Meenas
Encyclopedia
Meenas, Meena, Meenoat or Mina(मीणा) is a caste
and community mainly found in Rajasthan
(the land of kings), India
. The name Mina is derived from Meen,meaning 'fish' in Sanskrit
, and the Minas claim descent from the Matsya
Avatar
, or fish incarnation
, of Vishnu
.
Meena
s celebrate Meenesh Jayanti
in the name of Vishnu on 3 Tithi of Chaitra Shukal paksha according to the Hindu calendar. The main reference of this belief is based on the scripture of the Matsya Purana
and Matsya Purana is the oldest of all the Indian Puranas.
Originally Meenas were a ruling caste, and were ruler of Matsya
,i.e., Rajasthan
or Matsya Union
but their slow downfall began with the assimilation
with Scythian and was completed when the British government declared them a "Criminal Tribe". This very action was taken to support their alliance with Rajput kingdom then in Rajasthan, and Meenas were still in war with Rajputs, carrying out guerrilla attacks to retain their lost kingdoms
.
Some scholars still disagree as to whether the Minas are an indigenous tribe, or whether they migrated to the region from Central Asia. According to Britannica, "the Minas are possibly of inner Asiatic origin, and tradition suggests that they migrated to India in the 7th century with the Rajputs".
. Meenas share the Brij and Matsya
Area of Rajasthan i.e. Sawai Madhopur, Dausa, Jaipur, Dholpur and Karauli districts in Jaipur and Bharatpur region (also the Bharatpur and Bayana districts) with other communities. They inhabit the area from Jaipur
–Sikar
in Shekhawati region and Alwar in the northeast region of the state. They are also widely spread in Kota
, Jhalawar
and Bundi
. Meenas are also found in north-western Madhya Pradesh
i.e. Sheopur
, Morena
, Gwalior, Shivpuri
, Guna, Sajapur, Bhopal etc. The Meenas community of Rajasthan, are an agricultural people occupying one of the most fertile regions of the state.The problem of famine
and drought
is deeply related with the economy of Rajasthan. In spite of long period of economic development a durable water policy was not formulated in the state.
The Meena
kings were the early rulers of major parts of Rajasthan
including Amber (early capital of Jaipur
). The book "Culture and Integration of India Tribes" by R.S.Mann mentions that Meenas are considered as a Kshatriya
caste equally as Rajputs, and having higher social status in the society. They are well integrated with other higher castes like Rajputs, Brahmins etc. Brahmins perform all rituals from birth, marriage and death for Meenas like for any other higher Hindu caste.
was ruled by a dynasty of Meenas which had the emblem of Fish like the Pandyan kingdom
(Paravar, Karava, Karaiyar
) of the south. The name Mina is derived from Meen and the Minas claim descent from the Matsya
Avatar
(Meena Avatar)of God. Matsya
Avatar
(Mina Avatar) takes place to save the pious and the first man, Manu.The capital of Matsya
s was at Viratanagara (modern Bairat) which is said to have been named after its founder king Virata. Manu married Shraddha and had ten children including Ila and Ikshvaku, the progenitors of the Lunar Dynasty
and Solar Dynasty respectively.
The Meena
kingdom
ruled the west of the river Jamuna roughly corresponding to the modern Jaipur
and Alwar (ruler) areas.The Meena
kingdom
(Fish kingdom) was called Matsya Kingdom
in Sanskrit was mentioned in the Rig Veda.Rigveda is the oldest of all the Vedas and was composed in the north-western region of the Indian subcontinent
,roughly between 1700–1100 BC.
Matsya or Meena
(Sanskrit for fish) was the name of a Kshatriya tribe and the state of the Vedic civilization of India
.It lay to south of the kingdom of Kurus and west of the Yamuna
which separated it from the kingdom of Panchalas. It roughly corresponded to former state of Jaipur
in Rajasthan, and included the whole of Alwar with portions of Bharatpur.The capital of Matsya was at Viratanagar (modern Bairat) which is said to have been named after its founder king Virata
. Meenas are brothers and kinsmen of Virata
, the ruler of Virat Nagar. They ruled this area(near to Virat Nagar) till 11th century.A branch of Matsya is also found in later days in Visakhapatnam region.Further, Mahabharata describes Abhira(Yadav
) as forming one of the republics, Samsaptak Gunas, and as a friend of Matsya
s(Meenas), the ancient Indian Rulers.
The most famous Matsya kingdom
was the one under the rule of king Virata
, the ally of the Pandavas.Pandavas, while staying in the palace of Virata, witnessed a festival named after lord Brahma
. Matsya Kingdom
was within the reach of Vedic religion. The Kauravas with the Panchalas, the Salwas, the Matsyas(Meenas), the Naimishas, the Koshalas, the Kasapaundras, the Kalingas, the Magadhas, and the Chedis who are all highly blessed, know what the eternal religion is.(8,45)According to Shrimad Bhagvad,in olden times,Meenas were the rulers of entire Bhārata.Since ancient times,Meena Kshatriyas were the Protectors of Kshatriya values and Sanatana Dharma.
Meengarh(Meena
kingdom
) was situated somewhere on the bank of river
Indus. Here, there were some 152 states of Meenas. This is contemporary to the period of Indus Valley Civilization
(2600 to 1800 bc). The Jaga-ke-pothi mentions that from these 152 states, originated 152 original gotras of Meenas.Matsya Kingdom(proper) & Kalibangan in Rajasthan was a major provincial capital of the Indus Valley Civilization.
In the later days the Bhils and Meenas mixed with the Pardeshis (foreign
people
) who were Scythian, Hepthalite or other Central Asian clans. The Scythian mixed Meenas and Bhils remain as Rajput
subclans, while the Meenas and Bhils who were displaced by the Scythian invaders and Muslims have mixed with the tribal Bhils and form the Bhil (tribal) Meenas.
Meenas of Rajasthan till date strongly follows Vedic culture
. Meena
s mainly worship
, Bhainroon (Shiva
), Hanuman and Krishna as well as the Devies.
Meena
s have better rights
for women in many respects compared to many other Hindu casts. Like remarriage of a widows and divorcees is a common practice and well accepted in their society. Such practice are part of Vedic civilization
.
From Vedic
period to the present, Meena
s(Meena
var) have seen many ups and downs. In ancient period they were a ruling tribe of Rajasthan
. Coming to medieval period they were cut off from their own land, to the interiors of mountain and forests. The oral history preserved in the traditional folktales and folklores of this tribe affirm the kingdom of Meena
(Meendesha) with its capital at Amber
. Col. James Tod has written that, Meena
was a great community which ruled over large part of Rajasthan
. During the 10th century
AD, Meenas were totally routed out from Amber and Jaipur
and thus deprived of their privileges.
According to the book, "History of India
" (by Prof. Mukherjee, M.A.) It was a transition period marked by a new grouping of states due to Hun invasions. The series of invasions by the Huns and other associated foreign tribes in the fifth and sixth centuries shook the fabric of the society and brought a rearrangement of the caste system and of the ruling dynasties. The Scythians and other northwestern invaders in Indian literature were described as barbarians,slaves. Brihat-Katha-Manjari of Kshmendra informs us that king Vikramaditya
had unburdened the sacred
earth of the Barbarians like the Sakas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Tusharas, Parasikas, Hunas etc. by annihilating these sinners.Patanjali
in his Mahabhasya regards the Saka
s and Yavanas as pure Shudras.Sakas (or Scythians), migrated into Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara, Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan
, from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 6th century AD. The invasion of India by Scythian tribes from Central Asia, often referred to as the Indo-Scythian invasion. The Valmiki Ramayana also attests that the Sakas, Kambojas, Pahlavas and Yavanas fought together against the Vedic
Hindu
king Vishwamitra of Kanauj. Some Asian Saka include bala etc The destructive effects of the Hun inroads were, to a certain extent, arrested by Harsha
(Harshwardhan) but as soon as his strong hand was removed, they manifested themselves in a regrouping of states. Hence the latter half of seventh century, during which this new grouping of states took place, is regarded as a period of transition from early to medieval India. The most prominent feature of this transitional period is the rise of the Rajput Clans. The Thakurs were of Scythian origin and historians derive their name from Tukharian.The Scythian or Saka tribes were the last pre-Islamic migrants into India.Many scythians were absorbed into the Rajput stock,and that the Rajputs of today possess a considerable Greek ancestry.The 'Scythic Origin of the Rajput Race' proves that all the modern-day Rajputs, Thakurs, Gujjars are not Vedic Aryans but instead the descendants of Scythic immigrants.Thus all `Hindus' are not Vedic Aryans. Phylogenetic evidence clearly indicates that the Rajput races are of Indo-Scythic descent. Main Descendants of the Scythians in India are Getae,Gurjars,Thakur(Tokharian) and Rajputs. The term 'Rajput' does not occur in early Sanskrit literature nor do we hear of Rajput clans before the tenth century A.D. This proves that they were a later addition to the population of India. According to Prof. Naidu, Rajput is a contemptuous term implying illegitimacy applied by the Aryans to the Rajput invaders. Over several centuries, the Rajputs exterminated the native populations of Bhils and Meena
s, till they confined to the mountainous regions of Rajasthan. During the troubled times that followed the breakup of the Gupta Empire
, many foreign races such as the Huns, the Gurjaras.,etc. settled in the Punjab and Rajputana and became Hinduised in course of time. The Pratihara clan was descended from the Gurjars, and this raises a strong presumption that the other Rajput clans also are the descendants from the Gurjaras or the allied foreign immigrants.The upper ranks of these foreigners, whose main occupation was war, came to be known as Rajputs, while the humbler folks ranked low in social status and developed into inferior castes such as Gurjaras, Jats and others. Brahmins were clever enough to see that number of princes should be within limits. Brahmins knew that if these people did not fight among themselves, they would be burden to Brahmins and a danger to their position in times to come. That was the reason only the selected few were made Rajputs, the rest remaining Jats, Ahirs and other commoners.
The people
were kept in ignorances, fed with unwholesome superstition
and beguilded with gorgeous and never ending festivals." The Hindus were losing their old assimilative power. They were losing their old vitality
. The rigid caste system was making them unprogressive. The dominance of the Brahmanas, both in spiritual and secular matters was doing havoc." (Mahajan
: 1972: 557). Therefore, the division of the same class of people into different social grades was based not on birth but on occupation. Of the Hinduised descendants of the original invaders, those who belonged to ruling classes, with war and government as their chief business, came to be treated as Kshatriyas. The common people, on the other hand, given the rank of lower castes. Thus many of the most distinguished Rajput clans such as the Chauhans, the Pariharas, the Pawars (Paramaras), the Solankis (Chalukyas) are descended mainly from foreigners, called Scythians by Tod. While others are descended from indigenous tribes elevated to the rank of Kshatriya
s.
Most of the major Rajput kingdoms were founded on the ‘blood of Bhils, Native Rulers, Meenas etc. During the exterminations that lasted for several centuries, the Native bhils, minas etc were massacred and their towns destroyed, till they eventually only survived in the extreme hills of Rajasthan. Though the word "Rajput" is supposed to be a corrupted form of the Sanskrit word 'Raajaputra' which means a "scion of the royal blood" and that the word occurs in the Puranas and also in the Harshcharita of Bana, Mahajan is honest enough to accept that the word, in earlier times and in some areas even now, had an disrespectful meaning. The Vedic Rajas & old Kshatriyas(tribals),not satisfied with their married wives,had frequently children by their female slaves,who although not legitimate successors to the throne,these illegitimate children were styled Rajpoots,or the children of Rajas"The word "Rajput" is used in certain parts of Rajasthan
to denote the illegitimate sons of a Kshatriya
chief or Zamidar." [Mahajan: 1972: 550 ff.] The conclusion is obvious that they were not considered by the original residentsto be respectable, to start with. This is because "Raaja" means royal but "Raj" means semen. The progeny of mixed marriages is even now called by that name in some parts. The condition of woman was deteriorating. The question of women education was unthinkable. Obscene Art flourished during Rajput age. The originality of the ancient times was lost and the ancient culture degenerated. The country fell into the hands of Rajput barons, soon to be followed by the Mohammedan invaders who completed the work of annihilation. The combined army of Kachwaha Rajputs and Mughals defeated the powerful Meena Kings of Rajasthan by annihilating them. Rajput age was a Dark Age for masses of India
.
Hindu law as codified through acts passed between 1955 and 1956 were based on inegalitarian Victorian English patters of marriage and inheritance and on the customary practices of some the dominant communities in North-West India, among whom women's right have been seriously coded. The practices of the Nair
s in Kerala
, Meitei in Mainipur, Meena
s in Rajasthan and Jains
, which provide better rights to women in many respects, were presumed to be non-existent or non-Indian. Thus the Hindu codified law is in many ways a step backward for some communities.
The book by Alfred Comyn Lyall covers the early formations of Meena cast, their adventures, outlaws, outcast, and refugees generally. The book highlights on the fact of Meenas groups having Bharman and Scythian ancestors. Where most of the Meenas preserve the name of the higher clan or Cast from which founder emigrated and joined Meenas. Some names denote only the founder's original habitation, while other circle bears the names of notorious ancestors.
However, the Bharmans who joined Meenas are the one who have from time to time been persuaded or forced by some wild chief or captain of the pure clans to officiated in a human sacrifice; and that, having thereby quite forfeited their pure cast, they become degraded, and were driven forth to minister into the tribes beyond the pale. This story must not hastily be set aside as improbable, for the tradition of human sacrifice was common then. Further to this, Alfred Comyn Lyall added,
During the years of invasion, several fresh groups of Meenas have been formed, under the stress
of the frightful famine
which desolated Rajputana
in 1868. During the last millennium, food insecurity were rampant in mina dominated areas of Rajputana
. As a consequence starving families were compelled to abandon scruples of caste and honesty, to steal cattle and to eat them. The earlier contributions of warriors and protectors of the state, jats, Bhils,and Meenas were neglected and lost in history.
". The city of this Janpad was "Virat Nagar", now known as "Bairath" and renamed as Virata Nagar again. The Pandavas got shelter there for one year. There are still places known as "Pandupol" near Virat Nagar. Abhimanyu the son of Arjun
and great warrior married to daughter of King of Virat Nagar the princess was named Uttarā
. After Abhimanyu died in battle of Kurukshetra
, and all Pandav sons were killed by Ashwathama they were left without progeny. Uttarā was pregnant then. After Pandavas went to Himalaya, the son delivered by Uttarā was "Parikhishit" who inherited Pandavas and ruled India
.. He was killed by "Takshak" a Naga or Nagvanshi Khastriya. His son Janmejay did a Yagya to finish all Nagas at "Nagdah" known as "Nagada" now in MP. King Virat
and all his sons and brothers were killed at Kurukshetra
in Mahabharat. Some of clan brothers ruled this area after him. Many historical evidence
is recovered from this area all belonging to time of Lord Buddha
. Meenas are considered the brothers and kinsmen of Virata
, the ruler of Virat Nagar. They ruled this area (near to Virat Nagar) till 11 th century.
Rao Hammir the great king of Ranthambhor was from Meenas. Rao Hammir was grandson of great king Prithviraj Chauhan
. As found in history, the later ruler (Kachwaha Rajputs and Mughals) destroyed the glorious past of Meenas.
Main Forts build by Meena
Kings
Main bawaries (to hold water from Rain
) build by Meena
Kings
Main temples build by Meena Kings
'NOTE: Important Book for the reference on above information is "Meena Cast and History of Freedom" by Shri. Lakshmi Nayaran Jharwal'
King Raja Ralun Singh also known as Alan Singh Chanda of Khogong
kind
-heartedly adopted a stranded Rajput
mother and her child who sought refuge
in his realm
. Later, the Meena
king sent the child, Dhola Rae, to Delhi
to represent the Meena kingdom. The Rajput
, in gratitude for these favours, returned with Rajput conspirers and massacred the weaponless Meenas on Diwali
while performings rituals i.e. Pitra Trapan, it is customery in the Meenas to be weaponless at the time of PitraTrapan, "filling the reservoirs in which the Meenas bathed with their dead bodies" [Tod.II.281] and thus conquered Khogong.This act of Kachwaha
Rajputs was termed as most coward and shameful in history of Rajasthan.
Though historian Tod was fond of Rajputs and their history,but this betrayal of Kachwaha Rajputs was termed as one of the most shameful and coward act in history of India by him. T.H. Henley,states in his Rulers of India and the Chiefs of Rajputana (1897) that the Kachwaha
clan is believed to have settled in an early era at Rohtas in present-day Bihar
, later the clan migrated to Rajasthan. Dhola Rae then subjugated the Sihra Gotra of Meenas at much later on known as Jamwa Ramgarh
near Jaipur
, and transferred his capital thence. Becoming the son-in-law of the prince of Ajmer
, he died when battling 11,000 Meenas,most of whom he slew
[Tod.II.282]. His son Maidul Rae "made a conquest of Amber
from the Soosawut Meenas" by conspiracy whose King Raja Bhanu Singh Meena, was the head of the Meena
confederation. He subdued the Nandla Meenas, annexing the Gatoor-Gatti district [Tod.II.282]. Hoondeo succeeded to the throne and "continued the warfare against the Meenas" [Tod.II.282]. Koontal, his successor, fought the Meenas "in which the Meenas were defeated with great slaughter
, which secured his rule throughout Dhundhar
" [Tod.II.282]. The Meenas were the original builders of Amber
, which town they consecrated to Amba, the Mother Goddess
, whom they knew as "Gatta Rani" or "Queen of the Pass" [Tod.II.282].
Describing the destruction of the Meena
town of Naed, Tod wrote: "When this latter prince (Baharmull Kachwaha
, a contemporary of Babur
and Humayun
) destroyed the Meena
sovereignty
of Naend, he levelled its half hundred gates, and erected the town of Lohan
(now the residence of a Rajawat
chief) on its ruins
" [Tod.II.283]. The name of Meena ruler of Naen\Nahn was Rao Bada Meena, he was so rich that his wealth was compared to Akbar's empire in a local saying as "Rao Bada ko Bijano, Akabar Ko Gharbaar" that mean Rao Bada's manual fan was so precious that it was compared with Akbar's palace. An old historical proverb records the power of Meena King and Rulers of Nahn, “There were fifty two strongholds, and fifty six gates belonging to the manly Meena
, the Raja
of Nahn..”
The Kachwaha
Rajput ruler Bharmal
of Amber always eyed on Nahn and attacked on it several times but could not succeeded against mighty and brave Bada Meena. Akbar had asked Rao Bada to marry his daughter Shashivadini to Akbar, but Shashivadini Meena refused the proposal. Later on Bharmal
married his daughter Jodhabai
to Akbar(Jalāl ud-Dīn Muhammad Akbar). Bharmal was made a noble of high rank in the imperial court, and subsequently his son Bhagwant Das and grandson Man Singh also rose to high ranks in the nobility.
Then the combined army of Akbar and Bharmal
attacked Bada Meena and killed him damaging 52 kots and 56 gates. Bada's treasure was shared between Akbar and Bharmal
. Bharmal
kept his treasure in Jaigarh fort
near Amber
. With the aid of Kachwaha Rajputs, Mughals defeated the powerful Meena
Kings of Rajasthan by annihilating them. Akbar distributed the total loot that fell into the hands of his forces throughout the Mughal Empire
. Bharmal
was first among the Rajputs to marry his daughter with a Mughal. Jodhabai was also the sister of Bhagwandas and the aunt of Man Singh I of Amber
, who later became one the nine jewels (Navaratnas
) in the court of Akbar. The Kachwaha Rajputs provided the Mughals
some of their most distinguished generals. Bhagawant Das was a general of Mughal emperor Akbar, who awarded him a mansab (rank) of 5000 in 1585. and conferred him the title of Amir-ul-Umra. Raja Bhagwant Das (1575-1589) brought with him the secret of artillery production from Lahore
(where he and his son Man Singh remained for many years as governor) to Amber
in 1584, soon cannons began to be made at the foundry in Jaigarh Fort
(including the world's largest cannon on wheels, the Jaivana), much to the infuriation of the Mughals who kept the secret to themselves ever since they used it in the epic battles, against the Lodhis and the Rajputs. In 1589, Bhagwant Das was succeeded by Raja Man Singh I (1589-1614) (Akbar's Commander-in-Chief), who did much to further the establishment of Mughal
rule over present Afganistan, Kabul,and Rajputana
in the west to Orissa
and Cooch Behar
in the east. From Kashmir
in the north to southernmost parts of the Deccan, and also served them in other capacities, notably as governor of Kabul and Bengal
. Man Singh’s monumental fortress in Kabul, was used as headquarters by subsequent Mughal governors. As governor of Bengal, Raja Man Singh made Rohtas, his ancestral domain in Bihar
, his headquarters; he rebuilt the fort and also built a new palace there. Jai Singh I
(1622-1667), commonly known by the title 'Mirza Raja' conferred to him by (his cousin) Shah Jehan, was one of the most prominent Mughal generals during the reigns of Shah Jehan and Aurangzeb
. An accomplished statesman, scholar and diplomat and a premier noble of the empire, he forced Shivaji to sign Treaty of Purandar (1665)
. As an emperor, Akbar solidified his rule by pursuing diplomacy with the powerful Rajput caste, and by marrying Rajput
princesses. The Meenas were treated by the Mughal invaders with the most merciless cruelty. Mewar Sisodia
ruler Mahrana Pratap renounced all matrimonial alliances with Rajput rulers who had married into the Mughal dynasty, refusing such alliances even with the princes of Marwar
and Amer
until they agreed to sever ties with the Mughals.
Jaigarh Fort
situated on the hill premonitory called the Cheel ka Teela (Hill of Eagles
) of the Aravalli hill ranges when it was ruled by Meenas, it overlooks the Amber Fort
and the Moata Lake, near Amber
in Jaipur
, Rajasthan
, India
.
The hill that Jaigarh was built was called Chil Tila, when it was ruled by Meenas. In the ancient map of Nahari ka Naka (Jaipur), the inscriptions mentions that the white rocks at this region shows the traditions of the Meenas, in which the tigers came here to pay respect to the Meenas. Later on the state is said to have been founded about eleventh century or 1097 by Dūlaha Rāya, who hailed from Gwalior; he and his Kachwaha kinsmen are said to have absorbed or driven out the local Meenas and Badgujar Rajput
chiefs. In which the Meenas were to become a key ally of the Kachwahas.
According to the records of Jagas, in Bundi some eleven thousand Meenas were killed by foul play to acquire the throne of Bundi by the Rajputs. In Similar manner some thirty-two sovereign
states of Meenas were destroyed one by one by the Kachwaha
Rajputs and others to subjugate them. There used to be lots of Meena People, but most of them were killed. Loosing their power, Meenas resolved to guerilla attacks to take revenge from the Rajputs. Then to settle peace with the Meenas, the Rajput rulers called for a common joint meeting in Ajmer
. In the meeting it was mutually decided that Meenas will hold treasury of the state while their ruler will be amongst the Rajputs.With the advent of the Kachwaha Rajputs and Mughals into their territory, the Meenas were gradually sidelined and pushed deep into the forests. As a result, historical literature has completely bypassed the Meenas.
During British rule in India, they were placed under Criminal Tribes Act
1871, hence stigmatized for a long time, after independence however they were denotified
in 1952. Mark Brown (Social Legal Studies 2004; 13; 191) has well elaborated the impact and issues of Meenas community during the British rule, and change in their status from Higher Social Cast to Criminal Tribe. He also mentioned the division in the Meenas as zamindar Mina group and chowkidar Minas. In his case study he answered why and how Meenas have been put under Criminal Tribal category, even being very different from the other tribal people then. How British manage to control Meenas which were growing threat for British rule in Northern India. In Woolbert's (1898) account of the raising of the Meena Battalion at Deoli the difficulties and achievements of this process were described. Woolbert describes the Minas’ history thus:
“The Meenas are an Athletic and Brave Race, tall, handsome, and pleasing to address, obedient to their leaders and sensible in kindness, but at the same time Blood-thirsty and Revengeful..”
The Kachwaha Rajputs were the first in Rajasthan to sign a treaty of ‘offensive and defensive Alliance’ with the British East India Company
. During the Revolt of 1857(Indian Rebellion of 1857) when the British invoked the treaty to request assistance in the suppression of rebellious sepoys, the Kachwaha Rajputs opted to preserve their treaty,and thus sent troops to subdue the uprisings in the area. British fleeing from the Menace of the Mutineers and Minas were sheltered in Nahargarh Fort(Jaipur State). Most of the Rajput princes remained loyal to Britain in the Revolt of 1857,including Jaipur and Bundi States. The Rajput kings concluded treaties with the British, accepting British sovereignty in return for local autonomy and protection from the Marathas. In mid 18th century, when 4,000 Maratha soldiers came on an informal visit to Jaipur, all the gates of the city were closed, and the Rajput army attacked the Marathas and killed them. Following the Mughal tradition and more importantly due to its strategic location Ajmer became a province of British India, while the autonomous Rajput states, the Muslim state (Tonk
), and the Jat states (Bharatpur
and Dholpur
) were organized into the Rajputana Agency. In 1817-18, the British Government concluded treaties of alliance with almost all the states of Rajputana. British under Brevert-Major Robert William with the Kachwaha field forces fought against Minas in 1824, in the Meena hills of Rajasthan, in which the Minas were defeated. Lothoo Jat
(1804–1855), Karna Meena and Sanwanta Meena were the famous revolutionary freedom fighters of Rajasthan, of that era. They struggled all their life with the objective to oust British rule from India and get the people freed from exploitation by jagirdars and establish democracy.They fought against company rule in Bathot, Singrawat war, Aravalli hills, Agra fort
, Nasirabad cantonment(Ajmer
) etc. In 1846, British declared them as dacoits and awards were also declared on arrest of them with assurance of job. Later Lothoo Jat became victim of Rajputs conspiracy and the Kachwaha Rajputs eliminated a brave, nationalist revolutionist in 1855. On hearing the news of his friend Lothoo Jat’s death, Karna Mina also died in pain(1856). In Rajputana gazetteer, Powlett describes the Minas as a former Ruling group who are the famous marauders and who plundered the British & their allies during revolts. In the 19th century the administrative concern with the Meenas had been a constant. They were outlawed in Rajputana and Captain Brooke led an expedition against them. Orders were issued to execute all the minas who ascended the Ghat of mewar without a pass. This very action was taken to support their alliance with Rajput kingdom then in Rajasthan. Even after such restrictions, decades following 1857 the concern with the Minas intensified. The Bharatpur police reports catalog their activities at length. Lawrence’s report which shows the British agitation over the Minas after 1857 as they are said to stop all traffic on highways and are active all over Rajputana.
, often attributed to failed government policies, were some of the worst ever recorded, including the the frightful famine which desolated Rajputana in 1868 , in which millions of people died and the Indian famine of 1899–1900 in which 1.25 to 10 million people died. During the years of invasion, several fresh groups of Meena
s have been formed, under the stress of the frightful famine
which desolated Rajputana
in 1868. The monsoon of 1868 was late in coming and, moreover, when it came, was light and brief, lasting until only August 1868. There was shortage of fodder in most areas of Rajputana
, and some areas had water shortage as well. Since the much needed grain could be brought in only on slow camel trains, the stricken areas were more or less inaccessible. Many inhabitants of the famine-stricken regions of Rajputana
, emigrated with their livestock or herds. Initially, however, they did not go to the British territory of Ajmer
, where relief works had been arranged; many wandered in search of food until they died from starvation
. Late in 1868, epidemics of cholera broke out among the vulnerable population, and there was no harvest in the spring of 1869. In May 1869, many villagers, who had emigrated earlier, now returned to their villages believing that the rains that year would be early. However, the rains held off until mid-July, and, in the interim, many thousands more died of starvation. Even so, the autumn harvest promised to be abundant; however, swarms of locusts descended upon the fields and destroyed the young crops. In September and October 1869, there were heavy rains, which, although good for the spring harvest, caused an epidemic of malaria and killed many more.
Having been criticized for the badly bungled relief effort, British authorities began to discuss famine policy soon afterwards, Sir William Muir, issued a famous order stating that:
The Government of British India organized famine relief works in the British territory of Ajmer
Province of British India. The princely states of Rajputana
, however, provided very little relief, only Udaipur State spent Rs. 5 lakhs. Consequently, the immigration from the princely states into British India in the later stages of the famine began to overwhelm British efforts, and, in spite of Sir William Muir's newly defined responsibility for each district officer, the resulting mortality
was great. It is thought that over 1.5 million people died all over Rajputana
during the famine
. The British had established control over North Western India in the early decades of the 19th century; this consisted of direct administration of the British outpost of Ajmer-Merwara
farther north. The middle decades of the 19th century saw not only the implementation of a new system of land revenue and land rights in these areas, but also the establishment of new civil law. Under the new land rights system, peasants could be dispossessed of their land if they failed to pay the land-revenue (or land-tax) in a timely fashion. Manotidars were appointed to stand surety for the cultivators , many of whom were Bhils, Sondhia and Minas
. The British, however, continued to rely on local Baniya usurers, or Sahukars, to supply credit to the peasants. The imposition of the new system of civil law, however, meant that the peasants could be exploited by the sahukars, who were often able, through the new civil courts, to acquire title-deeds to a peasant's land for non-payment of debt. The mid-19th century was also a time of predominance of the economic theories of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, and the principle of laissez-faire was subscribed to by many colonial administrators; the British, consequently, declined to interfere in the markets. This meant that the Baniya sahukars could resort to hoarding during times of scarcity, driving up the price of food grain, and profiteering in the aftermath. All this occurred in Western India during the famine of 1899–1900. In Mina and Bhils dominated areas of western India, many zamindar peasants were forced to hand over their lands to the sahukars as security for meager loans that not only didn't granted them much relief, but that they later couldn't repay on account of exorbitant interest. The sahukars were to foreclose on these loans in the years after the famine; in the princely states of north western India, for example, the recorded land-transfers were to jump from an average of 13,000 per year during the decade of the 1890s, to over 65,000 during the year 1902–1903.
The sahukars, in their effort to drive up prices, were even able to export grain out of areas of scarcity using the faster means of transport that came in with British raj. A British deputy district collector recorded in his report, "The merchants first cleared large profits by exporting their surplus stocks of grain at the commencement of the famine, and, later on by importing maize from Cawnpore and Bombay and rice from Calcutta and Rangoon." He went on to record that the sahukars were building new houses for themselves from these windfall profits. The blatant profiteering, however, led to grain riots in Princly states by Mina and Bhils, and grain riots became a feature of other British-ruled areas during times of famine.
As described by Woolbert, The Minas are generally industrious and sensible, but in years of famine, occasionally return to their former predatory and marauding style. They were somewhat demoralized after the natural calamities that occurred between 1868 and 1905. In general, they are of fine physical characteristics, and possess good powers of endurance. Vivian (1912) suggested that at the turn of the century there were around one million Minas and related clans, though only a small number of these had ever been involved in criminal activity. Nevertheless, those who were so engaged, most famously the Minas living in the village of Shajehanpur in the district of Gurgaon, south of Delhi, came to be represented as a hereditary band of bandits.
and individuality. A culture known for being very strong, resilient and hardworking. Their ethos includes an intense pride in ancestry and a mettlesome regard for personal honour. In terms of marriages the Meenas form a strong endogamous society, marriage outside the community is strictly prohibited.They possess qualities like courage, loyalty, leadership, physical strength, resilience, fighting tenacity and military strategy. Though many of their strongholds lay in ruin, the Meenas bravely hold what remains theirs, while looking to reclaim their lost empire
s. Meenas are stubborn and sturdy people, but also brave and very hardworking, they remain true to the traditions and values of their heritage.
The Meenas have played an important part in the history of Rajasthan(earlier known as Rajputana, Gurjaratra, Matsya kingdom..the land of the Meenas). In former times, Rajput and Meena chiefs, in subordination to the Taur kings of Delhi
, ruled over a considerable tract of the country.
During the war with Rajputs and Mughals, the Meena community has been divided in basic four sects (1.) The Zamindar Meena
(2.) The Chaukidar Meena
s (3) Parihar Meenas
and (4.) The Bhil Meena
(Tribal).
The Zamindar Meena
are traditionally connected with farming profession. They claim a Kshatriya status equivalent to that of the Rajputs. In the local socio-ritual hierarchy they enjoy a clean cast status.
The Chaukidar Minas are a branch of those Zamindar Meenas, who during the later middle age adopted fighting in the armies and later on Britishers enforced them to report on Chaukis regularly to ensure that they do not indulge in any criminal activities known as Chowkidar Meena. Like Zamindar Meenas, Chowkidar Meenas call themselves Meena Thakur and claim Kshatriya status.
The Bhil Meena
are said to be descended from those Meenas and Rajputs who, in the wars between their own tribes or with Muslim
s, were compelled to quit their native home and seek refuge in the vastness of Rajputana, where they formed alliances with the aboriginal families and established tribe.
The Meenas of the Karauli
, Sawai Madhopur
, Jaipur, Gangapur area are the most important cultivators for the last four hundred years. They expelled the Dhangar
s and Lodhi
s from a number of villages they occupied 500 years ago, and have retained their possession until now. In Karauli(Rajasthan
),the Meena
s, Gurjars and Jats smoke together.They live in complete harmony
.
Originally a nomadic, warlike people practicing animal breeding and known for lawlessness,today most Mina and Meo are farmers with respected social positions. In the late 20th century the Mina in India numbered more than 1,100,000, and the Meo, concentrated in northeastern Punjab, Pakistan, numbered more than 300,000. Both are divided into 12 exogamous clans, led by a headman (muqaddam) and a council (panch) of tribe members. They trace descent patrilineally and divide themselves into three classes: landlords, farmers, and watchmen. Both the Mina and Meo permit widow divorce and remarriage, and the Meo allow a man to exchange a sister or close female relative for his bride. Following Hindu tradition, the Mina cremate their dead while the Meo observe burial rites.
Meo of Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur, Karauli, Sawai Madhopur
, Gangapur districts of Rajasthan made efforts to come back in Meena community, but the intermarriage concept (i.e., roti and bati) has put down their offer by Meena leaders. As Meo are followers of Islam
.
, the Meena are found mainly in the districts of Gurgaon
, Mahenderagarh and Hissar. Unlike the Rajasthan Meena, the Haryana Meena have not been granted Scheduled Tribe status. They are divided into a number of gotra
s, the main ones being the Boya, Sihra, Jarwaal, Jepha, Papati, Morjal, Kawat, Gomalhada, Khangash, Jakhiwal, Nagori and Tajee. Each of these clans are of equal status, and intermarry. The Haryana Meena are largely a community of peasant farmers. A small number, particular in villages bordering Rajasthan
are employed as village watchmen. They now speak Haryanvi, but most also understand Hindi.
Kshatriyas(old Rajas) and medival Rajputs in many cases..The theory of Agnikula origin of the Rajputs is given in Prithviraj Raso of Chand Bardai. According to Edwards, the Agnikul myth represents a rite of puragation by fire, the scene of which was in Southern Rajputana whereby the impurity
of foreigners was removed and they became fit to enter caste system. The fictitious character of the story is obvious. It represents a Brahamanical effort to find a lofty origin for the Rajputs who stood high in the social order and who gave them a lot of money and land in charity.
According to the book,a glimpse of medieval Rajasthan
by Naravane & Malik the Agnikula theory for Rajputs was invented in 16th century to legitimize the “conversion” of foreign people as pure Kshatriyas.
In the book by Satish Chandra, there appears to be a fair consensus that Rajputs were drawn from miscellaneous castes including Brahmans, aboriginal tribesmen and foreigners
who had settled in the country
. The manner in which they become "Hinduized" or were assigned the status of Rajputs is still not clear in detail, but can be summarised from analogous developments during the later medieval period. Thus, those sections which have control over land or gained political authority at the local and regional
levels were often successful in gradually rising in the Varna
scale. Conversely, those who lost control over land or local authority often sank in the Varna
scale. Rajput
was not a caste
when it was formed; it was an association or ‘Sangh’ of various kings ‘Raja-Putra’ against the Mohammedan invaders.
However, apart from the control over the land and politics authority, a higher Varna
status could not be acquired without the support and backing of the Brahmans. The emergence of the Rajputs in north India
represented a tacit alliance between those who controlled land and possessed political authority, and the Brahmans who were the legitimizers, so to speak. In return from granting recognition to the various ruling element as Rajputs and Kshatriyas, the Brahmans received generous grants of land
and money for their sustenance, and for building and maintaining temples. In general Rajputs of Rajasthan are mixbreed of Meenas, Gujjars, Jats and other warrior tribes. In fact, according to a number of scholars, the agnikula Rajputs were originally Gurjaras (or Gurjars) and Chauhan was prominent clan of the Gurjars (or Gujjars). Several scholars including D. B. Bhandarkar, Baij Nath Puri
and A. F. Rudolf Hoernle
believe that the Pratihara Rajputs were a branch of Gurjars. Prithviraj Chauhan, according to several scholars, was of Gurjar origin. Historian Sir Jervoise Athelstane Baines states that the Gurjars were forefathers of the Sisodiya Rajputs. In fact, Rajputana
was essentially the country of the Gurjars. Historian R. C. Majumdar
explained that the region was long known as Gurjaratra (Gurjar nation), early form of Gujarat, before it came to be called Rajputana, later in the Muslim period.
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
and community mainly found in Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
(the land of kings), India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The name Mina is derived from Meen,meaning 'fish' in Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, and the Minas claim descent from the Matsya
Matsya
Matsya was the first Avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism. The great flood finds mention in Hindu mythology texts like the Satapatha Brahmana, where in the Matsya Avatar takes place to save the pious and the first man, Manu and advices him to build a giant boat.-The Legend:According to the Matsya...
Avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
, or fish incarnation
Incarnation
Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and birth of a sentient creature who is the material manifestation of an entity, god or force whose original nature is immaterial....
, of Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
.
Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
s celebrate Meenesh Jayanti
Meenesh Jayanti
Normally Matsya Jayanti is celebrated in the month of March or April by the Meenas. The Meena community enjoys this day as a festival.Meenas celebrate Meenesh Jayanti in the name of Vishnu on 3 Tithi of Chaitra Shukal paksha according to the Hindu calendar. The main reference of this belief is...
in the name of Vishnu on 3 Tithi of Chaitra Shukal paksha according to the Hindu calendar. The main reference of this belief is based on the scripture of the Matsya Purana
Matsya Purana
Matsya Purana is the sixteenth purana of the Hindu scriptures. During the period of mahapralaya, Lord Vishnu had taken Matsya Avatar to save the seeds of all lives and Manu...
and Matsya Purana is the oldest of all the Indian Puranas.
Originally Meenas were a ruling caste, and were ruler of Matsya
Matsya Kingdom
Matsya or Machcha , classically called the Mese , was the name of a tribe and the state of the Vedic civilization of India. It lay to south of the kingdom of Kurus and west of the Yamuna which separated it from the kingdom of Panchalas...
,i.e., Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
or Matsya Union
Matsya Union
The United States of Matsya also called Matsya Union was a State of India which was formed on March 17, 1948 by the merger of four erstwhile princely states, Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur, and Karauli after accession. Shobha Ram was the first and last chief minister of the State from 18 Mar 1948 till...
but their slow downfall began with the assimilation
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
with Scythian and was completed when the British government declared them a "Criminal Tribe". This very action was taken to support their alliance with Rajput kingdom then in Rajasthan, and Meenas were still in war with Rajputs, carrying out guerrilla attacks to retain their lost kingdoms
Lost Kingdoms
Lost Kingdoms is a fantasy video game developed by From Software and published by Activision in North America and Europe. The original Japanese version of this game is simply known as . The game was released in Japan on April 25, 2002; in North America on May 27, 2002; and in Europe on August 9, 2002...
.
Some scholars still disagree as to whether the Minas are an indigenous tribe, or whether they migrated to the region from Central Asia. According to Britannica, "the Minas are possibly of inner Asiatic origin, and tradition suggests that they migrated to India in the 7th century with the Rajputs".
Geography
Members of the Meena community are found in the northern part of RajasthanRajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
. Meenas share the Brij and Matsya
Matsya
Matsya was the first Avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism. The great flood finds mention in Hindu mythology texts like the Satapatha Brahmana, where in the Matsya Avatar takes place to save the pious and the first man, Manu and advices him to build a giant boat.-The Legend:According to the Matsya...
Area of Rajasthan i.e. Sawai Madhopur, Dausa, Jaipur, Dholpur and Karauli districts in Jaipur and Bharatpur region (also the Bharatpur and Bayana districts) with other communities. They inhabit the area from Jaipur
Jaipur
Jaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million....
–Sikar
Sikar
Sikar is a city located in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan state in India. It is the administrative headquarter of Sikar District. Sikar is a historical city and contains many old Havelis which are a huge tourist attraction. The best way to reach the city is to use road transport from Jaipur...
in Shekhawati region and Alwar in the northeast region of the state. They are also widely spread in Kota
Kota, Rajasthan
Kota , formerly known as Kotah, is a city in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located south of state capital, Jaipur. Situated on the banks of Chambal River, the city is the trade centre for an area in which millet, wheat, rice, pulses, coriander and oilseeds are grown; industries...
, Jhalawar
Jhalawar
Jhalawar is a city in southeastern Rajasthan. It was the capital of the former princely state of Jhalawar, and is the administrative headquarters of Jhalawar District. Jhalawar was once known as Brijnagar .-Jhalawar town:...
and Bundi
Bundi
Bundi is a city and a municipality of approximately 88,000 inhabitants in the Hadoti region of Rajasthan state in northwest India. It is of particular architectural note for its ornate forts, palaces, and stepwell reservoirs known as baoris...
. Meenas are also found in north-western Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
i.e. Sheopur
Sheopur
Sheopur is a city in Madhya Pradesh state of central India. It is the administrative headquarters of Sheopur District. Sheopur is linked by rail to Gwalior. The town is traditionally famous for its wood carving...
, Morena
Morena
Morena is a city and a municipality in Morena district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is also known as Muraina and is the administrative headquarters of Morena District and of Chambal Division. It is 39 km away from Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh...
, Gwalior, Shivpuri
Shivpuri
Shivpuri is a city and a municipality in Shivpuri district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is in the Gwalior Division of northwest Madhya Pradesh and is the administrative headquarters of Shivpuri District. It is situated at an altitude of above sea level.-History:Shivpuri is an ancient...
, Guna, Sajapur, Bhopal etc. The Meenas community of Rajasthan, are an agricultural people occupying one of the most fertile regions of the state.The problem of famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
and drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
is deeply related with the economy of Rajasthan. In spite of long period of economic development a durable water policy was not formulated in the state.
The Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
kings were the early rulers of major parts of Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
including Amber (early capital of Jaipur
Jaipur
Jaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million....
). The book "Culture and Integration of India Tribes" by R.S.Mann mentions that Meenas are considered as a Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
caste equally as Rajputs, and having higher social status in the society. They are well integrated with other higher castes like Rajputs, Brahmins etc. Brahmins perform all rituals from birth, marriage and death for Meenas like for any other higher Hindu caste.
Meenas, Scythians and pure Bharmans
In the ancient times RajasthanRajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
was ruled by a dynasty of Meenas which had the emblem of Fish like the Pandyan kingdom
Pandyan Kingdom
The Pandyan dynasty was an ancient Tamil dynasty. The Pandyas were one of the four Tamil dynasties , which ruled South India until the 15th century CE. They initially ruled their country Pandya Nadu from Korkai, a seaport on the Southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula, and in later times moved...
(Paravar, Karava, Karaiyar
Karaiyar
Karaiyar, also known as Karayar, Karaiar or Kurukulam, is traditionally both a seafaring and warrior caste found in the Tamil Nadu state of India, coastal areas of Sri Lanka, and globally among the Tamil diaspora.-Origins:...
) of the south. The name Mina is derived from Meen and the Minas claim descent from the Matsya
Matsya
Matsya was the first Avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism. The great flood finds mention in Hindu mythology texts like the Satapatha Brahmana, where in the Matsya Avatar takes place to save the pious and the first man, Manu and advices him to build a giant boat.-The Legend:According to the Matsya...
Avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
(Meena Avatar)of God. Matsya
Matsya
Matsya was the first Avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism. The great flood finds mention in Hindu mythology texts like the Satapatha Brahmana, where in the Matsya Avatar takes place to save the pious and the first man, Manu and advices him to build a giant boat.-The Legend:According to the Matsya...
Avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
(Mina Avatar) takes place to save the pious and the first man, Manu.The capital of Matsya
Matsya
Matsya was the first Avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism. The great flood finds mention in Hindu mythology texts like the Satapatha Brahmana, where in the Matsya Avatar takes place to save the pious and the first man, Manu and advices him to build a giant boat.-The Legend:According to the Matsya...
s was at Viratanagara (modern Bairat) which is said to have been named after its founder king Virata. Manu married Shraddha and had ten children including Ila and Ikshvaku, the progenitors of the Lunar Dynasty
Lunar Dynasty
In Hindu mythology, the Lunar Dynasty is one of the three principal houses of the Kshatriya varna, or warrior–ruling caste...
and Solar Dynasty respectively.
The Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
kingdom
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
ruled the west of the river Jamuna roughly corresponding to the modern Jaipur
Jaipur
Jaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million....
and Alwar (ruler) areas.The Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
kingdom
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
(Fish kingdom) was called Matsya Kingdom
Matsya Kingdom
Matsya or Machcha , classically called the Mese , was the name of a tribe and the state of the Vedic civilization of India. It lay to south of the kingdom of Kurus and west of the Yamuna which separated it from the kingdom of Panchalas...
in Sanskrit was mentioned in the Rig Veda.Rigveda is the oldest of all the Vedas and was composed in the north-western region of the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
,roughly between 1700–1100 BC.
Matsya or Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
(Sanskrit for fish) was the name of a Kshatriya tribe and the state of the Vedic civilization of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.It lay to south of the kingdom of Kurus and west of the Yamuna
Yamuna
The Yamuna is the largest tributary river of the Ganges in northern India...
which separated it from the kingdom of Panchalas. It roughly corresponded to former state of Jaipur
Jaipur
Jaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million....
in Rajasthan, and included the whole of Alwar with portions of Bharatpur.The capital of Matsya was at Viratanagar (modern Bairat) which is said to have been named after its founder king Virata
Virata
Virata , in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, was a king in whose court the Pandavas spent a year in concealment during their exile. Virata was married to Queen Sudeshna and was the father of Prince Uttara and Princess Uttarā, who married Abhimanyu son of Arjuna. Their son Parikshit succeeded...
. Meenas are brothers and kinsmen of Virata
Virata
Virata , in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, was a king in whose court the Pandavas spent a year in concealment during their exile. Virata was married to Queen Sudeshna and was the father of Prince Uttara and Princess Uttarā, who married Abhimanyu son of Arjuna. Their son Parikshit succeeded...
, the ruler of Virat Nagar. They ruled this area(near to Virat Nagar) till 11th century.A branch of Matsya is also found in later days in Visakhapatnam region.Further, Mahabharata describes Abhira(Yadav
Yadav
Yādav refers to an umbrella group of traditionally non-elite pastoral communities, or castes, in India and Nepal which since the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has claimed descent from the mythological King Yadu as a part of a movement of social and political resurgence.The term 'Yadav' now...
) as forming one of the republics, Samsaptak Gunas, and as a friend of Matsya
Matsya
Matsya was the first Avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism. The great flood finds mention in Hindu mythology texts like the Satapatha Brahmana, where in the Matsya Avatar takes place to save the pious and the first man, Manu and advices him to build a giant boat.-The Legend:According to the Matsya...
s(Meenas), the ancient Indian Rulers.
The most famous Matsya kingdom
Matsya Kingdom
Matsya or Machcha , classically called the Mese , was the name of a tribe and the state of the Vedic civilization of India. It lay to south of the kingdom of Kurus and west of the Yamuna which separated it from the kingdom of Panchalas...
was the one under the rule of king Virata
Virata
Virata , in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, was a king in whose court the Pandavas spent a year in concealment during their exile. Virata was married to Queen Sudeshna and was the father of Prince Uttara and Princess Uttarā, who married Abhimanyu son of Arjuna. Their son Parikshit succeeded...
, the ally of the Pandavas.Pandavas, while staying in the palace of Virata, witnessed a festival named after lord Brahma
Brahma
Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
. Matsya Kingdom
Matsya Kingdom
Matsya or Machcha , classically called the Mese , was the name of a tribe and the state of the Vedic civilization of India. It lay to south of the kingdom of Kurus and west of the Yamuna which separated it from the kingdom of Panchalas...
was within the reach of Vedic religion. The Kauravas with the Panchalas, the Salwas, the Matsyas(Meenas), the Naimishas, the Koshalas, the Kasapaundras, the Kalingas, the Magadhas, and the Chedis who are all highly blessed, know what the eternal religion is.(8,45)According to Shrimad Bhagvad,in olden times,Meenas were the rulers of entire Bhārata.Since ancient times,Meena Kshatriyas were the Protectors of Kshatriya values and Sanatana Dharma.
Meengarh(Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
kingdom
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
) was situated somewhere on the bank of river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
Indus. Here, there were some 152 states of Meenas. This is contemporary to the period of Indus Valley Civilization
Indus Valley Civilization
The Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that was located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of what is now mainly modern-day Pakistan and northwest India...
(2600 to 1800 bc). The Jaga-ke-pothi mentions that from these 152 states, originated 152 original gotras of Meenas.Matsya Kingdom(proper) & Kalibangan in Rajasthan was a major provincial capital of the Indus Valley Civilization.
In the later days the Bhils and Meenas mixed with the Pardeshis (foreign
Alien (law)
In law, an alien is a person in a country who is not a citizen of that country.-Categorization:Types of "alien" persons are:*An alien who is legally permitted to remain in a country which is foreign to him or her. On specified terms, this kind of alien may be called a legal alien of that country...
people
People
People is a plurality of human beings or other beings possessing enough qualities constituting personhood. It has two usages:* as the plural of person or a group of people People is a plurality of human beings or other beings possessing enough qualities constituting personhood. It has two usages:*...
) who were Scythian, Hepthalite or other Central Asian clans. The Scythian mixed Meenas and Bhils remain as Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
subclans, while the Meenas and Bhils who were displaced by the Scythian invaders and Muslims have mixed with the tribal Bhils and form the Bhil (tribal) Meenas.
Meenas of Rajasthan till date strongly follows Vedic culture
Historical Vedic religion
The religion of the Vedic period is a historical predecessor of Hinduism. Its liturgy is reflected in the mantra portion of the four Vedas, which are compiled in Sanskrit. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering rites...
. Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
s mainly worship
Worship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...
, Bhainroon (Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
), Hanuman and Krishna as well as the Devies.
Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
s have better rights
Rights
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
for women in many respects compared to many other Hindu casts. Like remarriage of a widows and divorcees is a common practice and well accepted in their society. Such practice are part of Vedic civilization
Vedic period
The Vedic period was a period in history during which the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed. The time span of the period is uncertain. Philological and linguistic evidence indicates that the Rigveda, the oldest of the Vedas, was composed roughly between 1700–1100 BCE, also...
.
From Vedic
Vedic
Vedic may refer to:* the Vedas, the oldest preserved Indic texts** Vedic Sanskrit, the language of these texts** Vedic period, during which these texts were produced** Vedic pantheon of gods mentioned in Vedas/vedic period...
period to the present, Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
s(Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
var) have seen many ups and downs. In ancient period they were a ruling tribe of Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
. Coming to medieval period they were cut off from their own land, to the interiors of mountain and forests. The oral history preserved in the traditional folktales and folklores of this tribe affirm the kingdom of Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
(Meendesha) with its capital at Amber
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
. Col. James Tod has written that, Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
was a great community which ruled over large part of Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
. During the 10th century
10th century
The 10th century is the period from 901 to 1000 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian/Common Era.The 10th century is usually regarded as a low point in European history. In China it was also a period of political upheaval. In the Muslim World, however, it was a cultural zenith,...
AD, Meenas were totally routed out from Amber and Jaipur
Jaipur
Jaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million....
and thus deprived of their privileges.
According to the book, "History of India
History of India
The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from...
" (by Prof. Mukherjee, M.A.) It was a transition period marked by a new grouping of states due to Hun invasions. The series of invasions by the Huns and other associated foreign tribes in the fifth and sixth centuries shook the fabric of the society and brought a rearrangement of the caste system and of the ruling dynasties. The Scythians and other northwestern invaders in Indian literature were described as barbarians,slaves. Brihat-Katha-Manjari of Kshmendra informs us that king Vikramaditya
Vikramaditya
Vikramaditya was a legendary emperor of Ujjain, India, famed for his wisdom, valour and magnanimity. The title "Vikramaditya" was later assumed by many other kings in Indian history, notably the Gupta King Chandragupta II and Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya .The name King Vikramaditya is a...
had unburdened the sacred
Sacred
Holiness, or sanctity, is in general the state of being holy or sacred...
earth of the Barbarians like the Sakas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Tusharas, Parasikas, Hunas etc. by annihilating these sinners.Patanjali
Patañjali
Patañjali is the compiler of the Yoga Sūtras, an important collection of aphorisms on Yoga practice. According to tradition, the same Patañjali was also the author of the Mahābhāṣya, a commentary on Kātyāyana's vārttikas on Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī as well as an unspecified work of medicine .In...
in his Mahabhasya regards the Saka
Saka
The Saka were a Scythian tribe or group of tribes....
s and Yavanas as pure Shudras.Sakas (or Scythians), migrated into Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara, Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
, from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 6th century AD. The invasion of India by Scythian tribes from Central Asia, often referred to as the Indo-Scythian invasion. The Valmiki Ramayana also attests that the Sakas, Kambojas, Pahlavas and Yavanas fought together against the Vedic
Vedic
Vedic may refer to:* the Vedas, the oldest preserved Indic texts** Vedic Sanskrit, the language of these texts** Vedic period, during which these texts were produced** Vedic pantheon of gods mentioned in Vedas/vedic period...
Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
king Vishwamitra of Kanauj. Some Asian Saka include bala etc The destructive effects of the Hun inroads were, to a certain extent, arrested by Harsha
Harsha
Harsha or Harsha Vardhana or Harshvardhan was an Indian emperor who ruled northern India from 606 to 647 AD. He was the son of Prabhakara Vardhana and younger brother of Rajya Vardhana, a king of Thanesar, Haryana...
(Harshwardhan) but as soon as his strong hand was removed, they manifested themselves in a regrouping of states. Hence the latter half of seventh century, during which this new grouping of states took place, is regarded as a period of transition from early to medieval India. The most prominent feature of this transitional period is the rise of the Rajput Clans. The Thakurs were of Scythian origin and historians derive their name from Tukharian.The Scythian or Saka tribes were the last pre-Islamic migrants into India.Many scythians were absorbed into the Rajput stock,and that the Rajputs of today possess a considerable Greek ancestry.The 'Scythic Origin of the Rajput Race' proves that all the modern-day Rajputs, Thakurs, Gujjars are not Vedic Aryans but instead the descendants of Scythic immigrants.Thus all `Hindus' are not Vedic Aryans. Phylogenetic evidence clearly indicates that the Rajput races are of Indo-Scythic descent. Main Descendants of the Scythians in India are Getae,Gurjars,Thakur(Tokharian) and Rajputs. The term 'Rajput' does not occur in early Sanskrit literature nor do we hear of Rajput clans before the tenth century A.D. This proves that they were a later addition to the population of India. According to Prof. Naidu, Rajput is a contemptuous term implying illegitimacy applied by the Aryans to the Rajput invaders. Over several centuries, the Rajputs exterminated the native populations of Bhils and Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
s, till they confined to the mountainous regions of Rajasthan. During the troubled times that followed the breakup of the Gupta Empire
Gupta Empire
The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed approximately from 320 to 550 CE and covered much of the Indian Subcontinent. Founded by Maharaja Sri-Gupta, the dynasty was the model of a classical civilization. The peace and prosperity created under leadership of Guptas enabled the...
, many foreign races such as the Huns, the Gurjaras.,etc. settled in the Punjab and Rajputana and became Hinduised in course of time. The Pratihara clan was descended from the Gurjars, and this raises a strong presumption that the other Rajput clans also are the descendants from the Gurjaras or the allied foreign immigrants.The upper ranks of these foreigners, whose main occupation was war, came to be known as Rajputs, while the humbler folks ranked low in social status and developed into inferior castes such as Gurjaras, Jats and others. Brahmins were clever enough to see that number of princes should be within limits. Brahmins knew that if these people did not fight among themselves, they would be burden to Brahmins and a danger to their position in times to come. That was the reason only the selected few were made Rajputs, the rest remaining Jats, Ahirs and other commoners.
The people
People
People is a plurality of human beings or other beings possessing enough qualities constituting personhood. It has two usages:* as the plural of person or a group of people People is a plurality of human beings or other beings possessing enough qualities constituting personhood. It has two usages:*...
were kept in ignorances, fed with unwholesome superstition
Superstition
Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events....
and beguilded with gorgeous and never ending festivals." The Hindus were losing their old assimilative power. They were losing their old vitality
Vitality
-Vitality:Etymology: From Latin vita , which means life.Outside of its own existence or source, life is only recognized through some form of expression or dynamic...
. The rigid caste system was making them unprogressive. The dominance of the Brahmanas, both in spiritual and secular matters was doing havoc." (Mahajan
Mahajan
Mahajan is an Indian surname or title, found among several castes and communities.The word "Mahajan" is an amalgam of two Sanskrit words: Maha meaning great, and Jan meaning people or individuals...
: 1972: 557). Therefore, the division of the same class of people into different social grades was based not on birth but on occupation. Of the Hinduised descendants of the original invaders, those who belonged to ruling classes, with war and government as their chief business, came to be treated as Kshatriyas. The common people, on the other hand, given the rank of lower castes. Thus many of the most distinguished Rajput clans such as the Chauhans, the Pariharas, the Pawars (Paramaras), the Solankis (Chalukyas) are descended mainly from foreigners, called Scythians by Tod. While others are descended from indigenous tribes elevated to the rank of Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
s.
Most of the major Rajput kingdoms were founded on the ‘blood of Bhils, Native Rulers, Meenas etc. During the exterminations that lasted for several centuries, the Native bhils, minas etc were massacred and their towns destroyed, till they eventually only survived in the extreme hills of Rajasthan. Though the word "Rajput" is supposed to be a corrupted form of the Sanskrit word 'Raajaputra' which means a "scion of the royal blood" and that the word occurs in the Puranas and also in the Harshcharita of Bana, Mahajan is honest enough to accept that the word, in earlier times and in some areas even now, had an disrespectful meaning. The Vedic Rajas & old Kshatriyas(tribals),not satisfied with their married wives,had frequently children by their female slaves,who although not legitimate successors to the throne,these illegitimate children were styled Rajpoots,or the children of Rajas"The word "Rajput" is used in certain parts of Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
to denote the illegitimate sons of a Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
chief or Zamidar." [Mahajan: 1972: 550 ff.] The conclusion is obvious that they were not considered by the original residentsto be respectable, to start with. This is because "Raaja" means royal but "Raj" means semen. The progeny of mixed marriages is even now called by that name in some parts. The condition of woman was deteriorating. The question of women education was unthinkable. Obscene Art flourished during Rajput age. The originality of the ancient times was lost and the ancient culture degenerated. The country fell into the hands of Rajput barons, soon to be followed by the Mohammedan invaders who completed the work of annihilation. The combined army of Kachwaha Rajputs and Mughals defeated the powerful Meena Kings of Rajasthan by annihilating them. Rajput age was a Dark Age for masses of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Hindu law as codified through acts passed between 1955 and 1956 were based on inegalitarian Victorian English patters of marriage and inheritance and on the customary practices of some the dominant communities in North-West India, among whom women's right have been seriously coded. The practices of the Nair
Nair
Nair , also known as Nayar , refers to "not a unitary group but a named category of castes", which historically embody several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom bore the Nair title. These people historically live in the present-day Indian state of Kerala...
s in Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, Meitei in Mainipur, Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
s in Rajasthan and Jains
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
, which provide better rights to women in many respects, were presumed to be non-existent or non-Indian. Thus the Hindu codified law is in many ways a step backward for some communities.
The book by Alfred Comyn Lyall covers the early formations of Meena cast, their adventures, outlaws, outcast, and refugees generally. The book highlights on the fact of Meenas groups having Bharman and Scythian ancestors. Where most of the Meenas preserve the name of the higher clan or Cast from which founder emigrated and joined Meenas. Some names denote only the founder's original habitation, while other circle bears the names of notorious ancestors.
However, the Bharmans who joined Meenas are the one who have from time to time been persuaded or forced by some wild chief or captain of the pure clans to officiated in a human sacrifice; and that, having thereby quite forfeited their pure cast, they become degraded, and were driven forth to minister into the tribes beyond the pale. This story must not hastily be set aside as improbable, for the tradition of human sacrifice was common then. Further to this, Alfred Comyn Lyall added,
During the years of invasion, several fresh groups of Meenas have been formed, under the stress
Stress (biology)
Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...
of the frightful famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
which desolated Rajputana
Rajputana
Rājputāna was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. George Thomas was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana...
in 1868. During the last millennium, food insecurity were rampant in mina dominated areas of Rajputana
Rajputana
Rājputāna was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. George Thomas was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana...
. As a consequence starving families were compelled to abandon scruples of caste and honesty, to steal cattle and to eat them. The earlier contributions of warriors and protectors of the state, jats, Bhils,and Meenas were neglected and lost in history.
Ancient history
At the time of great Epic Mahabharat was written there was a Janpad known as "Matsya JanpadMatsya Kingdom
Matsya or Machcha , classically called the Mese , was the name of a tribe and the state of the Vedic civilization of India. It lay to south of the kingdom of Kurus and west of the Yamuna which separated it from the kingdom of Panchalas...
". The city of this Janpad was "Virat Nagar", now known as "Bairath" and renamed as Virata Nagar again. The Pandavas got shelter there for one year. There are still places known as "Pandupol" near Virat Nagar. Abhimanyu the son of Arjun
Arjuna
Arjuna in Indian mythology is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Arjuna, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน, Orachun, Tamil: Arjunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna,...
and great warrior married to daughter of King of Virat Nagar the princess was named Uttarā
Uttara (Mahabharata)
In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Uttarā or Anglicized as Uttara was the daughter of King Virata, at whose court the Pandavas spent a year in concealment during their exile...
. After Abhimanyu died in battle of Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra is a land of historical and religious importance. Historically the land belonged to Punjab now a district in Haryana state of India. It is a holy place and is also known as Dharmakshetra . According to the Puranas, Kurukshetra is named after King Kuru, the ancestor of Kauravas and...
, and all Pandav sons were killed by Ashwathama they were left without progeny. Uttarā was pregnant then. After Pandavas went to Himalaya, the son delivered by Uttarā was "Parikhishit" who inherited Pandavas and ruled India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.. He was killed by "Takshak" a Naga or Nagvanshi Khastriya. His son Janmejay did a Yagya to finish all Nagas at "Nagdah" known as "Nagada" now in MP. King Virat
VIRAT
The Video Image Retrieval and Analysis Tool program is a video surveillance project funded by the Information Processing Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ....
and all his sons and brothers were killed at Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra is a land of historical and religious importance. Historically the land belonged to Punjab now a district in Haryana state of India. It is a holy place and is also known as Dharmakshetra . According to the Puranas, Kurukshetra is named after King Kuru, the ancestor of Kauravas and...
in Mahabharat. Some of clan brothers ruled this area after him. Many historical evidence
Evidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...
is recovered from this area all belonging to time of Lord Buddha
Buddha
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
. Meenas are considered the brothers and kinsmen of Virata
Virata
Virata , in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, was a king in whose court the Pandavas spent a year in concealment during their exile. Virata was married to Queen Sudeshna and was the father of Prince Uttara and Princess Uttarā, who married Abhimanyu son of Arjuna. Their son Parikshit succeeded...
, the ruler of Virat Nagar. They ruled this area (near to Virat Nagar) till 11 th century.
Rao Hammir the great king of Ranthambhor was from Meenas. Rao Hammir was grandson of great king Prithviraj Chauhan
Chauhan
Chauhan, Chouhan or Chohan , , - is a clan who ruled parts of northern India in the Middle Ages. The clan is most famous for Rajput King Maharaja Prithviraj Chauhan...
. As found in history, the later ruler (Kachwaha Rajputs and Mughals) destroyed the glorious past of Meenas.
| S.No | Name of the Kingdom | Clan and name of the Meena Rulers |
| 1. | Khoh-Gong | Chanda Chanda Meena In ancient times North of India was mainly ruled by clans of Chauhans. Chanda is one of the branch from Chauhans. Chandas were ruling Khoganw and were head of confederation of Meena kingdoms then [1]. Khoganw was the last kingdom which was overtaken by Kachwaha... Agnivanshi (a branch of Chauhan Chauhan Chauhan, Chouhan or Chohan , , - is a clan who ruled parts of northern India in the Middle Ages. The clan is most famous for Rajput King Maharaja Prithviraj Chauhan... ) see Dhundhar Dhundhar Dhundhar is a historical region of Rajasthan state in western India. It includes the districts of Jaipur, Dausa, Sawai Madhopur, and Tonk and the northern part of Karauli District... , Rāja Alansingh Meena |
| 2. | Maach | Sira Sira The sīrat rasūl allāh or al-sīra al-nabawiyya or just al-sīra, is the Arabic term used for the various traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad from which, in addition to the Qur'an and Hadith, most historical information about his life and the early period of Islam is derived.-Etymology:In the... , Rājah RaoNattō Singh Meena |
| 3. | Gatoor & Jhotwada | Nandla (also called Bad-Goti) |
| 4. | Amer (old city of Jaipur State Jaipur State -History:During the British Raj, Jaipur was the capital of a princely state of the same name. Jaipur state, which existed from the twelfth century until Indian Independence in 1947, took its name from the city. It had a total area of 15,579 square miles in 1900. The maharajas of Jaipur belonged to... ) |
Soosawut/Susawat , Rājah Bhanu Singh Meena |
| 5. | Nayala | jhirwal |
| 6. | Naen\Nahn | Gomladu , Rāja Bada Singh Meena or Prince Bada of Nahn |
| 7. | Ranthambore Ranthambore Fort Ranthambore Fort is a formidable fort and has been a focal point of historical developments of Rajasthan. It is situated near Sawai Madhopur town in Rajasthan.... |
Taatu(a branch of Chauhan Chauhan Chauhan, Chouhan or Chohan , , - is a clan who ruled parts of northern India in the Middle Ages. The clan is most famous for Rajput King Maharaja Prithviraj Chauhan... ) , Rāja Jauharsingh Meena |
| 8. | Bundi Bundi Bundi is a city and a municipality of approximately 88,000 inhabitants in the Hadoti region of Rajasthan state in northwest India. It is of particular architectural note for its ornate forts, palaces, and stepwell reservoirs known as baoris... |
Ushara (Parihar Meenas Parihar Meenas Parihar or Pratihar Meenas is one of the sub group of Meenas. In Olden times,there was the Republic of Meenas which was won by hara Rajputs and established an independent state. Meena is a brave and hardworking race. They lived their life like prehistoric man. But gradually they started taking... or Pratihar Pratihara The Gurjara Pratihara , often simply called Pratihara Empire, was an imperial Indian dynasty that ruled much of Northern India from the 6th to the 11th centuries. At its peak of prosperity and power , the Gurajara-Pratihara Empire rivaled or even exceeded the Gupta Empire in the extent of its... ) , Rāja Jaita Singh Meena |
| 9. | Mawar Mawar Mawar is a town in Kanpur Dehat district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.-Geography:Mawar is located at . It has an average elevation of 118 meters .... |
Meena |
| 10. | ---- | Nandla / Badgoti |
| 11 | Devbandah | Dagal , Rājah Katarao Meena |
| 12 | Tehla (near Sariska Tiger Reserve Sariska Tiger Reserve The Sariska Tiger Reserve is a national park in India located in the Alwar district of the state of Rajasthan. The topography of Sariska supports scrub-thorn arid forests, dry deciduous forests, rocks and grasses. This area was a hunting preserve of the erstwhile Alwar state and it was declared a... ) |
Bheemroth |
| 13 | Siroh | Jakhiwal |
| 14 | Manota | Devadwal / Davidwal |
| 15 | Boojh | Saugun / Saugan |
| 16 | Thanagazi (Alwar District) | Mewaal , Rao Shivasingh Meena |
| 17 | Sarjoli | Mandor |
| 18 | Godwad ( Sirohi State) | Godmina |
| 19 | Nareth | Byadwal Meenas Dynasty |
Main Forts build by Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
Kings
- Fort of Amaghar
- Fort of Hatrohi
- Fort of Khog
- Fort of Jamvaramghar
- Fort of Jalore
- Fort of Bhanwargarh(Baran)
- Fort of Ranthambore
Main bawaries (to hold water from Rain
Rain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...
) build by Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
Kings
- Panna mina ki bawarie, Amer
- Meen Bhagwan bawarie,near Sariska,Alwar
- Bhuli bawarie,village Sarjoli
- Khogong bawarie, JaipurJaipurJaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million....
Main temples build by Meena Kings
- Dant Mata Temple (Sehra Meena's dynasty GoddessGoddessA goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
) - ShivaShivaShiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
Temple at Nayi ka Nath (Banskho), JaipurJaipurJaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million.... - Banki Mata Temple at Raysar, Jaipur (Byadwal Meena's Dynasty GoddessGoddessA goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
) - Meen Bhagwan Mandir,Bassi,Jaipur
- ShivaShivaShiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
Temple, Khogonw - Bai Temple at Badi Chopad Jaipur
'NOTE: Important Book for the reference on above information is "Meena Cast and History of Freedom" by Shri. Lakshmi Nayaran Jharwal'
Medieval history and Conflict with the Mughals
The MeenaMeena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
King Raja Ralun Singh also known as Alan Singh Chanda of Khogong
kind
Kindness
Kindness is the act or the state of being kind, being marked by good and charitable behaviour, pleasant disposition, and concern for others. It is known as a virtue, and recognized as a value in many cultures and religions ....
-heartedly adopted a stranded Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
mother and her child who sought refuge
Safety
Safety is the state of being "safe" , the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be...
in his realm
Realm
A realm is a dominion of a monarch or other sovereign ruler.The Old French word reaume, modern French royaume, was the word first adopted in English; the fixed modern spelling does not appear until the beginning of the 17th century...
. Later, the Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
king sent the child, Dhola Rae, to Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
to represent the Meena kingdom. The Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
, in gratitude for these favours, returned with Rajput conspirers and massacred the weaponless Meenas on Diwali
Diwali
Diwali or DeepavaliThe name of the festival in various regional languages include:, , , , , , , , , , , , , popularly known as the "festival of lights," is a festival celebrated between mid-October and mid-December for different reasons...
while performings rituals i.e. Pitra Trapan, it is customery in the Meenas to be weaponless at the time of PitraTrapan, "filling the reservoirs in which the Meenas bathed with their dead bodies" [Tod.II.281] and thus conquered Khogong.This act of Kachwaha
Kachwaha
Kachwaha are a Suryavanshi Kshatriya clan who ruled a number of kingdoms and princely states in India such as Alwar, Maihar, Talcher, while the largest kingdom was Jaipur which was founded by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in 1727...
Rajputs was termed as most coward and shameful in history of Rajasthan.
Though historian Tod was fond of Rajputs and their history,but this betrayal of Kachwaha Rajputs was termed as one of the most shameful and coward act in history of India by him. T.H. Henley,states in his Rulers of India and the Chiefs of Rajputana (1897) that the Kachwaha
Kachwaha
Kachwaha are a Suryavanshi Kshatriya clan who ruled a number of kingdoms and princely states in India such as Alwar, Maihar, Talcher, while the largest kingdom was Jaipur which was founded by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in 1727...
clan is believed to have settled in an early era at Rohtas in present-day Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
, later the clan migrated to Rajasthan. Dhola Rae then subjugated the Sihra Gotra of Meenas at much later on known as Jamwa Ramgarh
Jamwa Ramgarh
Jamwa Ramgarh also popularly known as the Ramgarh, is the subdivision of Jaipur District. Located at State Highway Number 55 at about 28 kms away from Jaipur city in East-North Direction of it...
near Jaipur
Jaipur
Jaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million....
, and transferred his capital thence. Becoming the son-in-law of the prince of Ajmer
Ajmer
Ajmer , formerly written as Ajmere, is a city in Ajmer District in Rajasthan state in India. Ajmer has a population of around 800,000 , and is located west of the Rajasthan state capital Jaipur, 200 km from Jodhpur, 274 km from Udaipur, 439 km from Jaisalmer, and 391 km from...
, he died when battling 11,000 Meenas,most of whom he slew
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
[Tod.II.282]. His son Maidul Rae "made a conquest of Amber
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
from the Soosawut Meenas" by conspiracy whose King Raja Bhanu Singh Meena, was the head of the Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
confederation. He subdued the Nandla Meenas, annexing the Gatoor-Gatti district [Tod.II.282]. Hoondeo succeeded to the throne and "continued the warfare against the Meenas" [Tod.II.282]. Koontal, his successor, fought the Meenas "in which the Meenas were defeated with great slaughter
Mass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
, which secured his rule throughout Dhundhar
Dhundhar
Dhundhar is a historical region of Rajasthan state in western India. It includes the districts of Jaipur, Dausa, Sawai Madhopur, and Tonk and the northern part of Karauli District...
" [Tod.II.282]. The Meenas were the original builders of Amber
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
, which town they consecrated to Amba, the Mother Goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
, whom they knew as "Gatta Rani" or "Queen of the Pass" [Tod.II.282].
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
town of Naed, Tod wrote: "When this latter prince (Baharmull Kachwaha
Kachwaha
Kachwaha are a Suryavanshi Kshatriya clan who ruled a number of kingdoms and princely states in India such as Alwar, Maihar, Talcher, while the largest kingdom was Jaipur which was founded by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in 1727...
, a contemporary of Babur
Babur
Babur was a Muslim conqueror from Central Asia who, following a series of setbacks, finally succeeded in laying the basis for the Mughal dynasty of South Asia. He was a direct descendant of Timur through his father, and a descendant also of Genghis Khan through his mother...
and Humayun
Humayun
Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun was the second Mughal Emperor who ruled present day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of northern India from 1530–1540 and again from 1555–1556. Like his father, Babur, he lost his kingdom early, but with Persian aid, he eventually regained an even larger one...
) destroyed the Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
of Naend, he levelled its half hundred gates, and erected the town of Lohan
Lohan
Lohan from the Irish name Ó Leocháin. It can refer to:People* Aliana Lohan, American actress/singer/model, younger sister of Lindsay Lohan* Brian and Frank Lohan, Irish hurlers with Clare and Wolfe Tones na Sionna...
(now the residence of a Rajawat
Rajawat
Rajawat or Rajavat is the name of the senior sub-clan of the Kachwaha, Suryavanshi rajputs. Descendants of Raja Bhagwant Das of Amber, India...
chief) on its ruins
Ruins
Ruins are the remains of human-made architecture: structures that were once complete, as time went by, have fallen into a state of partial or complete disrepair, due to lack of maintenance or deliberate acts of destruction...
" [Tod.II.283]. The name of Meena ruler of Naen\Nahn was Rao Bada Meena, he was so rich that his wealth was compared to Akbar's empire in a local saying as "Rao Bada ko Bijano, Akabar Ko Gharbaar" that mean Rao Bada's manual fan was so precious that it was compared with Akbar's palace. An old historical proverb records the power of Meena King and Rulers of Nahn, “There were fifty two strongholds, and fifty six gates belonging to the manly Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
, the Raja
Raja
Raja is an Indian term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...
of Nahn..”
The Kachwaha
Kachwaha
Kachwaha are a Suryavanshi Kshatriya clan who ruled a number of kingdoms and princely states in India such as Alwar, Maihar, Talcher, while the largest kingdom was Jaipur which was founded by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in 1727...
Rajput ruler Bharmal
Bharmal
Raja Bharmal or Biharimal was a Kachwaha ruler of Amber which was later known as Jaipur in the present day Rajasthan state of India. Bharmal is more known for marrying his daughter, Heera Kunwar or Mariam-us-Zamani to the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1562...
of Amber always eyed on Nahn and attacked on it several times but could not succeeded against mighty and brave Bada Meena. Akbar had asked Rao Bada to marry his daughter Shashivadini to Akbar, but Shashivadini Meena refused the proposal. Later on Bharmal
Bharmal
Raja Bharmal or Biharimal was a Kachwaha ruler of Amber which was later known as Jaipur in the present day Rajasthan state of India. Bharmal is more known for marrying his daughter, Heera Kunwar or Mariam-us-Zamani to the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1562...
married his daughter Jodhabai
Jodhabai
Mariam uz-Zamani Begum Sahiba , née Rajkumari Hira Kunwari, alias Harkha Bai was a Rajput princess who became the Mughal Empress, after her marriage to Mughal Emperor Akbar...
to Akbar(Jalāl ud-Dīn Muhammad Akbar). Bharmal was made a noble of high rank in the imperial court, and subsequently his son Bhagwant Das and grandson Man Singh also rose to high ranks in the nobility.
Then the combined army of Akbar and Bharmal
Bharmal
Raja Bharmal or Biharimal was a Kachwaha ruler of Amber which was later known as Jaipur in the present day Rajasthan state of India. Bharmal is more known for marrying his daughter, Heera Kunwar or Mariam-us-Zamani to the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1562...
attacked Bada Meena and killed him damaging 52 kots and 56 gates. Bada's treasure was shared between Akbar and Bharmal
Bharmal
Raja Bharmal or Biharimal was a Kachwaha ruler of Amber which was later known as Jaipur in the present day Rajasthan state of India. Bharmal is more known for marrying his daughter, Heera Kunwar or Mariam-us-Zamani to the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1562...
. Bharmal
Bharmal
Raja Bharmal or Biharimal was a Kachwaha ruler of Amber which was later known as Jaipur in the present day Rajasthan state of India. Bharmal is more known for marrying his daughter, Heera Kunwar or Mariam-us-Zamani to the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1562...
kept his treasure in Jaigarh fort
Jaigarh Fort
Jaigarh Fort is situated on the premonitory called the Cheel ka Teela of the Aravalli hill ranges; it overlooks the Amber Fort and the Moata Lake, near Amber in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India...
near Amber
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
. With the aid of Kachwaha Rajputs, Mughals defeated the powerful Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
Kings of Rajasthan by annihilating them. Akbar distributed the total loot that fell into the hands of his forces throughout the Mughal Empire
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
. Bharmal
Bharmal
Raja Bharmal or Biharimal was a Kachwaha ruler of Amber which was later known as Jaipur in the present day Rajasthan state of India. Bharmal is more known for marrying his daughter, Heera Kunwar or Mariam-us-Zamani to the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1562...
was first among the Rajputs to marry his daughter with a Mughal. Jodhabai was also the sister of Bhagwandas and the aunt of Man Singh I of Amber
Man Singh I of Amber
Raja Shri Man Singh Ji Saheb was the Kacchwaha King of Amber, a state later known as Jaipur...
, who later became one the nine jewels (Navaratnas
Navaratnas
Navaratnas Nauratan was a term applied to a group of nine extraordinary people in a emperor's court in India...
) in the court of Akbar. The Kachwaha Rajputs provided the Mughals
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
some of their most distinguished generals. Bhagawant Das was a general of Mughal emperor Akbar, who awarded him a mansab (rank) of 5000 in 1585. and conferred him the title of Amir-ul-Umra. Raja Bhagwant Das (1575-1589) brought with him the secret of artillery production from Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
(where he and his son Man Singh remained for many years as governor) to Amber
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
in 1584, soon cannons began to be made at the foundry in Jaigarh Fort
Jaigarh Fort
Jaigarh Fort is situated on the premonitory called the Cheel ka Teela of the Aravalli hill ranges; it overlooks the Amber Fort and the Moata Lake, near Amber in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India...
(including the world's largest cannon on wheels, the Jaivana), much to the infuriation of the Mughals who kept the secret to themselves ever since they used it in the epic battles, against the Lodhis and the Rajputs. In 1589, Bhagwant Das was succeeded by Raja Man Singh I (1589-1614) (Akbar's Commander-in-Chief), who did much to further the establishment of Mughal
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
rule over present Afganistan, Kabul,and Rajputana
Rajputana
Rājputāna was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. George Thomas was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana...
in the west to Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
and Cooch Behar
Cooch Behar
Cooch Behar is the district headquarters and the largest city of Cooch Behar District in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is situated in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas and located at . Cooch Behar is the only planned town in North Bengal region with remnants of royal heritage...
in the east. From Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
in the north to southernmost parts of the Deccan, and also served them in other capacities, notably as governor of Kabul and Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
. Man Singh’s monumental fortress in Kabul, was used as headquarters by subsequent Mughal governors. As governor of Bengal, Raja Man Singh made Rohtas, his ancestral domain in Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
, his headquarters; he rebuilt the fort and also built a new palace there. Jai Singh I
Jai Singh I
Mirza Raja Jai Singh was a senior general of the Mughal Empire and a ruler of the kingdom of Amber . His father was Maha Singh the Raja of Garha, and his mother was Damayanti, a princess of Mewar.The great Raja Man Singh of Amber had several sons, the most capable of whom were the eldest Jagat...
(1622-1667), commonly known by the title 'Mirza Raja' conferred to him by (his cousin) Shah Jehan, was one of the most prominent Mughal generals during the reigns of Shah Jehan and Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb
Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir , more commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir , was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.Badshah Aurangzeb, having ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for nearly...
. An accomplished statesman, scholar and diplomat and a premier noble of the empire, he forced Shivaji to sign Treaty of Purandar (1665)
Treaty of Purandar (1665)
The Treaty of Purandar was signed on June 11, 1665, between the Rajput ruler Jai Singh I, who was commander of the Mughal Empire, and Maratha Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Shivaji was forced to sign the agreement after Jai Singh besieged Purandar fort...
. As an emperor, Akbar solidified his rule by pursuing diplomacy with the powerful Rajput caste, and by marrying Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
princesses. The Meenas were treated by the Mughal invaders with the most merciless cruelty. Mewar Sisodia
Sisodia
The Sisodia are Chattari Rajputs of the Suryavanshi lineage who ruled the kingdom of Mewar in Rajasthan. Prior to Rana Hamir the clan was known as Gehlot or Guhilot. In 1303 CE Alla-ud-din Khilji attacked Chittor...
ruler Mahrana Pratap renounced all matrimonial alliances with Rajput rulers who had married into the Mughal dynasty, refusing such alliances even with the princes of Marwar
Marwar
Marwar is a region of southwestern Rajasthan state in western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. In Rajasthani dialect "wad" means a particular area. The word Marwar is derived from Sanskrit word 'Maruwat'. English translation of the word is 'The region of desert'., The Imperial Gazetteer...
and Amer
Amer
thumb|right|[[Satellite]] [[image]] of the [[Rhine]]-[[Meuse river|Meuse]] [[river delta|delta]], showing the Amer The Amer is a river in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant...
until they agreed to sever ties with the Mughals.
Jaigarh Fort
Jaigarh Fort
Jaigarh Fort is situated on the premonitory called the Cheel ka Teela of the Aravalli hill ranges; it overlooks the Amber Fort and the Moata Lake, near Amber in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India...
situated on the hill premonitory called the Cheel ka Teela (Hill of Eagles
Eagles
The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1971 by Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner.With five number one singles, six Grammys, five American Music Awards, and six number one albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the...
) of the Aravalli hill ranges when it was ruled by Meenas, it overlooks the Amber Fort
Amber Fort
Amer Fort is located in Amer , from Jaipur, Rajasthan state, India. It is one of the principal tourist attractions in the Jaipur area, located high on a hill. .Amer Fort was made by Meenas king Raja Alan Singh Chanda later occupied by Kachhawa rajput . Amer Fort is known for its artistic style,...
and the Moata Lake, near Amber
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
in Jaipur
Jaipur
Jaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million....
, Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
The hill that Jaigarh was built was called Chil Tila, when it was ruled by Meenas. In the ancient map of Nahari ka Naka (Jaipur), the inscriptions mentions that the white rocks at this region shows the traditions of the Meenas, in which the tigers came here to pay respect to the Meenas. Later on the state is said to have been founded about eleventh century or 1097 by Dūlaha Rāya, who hailed from Gwalior; he and his Kachwaha kinsmen are said to have absorbed or driven out the local Meenas and Badgujar Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
chiefs. In which the Meenas were to become a key ally of the Kachwahas.
According to the records of Jagas, in Bundi some eleven thousand Meenas were killed by foul play to acquire the throne of Bundi by the Rajputs. In Similar manner some thirty-two sovereign
Sovereign
A sovereign is the supreme lawmaking authority within its jurisdiction.Sovereign may also refer to:*Monarch, the sovereign of a monarchy*Sovereign Bank, banking institution in the United States*Sovereign...
states of Meenas were destroyed one by one by the Kachwaha
Kachwaha
Kachwaha are a Suryavanshi Kshatriya clan who ruled a number of kingdoms and princely states in India such as Alwar, Maihar, Talcher, while the largest kingdom was Jaipur which was founded by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in 1727...
Rajputs and others to subjugate them. There used to be lots of Meena People, but most of them were killed. Loosing their power, Meenas resolved to guerilla attacks to take revenge from the Rajputs. Then to settle peace with the Meenas, the Rajput rulers called for a common joint meeting in Ajmer
Ajmer
Ajmer , formerly written as Ajmere, is a city in Ajmer District in Rajasthan state in India. Ajmer has a population of around 800,000 , and is located west of the Rajasthan state capital Jaipur, 200 km from Jodhpur, 274 km from Udaipur, 439 km from Jaisalmer, and 391 km from...
. In the meeting it was mutually decided that Meenas will hold treasury of the state while their ruler will be amongst the Rajputs.With the advent of the Kachwaha Rajputs and Mughals into their territory, the Meenas were gradually sidelined and pushed deep into the forests. As a result, historical literature has completely bypassed the Meenas.
Meenas under British rule
Criminal Tribes Act
The term Criminal Tribes Act applies to various successive pieces of legislation enforced in India during British rule; the first enacted in 1871 as applied mostly in North India The Act was extended to Bengal Presidency and other areas in 1876, and finally with the Criminal Tribes Act 1911, it...
1871, hence stigmatized for a long time, after independence however they were denotified
Denotified tribes of India
Denotified tribes , also known as vimukta jati, are the tribes that were originally listed under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 , as Criminal Tribes and "addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences." Once a tribe became "notified" as criminal, all its members were required to...
in 1952. Mark Brown (Social Legal Studies 2004; 13; 191) has well elaborated the impact and issues of Meenas community during the British rule, and change in their status from Higher Social Cast to Criminal Tribe. He also mentioned the division in the Meenas as zamindar Mina group and chowkidar Minas. In his case study he answered why and how Meenas have been put under Criminal Tribal category, even being very different from the other tribal people then. How British manage to control Meenas which were growing threat for British rule in Northern India. In Woolbert's (1898) account of the raising of the Meena Battalion at Deoli the difficulties and achievements of this process were described. Woolbert describes the Minas’ history thus:
“The Meenas are an Athletic and Brave Race, tall, handsome, and pleasing to address, obedient to their leaders and sensible in kindness, but at the same time Blood-thirsty and Revengeful..”
The Kachwaha Rajputs were the first in Rajasthan to sign a treaty of ‘offensive and defensive Alliance’ with the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. During the Revolt of 1857(Indian Rebellion of 1857) when the British invoked the treaty to request assistance in the suppression of rebellious sepoys, the Kachwaha Rajputs opted to preserve their treaty,and thus sent troops to subdue the uprisings in the area. British fleeing from the Menace of the Mutineers and Minas were sheltered in Nahargarh Fort(Jaipur State). Most of the Rajput princes remained loyal to Britain in the Revolt of 1857,including Jaipur and Bundi States. The Rajput kings concluded treaties with the British, accepting British sovereignty in return for local autonomy and protection from the Marathas. In mid 18th century, when 4,000 Maratha soldiers came on an informal visit to Jaipur, all the gates of the city were closed, and the Rajput army attacked the Marathas and killed them. Following the Mughal tradition and more importantly due to its strategic location Ajmer became a province of British India, while the autonomous Rajput states, the Muslim state (Tonk
Tonk (princely state)
Tonk was a Princely State of India which by treaty in 1817 accepted British suzerainty. Following the Partition of India in 1947, Tonk acceded to the newly independent Union of India. It was located in the region that is now the Tonk district.-History:...
), and the Jat states (Bharatpur
Bharatpur, India
Bharatpur is a city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It was founded by Maharaja Suraj Mal in 1733. Located in the Brij region, Bharatpur was once an impregnable, well-planned and well-fortified city, and the capital of Jat kingdom ruled by Sinsinwar Maharajas.The trio of Bharatpur, Deeg and...
and Dholpur
Dholpur
Dholpur is a city in eastern-most parts of the Rajasthan state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Dholpur District and was formerly seat of the Dholpur princely state, before Independence....
) were organized into the Rajputana Agency. In 1817-18, the British Government concluded treaties of alliance with almost all the states of Rajputana. British under Brevert-Major Robert William with the Kachwaha field forces fought against Minas in 1824, in the Meena hills of Rajasthan, in which the Minas were defeated. Lothoo Jat
Lothoo Nitharwal
Lothoo Nitharwal was a revolutionary freedom fighter of Rajasthan, India. He struggled all his life with the objective to oust British rule from India and get the people freed from exploitation by jagirdars and establish democracy...
(1804–1855), Karna Meena and Sanwanta Meena were the famous revolutionary freedom fighters of Rajasthan, of that era. They struggled all their life with the objective to oust British rule from India and get the people freed from exploitation by jagirdars and establish democracy.They fought against company rule in Bathot, Singrawat war, Aravalli hills, Agra fort
Agra Fort
Agra Fort, is a monument situated at Agra, is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is about 2.5 km northwest of its more famous sister monument, the Taj Mahal...
, Nasirabad cantonment(Ajmer
Ajmer
Ajmer , formerly written as Ajmere, is a city in Ajmer District in Rajasthan state in India. Ajmer has a population of around 800,000 , and is located west of the Rajasthan state capital Jaipur, 200 km from Jodhpur, 274 km from Udaipur, 439 km from Jaisalmer, and 391 km from...
) etc. In 1846, British declared them as dacoits and awards were also declared on arrest of them with assurance of job. Later Lothoo Jat became victim of Rajputs conspiracy and the Kachwaha Rajputs eliminated a brave, nationalist revolutionist in 1855. On hearing the news of his friend Lothoo Jat’s death, Karna Mina also died in pain(1856). In Rajputana gazetteer, Powlett describes the Minas as a former Ruling group who are the famous marauders and who plundered the British & their allies during revolts. In the 19th century the administrative concern with the Meenas had been a constant. They were outlawed in Rajputana and Captain Brooke led an expedition against them. Orders were issued to execute all the minas who ascended the Ghat of mewar without a pass. This very action was taken to support their alliance with Rajput kingdom then in Rajasthan. Even after such restrictions, decades following 1857 the concern with the Minas intensified. The Bharatpur police reports catalog their activities at length. Lawrence’s report which shows the British agitation over the Minas after 1857 as they are said to stop all traffic on highways and are active all over Rajputana.
Famines during British raj (Course, Epidemics, Usury and Mortalilty)
During the British Raj, famines in IndiaFamine in India
Famine has been a recurrent feature of life in the Indian sub-continental countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and reached its numerically deadliest peak in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Historical and legendary evidence names some 90 famines in 2,500 years of history. There...
, often attributed to failed government policies, were some of the worst ever recorded, including the the frightful famine which desolated Rajputana in 1868 , in which millions of people died and the Indian famine of 1899–1900 in which 1.25 to 10 million people died. During the years of invasion, several fresh groups of Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
s have been formed, under the stress of the frightful famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
which desolated Rajputana
Rajputana
Rājputāna was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. George Thomas was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana...
in 1868. The monsoon of 1868 was late in coming and, moreover, when it came, was light and brief, lasting until only August 1868. There was shortage of fodder in most areas of Rajputana
Rajputana
Rājputāna was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. George Thomas was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana...
, and some areas had water shortage as well. Since the much needed grain could be brought in only on slow camel trains, the stricken areas were more or less inaccessible. Many inhabitants of the famine-stricken regions of Rajputana
Rajputana
Rājputāna was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. George Thomas was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana...
, emigrated with their livestock or herds. Initially, however, they did not go to the British territory of Ajmer
Ajmer
Ajmer , formerly written as Ajmere, is a city in Ajmer District in Rajasthan state in India. Ajmer has a population of around 800,000 , and is located west of the Rajasthan state capital Jaipur, 200 km from Jodhpur, 274 km from Udaipur, 439 km from Jaisalmer, and 391 km from...
, where relief works had been arranged; many wandered in search of food until they died from starvation
Starvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient and vitamin intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death...
. Late in 1868, epidemics of cholera broke out among the vulnerable population, and there was no harvest in the spring of 1869. In May 1869, many villagers, who had emigrated earlier, now returned to their villages believing that the rains that year would be early. However, the rains held off until mid-July, and, in the interim, many thousands more died of starvation. Even so, the autumn harvest promised to be abundant; however, swarms of locusts descended upon the fields and destroyed the young crops. In September and October 1869, there were heavy rains, which, although good for the spring harvest, caused an epidemic of malaria and killed many more.
Having been criticized for the badly bungled relief effort, British authorities began to discuss famine policy soon afterwards, Sir William Muir, issued a famous order stating that:
"every District officer would be held personally responsible that no deaths occurred from starvation which could have been avoided by any exertion or arrangement on his part or that of his subordinates."
The Government of British India organized famine relief works in the British territory of Ajmer
Ajmer
Ajmer , formerly written as Ajmere, is a city in Ajmer District in Rajasthan state in India. Ajmer has a population of around 800,000 , and is located west of the Rajasthan state capital Jaipur, 200 km from Jodhpur, 274 km from Udaipur, 439 km from Jaisalmer, and 391 km from...
Province of British India. The princely states of Rajputana
Rajputana
Rājputāna was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. George Thomas was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana...
, however, provided very little relief, only Udaipur State spent Rs. 5 lakhs. Consequently, the immigration from the princely states into British India in the later stages of the famine began to overwhelm British efforts, and, in spite of Sir William Muir's newly defined responsibility for each district officer, the resulting mortality
Mortality
Mortality is the condition of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality.It may also refer to:* Mortality rate, a measure of the number of deaths in a given population...
was great. It is thought that over 1.5 million people died all over Rajputana
Rajputana
Rājputāna was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. George Thomas was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana...
during the famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
. The British had established control over North Western India in the early decades of the 19th century; this consisted of direct administration of the British outpost of Ajmer-Merwara
Ajmer-Merwara
Ajmer-Merwara is a former province of British India in the historical Ajmer region. The territory of the province was ceded to the British by Daulat Rao Sindhia by a treaty on June 25, 1818....
farther north. The middle decades of the 19th century saw not only the implementation of a new system of land revenue and land rights in these areas, but also the establishment of new civil law. Under the new land rights system, peasants could be dispossessed of their land if they failed to pay the land-revenue (or land-tax) in a timely fashion. Manotidars were appointed to stand surety for the cultivators , many of whom were Bhils, Sondhia and Minas
Minas
Minas are ancient Near Eastern units of weight, and hence, also units of currency.Places* Minas Gerais, Brazil* Minas, Uruguay* Minas Department, Córdoba* Minas Department, Neuquén* Minas, Cuba, a municipality in Cuba...
. The British, however, continued to rely on local Baniya usurers, or Sahukars, to supply credit to the peasants. The imposition of the new system of civil law, however, meant that the peasants could be exploited by the sahukars, who were often able, through the new civil courts, to acquire title-deeds to a peasant's land for non-payment of debt. The mid-19th century was also a time of predominance of the economic theories of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, and the principle of laissez-faire was subscribed to by many colonial administrators; the British, consequently, declined to interfere in the markets. This meant that the Baniya sahukars could resort to hoarding during times of scarcity, driving up the price of food grain, and profiteering in the aftermath. All this occurred in Western India during the famine of 1899–1900. In Mina and Bhils dominated areas of western India, many zamindar peasants were forced to hand over their lands to the sahukars as security for meager loans that not only didn't granted them much relief, but that they later couldn't repay on account of exorbitant interest. The sahukars were to foreclose on these loans in the years after the famine; in the princely states of north western India, for example, the recorded land-transfers were to jump from an average of 13,000 per year during the decade of the 1890s, to over 65,000 during the year 1902–1903.
The sahukars, in their effort to drive up prices, were even able to export grain out of areas of scarcity using the faster means of transport that came in with British raj. A British deputy district collector recorded in his report, "The merchants first cleared large profits by exporting their surplus stocks of grain at the commencement of the famine, and, later on by importing maize from Cawnpore and Bombay and rice from Calcutta and Rangoon." He went on to record that the sahukars were building new houses for themselves from these windfall profits. The blatant profiteering, however, led to grain riots in Princly states by Mina and Bhils, and grain riots became a feature of other British-ruled areas during times of famine.
As described by Woolbert, The Minas are generally industrious and sensible, but in years of famine, occasionally return to their former predatory and marauding style. They were somewhat demoralized after the natural calamities that occurred between 1868 and 1905. In general, they are of fine physical characteristics, and possess good powers of endurance. Vivian (1912) suggested that at the turn of the century there were around one million Minas and related clans, though only a small number of these had ever been involved in criminal activity. Nevertheless, those who were so engaged, most famously the Minas living in the village of Shajehanpur in the district of Gurgaon, south of Delhi, came to be represented as a hereditary band of bandits.
Recent history
Despite invasions of their lands throughout history, they were never assimilated, thereby retaining much of their cultureCulture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
and individuality. A culture known for being very strong, resilient and hardworking. Their ethos includes an intense pride in ancestry and a mettlesome regard for personal honour. In terms of marriages the Meenas form a strong endogamous society, marriage outside the community is strictly prohibited.They possess qualities like courage, loyalty, leadership, physical strength, resilience, fighting tenacity and military strategy. Though many of their strongholds lay in ruin, the Meenas bravely hold what remains theirs, while looking to reclaim their lost empire
Empire
The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....
s. Meenas are stubborn and sturdy people, but also brave and very hardworking, they remain true to the traditions and values of their heritage.
The Meenas have played an important part in the history of Rajasthan(earlier known as Rajputana, Gurjaratra, Matsya kingdom..the land of the Meenas). In former times, Rajput and Meena chiefs, in subordination to the Taur kings of Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, ruled over a considerable tract of the country.
During the war with Rajputs and Mughals, the Meena community has been divided in basic four sects (1.) The Zamindar Meena
Zamindar Mina
The Zamindar Meenas belongs to Meenas and are a clan of the state of Rajasthan in northern India.They are traditionally connected with the farming profession. According to the book People of India by Kumar Suresh Singh, the Zamindar Meenas enjoys the highest status among all Meena groups. They...
(2.) The Chaukidar Meena
Chaukidar Meena
-Chaukidar Meenas:The Chaukidar Meenas belongs to Meenas community. Normally they are found in north-east Rajasthan of India.The Chaukidar Minas are a branch of those Zamindar Meenas, who during the later middle age adopted fighting in the armies. They are well known for their security and military...
s (3) Parihar Meenas
Parihar Meenas
Parihar or Pratihar Meenas is one of the sub group of Meenas. In Olden times,there was the Republic of Meenas which was won by hara Rajputs and established an independent state. Meena is a brave and hardworking race. They lived their life like prehistoric man. But gradually they started taking...
and (4.) The Bhil Meena
Bhil Meena
The Bhil Meena are a tribal group found in the state of Rajasthan in India. According to some traditions, they are said to be descended from those Meenas and Rajputs who, in the wars between their own tribes or with Muslims, were compelled to quit their native home and seek refuge in the vastness...
(Tribal).
The Zamindar Meena
Zamindar Mina
The Zamindar Meenas belongs to Meenas and are a clan of the state of Rajasthan in northern India.They are traditionally connected with the farming profession. According to the book People of India by Kumar Suresh Singh, the Zamindar Meenas enjoys the highest status among all Meena groups. They...
are traditionally connected with farming profession. They claim a Kshatriya status equivalent to that of the Rajputs. In the local socio-ritual hierarchy they enjoy a clean cast status.
The Chaukidar Minas are a branch of those Zamindar Meenas, who during the later middle age adopted fighting in the armies and later on Britishers enforced them to report on Chaukis regularly to ensure that they do not indulge in any criminal activities known as Chowkidar Meena. Like Zamindar Meenas, Chowkidar Meenas call themselves Meena Thakur and claim Kshatriya status.
The Bhil Meena
Bhil Meena
The Bhil Meena are a tribal group found in the state of Rajasthan in India. According to some traditions, they are said to be descended from those Meenas and Rajputs who, in the wars between their own tribes or with Muslims, were compelled to quit their native home and seek refuge in the vastness...
are said to be descended from those Meenas and Rajputs who, in the wars between their own tribes or with Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s, were compelled to quit their native home and seek refuge in the vastness of Rajputana, where they formed alliances with the aboriginal families and established tribe.
The Meenas of the Karauli
Karauli
Karauli is a town lying in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The town is the administrative center of Karauli District, and was formerly the capital of the erstwhile princely state of Karauli.-Geography:...
, Sawai Madhopur
Sawai Madhopur
Sawai Madhopur is a city and a municipality in Sawai Madhopur District in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is the administrative headquarters of Sawai Madhopur District....
, Jaipur, Gangapur area are the most important cultivators for the last four hundred years. They expelled the Dhangar
Dhangar
The Dhangar caste is primarily located in the Indian state of Maharashtra...
s and Lodhi
Lodhi
Lodhi is a Batani Pashtun tribe mainly found in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were part of a wave of Pashtuns who pushed east into what is today Pakistan. Often accompanying the Timurids who conquered South Asia, the Lodhi established themselves during the Islamic period as a Muslim ruling class...
s from a number of villages they occupied 500 years ago, and have retained their possession until now. In Karauli(Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
),the Meena
Meena
Meena Durairaj, mononymously known as Meena, born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is a South Indian film and television actress. Meena debuted as a child artist in Telugu and Tamil films and has later starred in films produced by various regional industries. She is one of the most established...
s, Gurjars and Jats smoke together.They live in complete harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
.
Meo and Meenas
Majority of Meo population come from Meenas and till date they share same gotras and follow very similar Ethics and Culture. According to Britannica Meo, or Mewati tribe and caste inhabiting Rājasthān and Punjab states in northern India, and Punjab province, Pakistan, who speak Hindi and claim descent from the Rājputs. In the 11th century, the Meo branch of the Mina tribe converted from Hinduism to Islām, but they retained Hindu dress. Although the Mina and Meo are regarded as variants, some Meo claim that their ancestral home is Jaipur.Originally a nomadic, warlike people practicing animal breeding and known for lawlessness,today most Mina and Meo are farmers with respected social positions. In the late 20th century the Mina in India numbered more than 1,100,000, and the Meo, concentrated in northeastern Punjab, Pakistan, numbered more than 300,000. Both are divided into 12 exogamous clans, led by a headman (muqaddam) and a council (panch) of tribe members. They trace descent patrilineally and divide themselves into three classes: landlords, farmers, and watchmen. Both the Mina and Meo permit widow divorce and remarriage, and the Meo allow a man to exchange a sister or close female relative for his bride. Following Hindu tradition, the Mina cremate their dead while the Meo observe burial rites.
Meo of Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur, Karauli, Sawai Madhopur
Sawai Madhopur
Sawai Madhopur is a city and a municipality in Sawai Madhopur District in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is the administrative headquarters of Sawai Madhopur District....
, Gangapur districts of Rajasthan made efforts to come back in Meena community, but the intermarriage concept (i.e., roti and bati) has put down their offer by Meena leaders. As Meo are followers of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
.
Meena of Haryana
In HaryanaHaryana
Haryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south...
, the Meena are found mainly in the districts of Gurgaon
Gurgaon District
Gurgaon district is one of the 21 districts of Haryana state in northern India. Gurgaon city is the administrative headquarters of the district. The population is 1,660,289 . .It is the southern-most district of Haryana...
, Mahenderagarh and Hissar. Unlike the Rajasthan Meena, the Haryana Meena have not been granted Scheduled Tribe status. They are divided into a number of gotra
Gotra
In the Hindu society, the term Gotra broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor. Panini defines gotra for grammatical purposes as apatyam pautraprabhrti gotram , which means "the word gotra denotes the progeny beginning with the son's son"...
s, the main ones being the Boya, Sihra, Jarwaal, Jepha, Papati, Morjal, Kawat, Gomalhada, Khangash, Jakhiwal, Nagori and Tajee. Each of these clans are of equal status, and intermarry. The Haryana Meena are largely a community of peasant farmers. A small number, particular in villages bordering Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
are employed as village watchmen. They now speak Haryanvi, but most also understand Hindi.
Origin of the Rajputs in Rajasthan and the Meenas
There is no link between VedicVedic
Vedic may refer to:* the Vedas, the oldest preserved Indic texts** Vedic Sanskrit, the language of these texts** Vedic period, during which these texts were produced** Vedic pantheon of gods mentioned in Vedas/vedic period...
Kshatriyas(old Rajas) and medival Rajputs in many cases..The theory of Agnikula origin of the Rajputs is given in Prithviraj Raso of Chand Bardai. According to Edwards, the Agnikul myth represents a rite of puragation by fire, the scene of which was in Southern Rajputana whereby the impurity
Impurity
Impurities are substances inside a confined amount of liquid, gas, or solid, which differ from the chemical composition of the material or compound.Impurities are either naturally occurring or added during synthesis of a chemical or commercial product...
of foreigners was removed and they became fit to enter caste system. The fictitious character of the story is obvious. It represents a Brahamanical effort to find a lofty origin for the Rajputs who stood high in the social order and who gave them a lot of money and land in charity.
According to the book,a glimpse of medieval Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
by Naravane & Malik the Agnikula theory for Rajputs was invented in 16th century to legitimize the “conversion” of foreign people as pure Kshatriyas.
In the book by Satish Chandra, there appears to be a fair consensus that Rajputs were drawn from miscellaneous castes including Brahmans, aboriginal tribesmen and foreigners
Alien (law)
In law, an alien is a person in a country who is not a citizen of that country.-Categorization:Types of "alien" persons are:*An alien who is legally permitted to remain in a country which is foreign to him or her. On specified terms, this kind of alien may be called a legal alien of that country...
who had settled in the country
Country
A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...
. The manner in which they become "Hinduized" or were assigned the status of Rajputs is still not clear in detail, but can be summarised from analogous developments during the later medieval period. Thus, those sections which have control over land or gained political authority at the local and regional
Régional
Régional Compagnie Aérienne Européenne, or Régional for short, is a subsidiary airline wholly owned by Air France which connects hubs at Paris, Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand, and Bordeaux to 49 airports in Europe. The airline operates in Air France livery, retaining its name in small titles and logo on...
levels were often successful in gradually rising in the Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
scale. Conversely, those who lost control over land or local authority often sank in the Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
scale. Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
was not a caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
when it was formed; it was an association or ‘Sangh’ of various kings ‘Raja-Putra’ against the Mohammedan invaders.
However, apart from the control over the land and politics authority, a higher Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
status could not be acquired without the support and backing of the Brahmans. The emergence of the Rajputs in north India
North India
North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...
represented a tacit alliance between those who controlled land and possessed political authority, and the Brahmans who were the legitimizers, so to speak. In return from granting recognition to the various ruling element as Rajputs and Kshatriyas, the Brahmans received generous grants of land
Land
Land may refer to:*The part of the Earth that is not covered by water**Ecoregion*Landscape*Landform, physical feature comprises a geomorphological unit*Land , a factor of production comprising all naturally occurring resources*Land law...
and money for their sustenance, and for building and maintaining temples. In general Rajputs of Rajasthan are mixbreed of Meenas, Gujjars, Jats and other warrior tribes. In fact, according to a number of scholars, the agnikula Rajputs were originally Gurjaras (or Gurjars) and Chauhan was prominent clan of the Gurjars (or Gujjars). Several scholars including D. B. Bhandarkar, Baij Nath Puri
Baij Nath Puri
Baij Nath Puri is a historian from India. He is vice-president and member of the International Board of Editors for the history of Civilizations in Central Asia at the UNESCO.He has also been Professor and Head of the Department of Ancient Indian History nad Culture at the National Academy of...
and A. F. Rudolf Hoernle
Augustus Hoernle
Dr. Augustus Rudolf Hoernle was an English Orientalist. He was born in India, the son of an Anglican priest. He attended school in Switzerland, later moving to London and studying Sanskrit under Goldstucker. He returned to India in 1865, teaching first at the Benares Hindu University and later at...
believe that the Pratihara Rajputs were a branch of Gurjars. Prithviraj Chauhan, according to several scholars, was of Gurjar origin. Historian Sir Jervoise Athelstane Baines states that the Gurjars were forefathers of the Sisodiya Rajputs. In fact, Rajputana
Rajputana
Rājputāna was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. George Thomas was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana...
was essentially the country of the Gurjars. Historian R. C. Majumdar
R. C. Majumdar
Ramesh Chandra Majumdar was an Indian historian of great repute. He is sometimes called "the dean of Indian historians" for his colossal contribution to the study of Indian history.-Early life and education:...
explained that the region was long known as Gurjaratra (Gurjar nation), early form of Gujarat, before it came to be called Rajputana, later in the Muslim period.
See also
- RajasthanRajasthanRājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
- Rajasthani peopleRajasthani peopleRajasthani people are the native inhabitants of Rajasthan region of India. They form an ethnic group which is a result of assimilation of Scytho-Dravidian, Aryo-Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Indo-Scythian, Indo-Greeks, Indo-Iranians and Austro-Asiatic ancestries...
- Matsya KingdomMatsya KingdomMatsya or Machcha , classically called the Mese , was the name of a tribe and the state of the Vedic civilization of India. It lay to south of the kingdom of Kurus and west of the Yamuna which separated it from the kingdom of Panchalas...
- Rigvedic tribesRigvedic tribesThe Indo-Aryan tribes mentioned in the Rigveda are described as semi-nomadic pastoralists; when not on the move, they were subdivided into temporary settlements . They were headed by a tribal chief assisted by a priestly caste...
- DhundharDhundharDhundhar is a historical region of Rajasthan state in western India. It includes the districts of Jaipur, Dausa, Sawai Madhopur, and Tonk and the northern part of Karauli District...
- Matsya Rajya
- JaipurJaipurJaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million....
- MeoMeoMayo or Meo or Mewati is a prominent Muslim Rajput tribe from North-Western India. A considerable number of Meos migrated to Pakistan after independence in 1947 and now they are estimated to be over 12 million. In Pakistan, Meos have lost their distinct group identity and cultural traditions and...
- Minas (disambiguation)
- MinhasMinhasMinhas or Manhas or Minhas-Dogra is a Suryavanshi Rajput clan from the Punjab region and Jammu & Kashmir in India and Pakistan. It is an off-shoot of Jamwal-Dogra Rajputs, the founders of the city and state of Jammu and its rulers from ancient times to 1948 CE...
- MinosMinosIn Greek mythology, Minos was a king of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every year he made King Aegeus pick seven men and seven women to go to Daedalus' creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten by The Minotaur. After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in Hades. The Minoan civilization of Crete...
In Greek mythology, Minos. - Lothoo NitharwalLothoo NitharwalLothoo Nitharwal was a revolutionary freedom fighter of Rajasthan, India. He struggled all his life with the objective to oust British rule from India and get the people freed from exploitation by jagirdars and establish democracy...
- Nadar (caste)Nadar (caste)Nadar is one of the prominent castes of Tamil Nadu, South India. The term, Nadar, in Tamil literally means one who rules the land. The Nadars are also commonly called as Annachi . Nadars are an entrepreneurial south Indian caste and constitute 12% of Tamil Nadu's population...
Extra References
- Brown, Mark. 'Crime, Liberalism and Empire : Governing the Mina Tribe of Northern India'. Social & Legal Studies, 13:2 (2004), 191-218. Publisher: Sage Publications. ISSN 09646639.