Sir Jadunath Sarkar, 3rd edn, Calcutta: Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1978, pp. 202–4.

12. Ibid.

13. Abul-Fazl says that the Khanzadas of Mewat belonged to Juhiya Rajput clan. Abul-Fazl, The Ain-i-Akbari, vol. 1, tr. H. Blochmann, 3rd edn, Calcutta: Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1977, p. 354.

14. A.M. Husain, Tughluq Dynasty, Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, & Co., 1963, p. 336.

15. Powlett, Gazetteer of Ulwur, pp. 134–5.

16. Husain, Tughluq Dynasty, p. 336. After being given the title of Khanazadar Khanazadun by Firozshah, Bahadur Nahar became a powerful and respectable chief of Mewat. Later, the word ‘Khanazad’ changed to ‘Khanzada’; see Makhdum, Arzang-i-Tijara, p. 3.

17. It is noteworthy that Khanzadas and Kayam Khanis, two contemporary Muslim ruling groups that established their control over parts of eastern Rajasthan in the late fourteenth century and had similar traditions of Rajput ancestry associated with them differed in the projection of their socio-cultural identity. While the descent of the Khanzadas has been traced to Jadon Rajputs in oral traditions, there seems to have been no significant emphasis on their Rajput origins, nor evidence for any attempt on their part to forge their social identity with that of the Rajputs. Rather, assimilation of former Firozi slaves into their ranks foregrounded their Islamic identity which remained consistent throughout the medieval and early colonial periods. But at the same time, a legend of the establishment of their rule in Alwar following their decisive victory over the Nikumbha Rajputs of Alwar fort suggests that attempts to valorize their military might at the expense of Rajputs and thereby legitimize their rule in Alwar were made. Thus, while they did not claim glory from their Rajput origins or Rajput culture of chivalry and maintained their Islamic identity, they did perhaps try to shape their own tradition of heroism as superior to the Rajputs’. Moreover, their subsequent matrimonial relations with the Mughals would have lent further legitimacy to their privileged political status in Mewat. In contrast, the Kayam Khanis, who ruled parts of eastern Rajasthan, claimed their descent from Chauhan Rajputs as well as their conversion to Islam towards the end of Firozshah Tughlaq’s reign—just as the Khanzadas did—associated themselves more with the Rajput culture and even entered into matrimonial relations with them (Kavi Jana, Kayam Khan Raso, tr. Ratan Lal Mishra, ed. Dashrath Sharma, Agarachand Nahata and B.L. Nahata, Jodhpur: Rajasthan Prachyavidya Pratisthan, 1996). The difference in the socio-cultural identities of both, forged in part by their choice of alliances and associations, suggest that different political imperatives guided their attempts at self-legitimation as dominant groups in their respective regions.

18. Cunningham, Report of a Tour in Eastern Rajputana, p. 16. The date of construction of the mosque is written on the gateway to the mosque in Kotla. In the courtyard of the mosque, there is a fine tomb, which is said to be that of Bahadur Nahar himself.

19. Ibid., p. 117.

20. Ibid., p. 134.

21. Ibid., pp. 118, 119, 127, 135–7.

22. Non-archival Records of Alwar State, Rajasthan State Archives, Bikaner, Bandhak no. 3, granthank no. 66.

23. Powlett, Gazetteer of Ulwur, p. 38.

24. Cunningham, Report of a Tour in Eastern Rajputana, p. 23.

25. Powlett, Gazetteer of Ulwur, p. 40.

26. Makhdum, Arzang-i-Tijara, pp. 5–6.

27. S.A.A. Rizvi, Uttar Timur kaalin Mughal Bharat, vol. 1: 1399-1526, tr. S.A. Rizvi, Rajkamal Prakshan, 2010.

28. Abul-Fazl mentions that 1000 Meoras were employed as dak-carriers by Akbar, see The Ain-i-Akbari, vol. 1, p. 262.

29. Muhammad Arif Qandhari, Tarikh-i-Akbari, tr. Tasneem Ahmad, Delhi: Pragati, 1993, p. 62. He says that Akbar employed 4000 Meos in the dak system.

30. Irfan Habib, ‘Postal Communication in Mughal India’, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 46th Session, Amritsar, 1985, pp. 236–52.

31. Qandhari, Tarikh-i-Akbari, p. 62.

32. Abul-Fazl, Akbarnama, vol. 2, tr. H. Beveridge, 1902–39; repr. New Delhi: Low Price, 1993, pp. 427–8.

33. Channing, Land Revenue Settlement of the Gurgaon District, p. 30.

34. Abul-Fazl, The Ain-i-Akbari, vol. 1, pp. 261–2.

35. Muhammad Hashim Khafi Khan, Aurangzeb in Muntakhab-al Lubab, vol. 1, tr. Anees Jahan Syed, Bombay: Somaiya, 1977, p. 147.

36. Habib, ‘Postal Communication in Mughal India’. The letters that the couriers transmitted, whether on foot or mounted, used to be put in a tube made of a section of hollow bamboo cane called nalwa (ibid.).

37. B.L. Bhadani, ‘The Mughal Highway and Post Stations in Marwar’, in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Delhi, 1990, pp. 141–55.

38. Dastur Komwar Mutfarkat, vol. 23, vs 1774/ce 1717, pp. 59–140.

39. Arzdasht, Mah Vadi 6, vs 1744/ce 1687.

40. Arsatta, pargana Jalalpur, vs 1744/ce 1687.

41. Arsatta, pargana Pahari, vs 1793/ce 1736.

42. Abul-Fazl, The Ain-i-Akbari, vol. 1, pp. 261–2.

43. Dastur Komwar Mutfarkat, vol. 23, vs 1774/ce 1717, pp. 59–140.

44. Khatoot-ahalkarn, Asaj Sudi, vs 1771/ce 1714.

45. Arzdasht, Bhadva Vadi 13, vs 1740/ce 1683.

46. Arzdasht, Chet Vadi 1, vs 170/ce 1683.

47. Arsatta, pargana Kotla, vs 1722/ce 1665; pargana Jalalpur, vs 1722/ce 1665; pargana Bharkol, vs 1722/ce 1665; pargana Pahari, vs 1793/ce 1736.

48. Arsatta, pargana Bharkol, vs 1722/ce 1665.

49. Complaints were lodged by some dak Meoras against the amils who denied them concessions in the payment of land revenue on their personal holdings. The amils, in turn, argued that the concession was valid till the dak Meoras remained in the service of the Mughal state. See Chithi to the amil, pargana Pahari, Asoj Vadi 9, vs 1804/ce 1747.

50. Arzadasht, Mah Vadi 6, vs 1740/ce 1683.

51. Major-General Sir John Malcolm, The Political History of India from 1784 to 1823, vol. 2, London: John Murray, 1826, p. 174. Malcom says that the Meos happened to be faithful and courageous guards and servants to their masters.

52. Muhammad Umar, Muslim Society in Northern India during the Eighteenth Century, Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1998, pp. 145–55.

53. Arsatta, pargana Uzirpur, vs 1771/ce 1714, vs 1774/ce 1717, vs 1776/ce 1719, vs 1777/ce 1720, vs 1778/ce 1721, vs 1780/ce 1723.

54. Khatoot ahalkaran, Asad Sudi 4, vs 1780/ce 1723.

55. Ibid.; Devidas cited the instance of Noor Khan Meora inviting the qazi to perform nikah.

56. Makhdum, Arzang-i-Tijara, p. 5.

57. Ibid.

58. Makhdum, Arzang-i-Tijara, p. 33.

59. Channing, Land Revenue Settlement of the Gurgaon District, p. 30.

60. Powlett, Gazetteer of Ulwur, p. 70.

61. Channing, Land Revenue Settlement of the Gurgaon District, pp. 37–8.

62. Non-archival Records, Alwar State, Historical Section, granthank 3, bandhak no. 83.

63. Muhammad Habibur Rahman Khan, Tazkirah-i-Sofiya-i-Mewat: Islami Hind ki Tarikh ka Bhula Hua Ek Aham Baab, Gurgaon: Mewat Academy, 1979, pp. 39–44.

64. Channing, Land Revenue Settlement of Gurgaon District, p. 37.

65. Abul-Fazl, The Ain-i-Akbari, vol. 1, p. 153

66. Abdur Rahman Chisti, ‘Mirat-i-Masudi’, in The History of India as Told by Its Own Historians, ed. H.M. Elliot and John Dowson, vol. 2, Delhi: Low Price, 2001, pp. 513–49.

67. Non-archival Records, Alwar State, Historical Section, granthank 1, bandhak no. 81.

68. Ibid.; and Makhdum, Arzang-i-Tijara, pp. 3–4: both mention that during Firozshah’s reign, many Rajputs merged their identity with the Meos.

69. Non-archival Records, Alwar State, Historical Section, granthank 1, bandhak no. 81.

70. Channing, Land Revenue Settlement of the Gurgaon District, p. 37.

71. Khan, Tazkirah-i-Sofiya-i-Mewat, pp. 313–20.

72. Ibid., pp. 39–44.

73. Shail Mayaram, Against History, Against State: Counterperspectives from the Margins, Delhi: Permanent Black, 2004, p. 38.

74. Makhdum, Arzang-i-Tijara, p. 13.

75. Non-archival Records, Alwar State, Historical Section, granthank 12, bandhak no. 89.

Received on 07.02.2019 Modified on 20.03.2019

Int. J. Rev. and Res. Social Sci. 2019; 7(2):341-352.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2687.2019.00025.X

Family genealogy	Gotra	Name of the village	Date of establishment of the village
1. Mansingh ↓ Umed Singh ↓ Mukhtiar Singh ↓ Maan Singh ↓ Salar Singh ↓ Rai Mal ↓ Mohammad Khan, Nahar Khan	Shaugan	Maacha	vs 1524/ce 1467
2. Chuhar Singh ↓ Loot Singh ↓ Todar Mal ↓ Mawasi ↓ Mohar Singh ↓ Mehrab Singh ↓ Imam Baksh, Mlekhan	–	Chuharpur	vs 1505/ce 1448
3. Pithusamal ↓ Jaishwant Singh ↓ Hari Singh ↓ Dhan Singh ↓ Umrao Singh ↓ Khuda Baksh, Chote Khan	Ratawat	Pathrai	vs 1532/ce 1465
4. Chand Singh ↓ Ranbir Singh-Bhan Singh ↓ Vir Bhan ↓ Amar Singh ↓ Mangal Singh ↓ Rustam, Ismail Khan	Singhal	Chandauli	vs 1532/ce 1465