Mewat is a historical

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...

and

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

states in northwestern India. The loose boundaries of Mewat generally include

Hathin Hathin is a City and a Municipal Committee, nearby Palwal city in Palwal district of Haryana in India. Geography It lies in NCR region, located south of Delhi, west from NH19 ( Delhi-Mathura Highway) and 10 kilometres south from KMP (Kun ...

tehsil and

Nuh district Nuh district (formerly known as Mewat district) is one of the 22 districts in the Indian state of Haryana. There are four sub-divisions in this district: Nuh, Ferozepur Jhirka, Punahana, and Taoru. It has an area of and had a population of 1. ...

of Haryana,

Alwar Alwar (Pronunciation: �lʋəɾ is a city located in India's National Capital Region and the administrative headquarters of Alwar District in the state of Rajasthan. It is located 150 km south of Delhi and 150 km north of Jaipur. ...

(

Tijara Tijara is a city and a municipality in Alwar district of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Tijara comes under the NCR area and is situated 48 km to the northeast of Alwar. The nearest railway station to Tijara is Khairthal. Bhiwadi is a census ...

Kishangarh Kishangarh is a city and a Municipal Council in Ajmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. History Kishangarh State was founded by the Jodhpur prince Kishan Singh in 1609. Prior to the rule of Kishan Singh this area was ruled by Ra ...

, Bas,

Ramgarh Ramgarh may refer to: Bangladesh * Ramgarh Upazila, a sub-district of Khagrachari District India * Ramgarh, Bihar, a village near Munger, Bihar * Ramgarh, Kaimur, a town in Kaimur district, Bihar * Ramgarh, Uttarakhand, a hill station in Nainital ...

Laxmangarh Laxmangarh is a town in Sikar district of Rajasthan state in India. History Laxmangarh was founded by Rao Raja Lakshman Singh of Sikar Sikar is a city and municipal council in the Sikar district of the state of Rajasthan in India. It ...

Kathumar Kathumar is a town and tehsil of Alwar district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Haneepur Hanipur is a village in the tehsil KATHUMAR about 2.5 km away. There are many villages in this sub-division, few of them are: Kankroli Kankroli i ...

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administ ...

s and Aravalli hills tract), Mahwa, Rajasthan and Mandawar, Rajasthan in

Dausa district Dausa District is a district of Rajasthan state in India within Jaipur division. The city of Dausa is the district headquarters. It has an area of 3432 km² and a population of 1,634,409 in 2011 census. It is surrounded by Alwar District ...

and Bharatpur districts (Pahari, Nagar,

Deeg Deeg is a historical town and a municipality in Bharatpur district in the state of Rajasthan, India. It is situated north of Bharatpur and northwest of Agra. In Hindu mythology, Deeg was situated along the '' parikrama'' path of Krishna, wh ...

Nadbai Nadbai is a city and a municipality in Bharatpur district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Nadbai is divided into Katra and Nadbai. Nadbai is also famous for education. It is known as a MINI KOTA. Geography Nadbai is located at . It has an av ...

, Bhusawar, Weir and Kaman tehsils) of

, and Chhata Tehsil of Mathura district in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. The main centre areas of Mewat are Firozpur Jhirka, Nuh, Ramgarh, Paharisikri and

Punahana Punhana is a town in Punhana sub-division in the Nuh district in the Indian state of Haryana. Geography Punahana is the largest town of Mewat, at an average elevation of 187 metres (613 feet). Demographics India census, Punahana had ...

. Mewat region lies in between

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known ...

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra i ...

. In simple words Mewat region consists of Nuh district, eastern part of Alwar district and western part of

Bharatpur district Bharatpur District is a district in Rajasthan state in western India. The town of Bharatpur is the District Headquarters, Division Headquarters and Headquarters of Bharatpur Police Range of Rajasthan Police. Bharatpur District is a part o ...

. Mandawar, Rajasthan and Mahwa, Rajasthan is in

but there are many Meos villages near Mahwa, Mandawar, Garhi sawairam, Pinan.Meet the muslims who consider themselves descendants of arjuna
Scroll.in, 30 March 2016. The region roughly corresponds to the ancient kingdom of

Matsya Matsya ( sa, मत्स्य, lit. ''fish'') is the fish avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. Often described as the first of Vishnu's ten primary avatars, Matsya is described to have rescued the first man, Manu, from a great deluge. Matsya ...

, founded in the 5th century

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

Mewati Mewati (Devanagri:मेवाती; Perso-Arabic:میواتی) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about three million speakers in the Mewat Region (Alwar and Bharatpur, districts of Rajasthan, Nuh district of Haryana). While other people ...

dialect, a slight variant of the

Haryanvi Haryanvi ( ' or '), also known as Bangru, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the state of Haryana in India, and to a lesser extent in Delhi. Haryanvi is considered to be part of the dialect group of Western Hindi, which also includes Kharib ...

and

Rajasthani Rajasthani may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Rajasthan, a state of India * Rajasthani languages, a group of languages spoken there * Rajasthani people, the native inhabitants of the region * Rajasthani architecture * Rajasthani art ...

dialects of

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

, is spoken in rural areas of the region. Mewati Gharana is a distinctive style of Indian classical music.

History

Wali-e-Mewati

The title of Wali-e-Mewat was used by the Khanzada

rulers of

Mewat State The Khanzadas of Mewat were a dynasty of chiefs from Rajputana who had their capital at Alwar. The Khanzadas were Muslim Rajputs who descended from Raja Sonpar Pal who was a Yaduvanshi Rajput who converted to Islam during the period of the De ...

from 1372 till 1527, who ruled Mewat as an independent state. In 1372, Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq granted

Raja Nahar Khan Wali-e-Mewat Raja Nahar Khan, Bahadur, birth name Raja Sonpar Pal, the ruler of Mewat, was the progenitor of Khanzada Rajput tribe. He was converted to Islam by Firuz Shah Tughlaq in 1355. Background He was the son of Rajput Raja Lakhan ...

of Kotla Fort, the Lordship of Mewat. He established a hereditary polity in Mewat and proclaimed the title of Wali-e-Mewat. Later his descendants affirmed their own sovereignty in Mewat and ruled there till 1527.

British Era

During the

British raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

, they became under the

Alwar state Alwar State was a kingdom from 1770 to 1818 and a princely state under British rule from 1818 to 1947. Initially its capital was Macheri and then the city of Alwar. The nobility of Alwar State belonged to the Naruka branch of the Kachwaha dynas ...

and

Bharatpur state Bharatpur State, which is also known as the Jat State of Bharatpur historically known as the Kingdom of Bharatpur, was a Hindu Kingdom in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. It was ruled by the Sinsinwar clan of the Hindu Jat ...

. After the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

the area passed to the direct control of British rule. Furthermore, during the colonial era, religious syncretism was seen throughout the region. During 1947, thousands of Meo were displaced from Alwar district and

. Many Thousands were killed. They shifted to Gurgaon and many went to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. Bacchu Singh, the prince of Bharatpur, played a main role in this violence. Earlier

Kumher Kumher (formerly Kumbher) is a historical city and land of Yaduvanshi Sinsinwars the initial name of this city was Kuber. It is located in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, India. Geography Kumher is located at . It has an average elevation of 17 ...

Kherli Kherli is a city and a municipality in Alwar district in the Indian state of Rajasthan.Kherli mandi(Grain Market) is the second largest mandi in Rajasthan. Once upon a time it was so much famous that till now old jaipur people knows this as ganj ...

, Bhusawar,

Weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

and till Mahwa was heavily populated with Meo

Muslim Rajputs Muslim Rajputs are the descendants of Rajputs of Northern regions of the Indian subcontinent who are followers of Islam. They converted from Hinduism to Islam from the medieval period in India onwards, retaining historically Hindu surnames suc ...

population.The population of Meos drastically decreased in

and Bharatpur. Many old mosques are still present there.

Gandhiji Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

also visited the village of

Ghasera Ghasera is a village in Nuh district of Haryana state in northern India. It is dominated by Meos. This village is also known as Ghandhi Gram Ghasera after it was visited by Mahatma Gandhi who asked the predominantly Muslim Meos to not migrate t ...

in the

and requested Meos not to leave India. Because of Gandhiji some Meos were resettled in

, Nagar,

Kaman Kaman may refer to: * Kaman (surname) * Kamein (Kaman), an ethnic group in Burma * Kaman Aircraft, an American aerospace company and helicopter manufacturer * Kaman Music Corporation, a company of several musical instrument manufacturers * Kaman ...

of Alwar district and

. The people of Ghasera still celebrate Mewat day.

Economic and infrastructure developments

The main occupation in district is agriculture along with allied and agro-based activities. The Meo Rajputs are the predominant population group and are all agriculturists. Agriculture is mostly rain fed except in small pockets where canal irrigation is available. Agriculture production measured in terms of crop yield per hectare is low in comparison to the other districts of the State. Animal husbandry, particularly dairy, is the secondary source of income for the people and those who live closer to the hilly ranges of Aravali also keep sheep and goats. Milk yields are not so low, however, due to heavy indebtedness most of the farmers are forced to sell the milk to the lenders at lower than normal price, which drastically reduces their income from the milk. Towns like Punhana, Pinangwan, Ferozepur Jhirka, Taoru and Nuh are major hub of retail shops and acts as backbone of day-to-day life in area. The district also has a MMTC-PAMP factory located in the Rojka-Meo industrial estate. The Delhi Mumbai Expressway is an under construction expressway which will pass through Mewat. Gurugram-Sohna-Nuh-Alwar road has been upgraded to National Highway and is known as NH 248A.

Western Peripheral Expressway The Western Peripheral Expressway (WPE) or Kundli–Manesar–Palwal Expressway (KMP Expressway), is an operational 6-lane (3 lanes in each direction),NH-8 National Highway 8 (NH 8) is a 4-lane (6-lane in most parts) National Highway in India. According to estimates, it is the busiest highway in the subcontinent, as it connects the national capital Delhi to the financial capital Mumbai, as well ...

. The planned Rewari-Bhiwadi-Palwal railway line and Delhi-Sohna-Nuh-Ferozepur Jhirka-Alwar railway will pass through Mewat near district headquarter, Nuh.

Shaheed Hasan Khan Mewati Government Medical College Shaheed Hasan Khan Mewati Government Medical College (SHKM GMC), is an Indian Medical College in the Nuh district of Haryana. The college is 75 km from Delhi on National Highway 8, 47 km from Gurgaon and 57 km from Faridabad. Th ...

at Nalhar is now operational near Nuh. Haryana Wakf Board has set up its first engineering college in Mewat which is operational near Nuh. Mewat is one of the most underdeveloped area of the nation, Up to 60% of men here find employment as truck drivers and only few schools go beyond 8th class schooling.Haryana elections: Turncoats and dynasts lead BJP battle for first victory in Mewat
Times of India, 18 October 2019.

Demographics

The population of

Mewat District Nuh district (formerly known as Mewat district) is one of the 22 districts in the Indian state of Haryana. There are four sub-divisions in this district: Nuh, Ferozepur Jhirka, Punahana, and Taoru. It has an area of and had a population of 1 ...

Media

Mewat has two community radio stations: Radio Mewat and Alfaz-e-Mewat. Radio Mewat, launched in 2010, endeavours to give voice to the voiceless in backward communities. Alfaz-e-Mewat, launched in 2012, provides rural communities in and around the Mewat district with information and participatory dialogue about agriculture, water and

soil health Soil health is a state of a soil meeting its range of ecosystem functions as appropriate to its environment. In more colloquial terms, the health of soil arises from favorable interactions of all soil components (living and non-living) that belong ...

, and governance issues. Mewat has its own monthly magazine named Mewat Kal AAj Kal. This magazine runs by Mewati students who are studying in different esteemed and prestigious educational institutions across the country. Presently Mohd Juber Khan is the editor & publisher of this RNI registered magazine.

References

* # https://nuh.gov.in/demography/

External links

Mewat Development Agency
*http://www.rkktrust.org/ *Against History, Against State: Counterperspectives from the Margins by Shail Mayaram *http://www.radiomewat.org/
Sehgal Foundation
{{Historical regions of North India Mewat people's also called as "Mewati" Regions of Rajasthan Haryana Regions of India Historical Indian regions