The Making of Communalised Identities in Mewat 1. From

10 Samantar series Samantar series2 The Making of Communalised Identities 1. From memories to spectrum of virtual in Mewat world: Study on cultural transition in urban slums of Jaipur city 2.The Making of Communalised Identities in Mewat 3. AN APPROACH PAPER TO CULTURAL POLICY 4 Chetnashala:An Innovative School 5.Children Research Project An Experiment 6.Community Education Initiative 7.Toward a Reading Culture 8. Muhim-Campaign for Multiple Interven tions in Mainstream Education 9. Muhim-Campaign for Multiple Interven tions in Mainstream Education: An Evalua Samantar tion Centre for Cultural Action & Research 10. f'k{kk vkSj gkf'k;ksa ds leqnk; 71/17, Shyopur Road, Pratap Nagar, Jaipur - 302 033 Phone No. 0141-2790899 10 Samantar series2 The Making of Communalised Identities in Mewat: A Summary An Evaluation by Rajaram Bhadu, Samantar. 2003-2004 Samantar series 1. From memories to spectrum of virtual world Study on cultural transition in urban slums of Jaipur city 2. Samantar Centre for Cultural Action & Research 71/17, Shyopur Road, Pratap Nagar, Jaipur - 302 033 Phone No. 0141-2790800 The Making of Communalised Identities in South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, V.17, No. 2, Mewat: A Summary 1997) Shail Mayaram suggests Syncretism, Hybrid- An Evaluation by Rajaram Bhadu, Samantar. ity and Liminality as concepts to examine Meo iden- A study of the communalisation of the identity of tity and argues that it be understood as Liminal. A the Meo’s - a community in the geo-cultural region liminal culture is based on two identities and makes called Mewat was carried out by Samantar, Jaipur a distinctive third place for itself. Through an exami- under the lead of Rajaram Bhadu. The aim of the nation of Mewati oral folk culture – tales such as study was to study the current socio- cultural life of Pandoon kau kadda (18th century, by Nabi Khan), the Meo’s, examine the growing communalisation Banshaawali (by Kanwar Khan), Dhamookar (by of Meo identity in the light of the growth of reli- Chotu Meo) and legends like Chandrawal gurjari, gious fundamentalism in India, examine local peace Shamsuddin Pathan and Mahadev Gaura ki baat, building initiatives and suggest methods of strength- Mayaram argues that Meo cultural history reflects ening these. The Meo’s (like many others in traces of Hindu mythological influence in an Islamic Rajasthan including Cheeta-Merat, Langa- socio-political structure. She locates Meo identity Manganiar, Gaddi etc.) are culturally mixed com- somewhere between more rigid and institutionalised munity. While a debate continues amongst academ- Hindu and Muslim identities. ics about whether they are a caste or a tribe, it is The second main trend, seen in The Cultural Land- agreed that they cannot easily be classified as Hindu scape of Mewat (ed. Jaipal Singh and Mumtaz Khan, or Muslim. Mewat region overlaps Rajasthan and Rawat Publications, Jaipur, 1997) views Meo iden- Haryana, comprising roughly Alwar and Bharatpur tity as a mix of Tribal, Hindu and Muslim cultures in Rajasthan and Gurgaon and Faridabad in Haryana. and sees Meos as a tribal community that adopted There is a lack of official/ primary, written or ar- Hindu caste organization. This group of scholars sees cheological history of the Meo’s that could have the Meos as a tribe (like the Bhils) who having re- thrown light on their emergence as a cultural com- tained the organization of pals, also adopted the gotra munity. One has to depend largely on oral histories system of the Brahminical castes. They argue that and legends. the Mewati culture is the result of two dominant pro- Meo history has been approached along two major cesses that have moulded the ‘original’ tribal base. lines by contemporary historians. In Rethinking Meo These are Sanskritization (including the influence of Identity: Cultural Faultlines (Comparative Studies of Braj culture, seen in the Mewati folk music, gotra system, marriage rituals and the jajmani tradition; and signs of both Hindu and Islamic communal ideolo- the influence of Rajasthani culture reflected in the gies. legends of valour and bravery, a Rajput inheritance) Brief Historical Overview:- and Islamization. Meo history prior to British rule is recorded mostly The contemporary situation of the Meos bears closer in the form of narratives of the Khanzada’s of whom resemblance to the latter view. Mayaram does not Hasan Khan Mewati is most well known for fighting take into account the possibility of the Meos being a Babur. The struggle between the Meos and the suc- community with cessive Muslim rulers is a reflection of the fact that tribal roots and stresses the Sufi influences in Meo the Meos instead of being controlled by traditional culture. While this influence is Islam were more influenced by respective local tra- undoubtedly present, Mayaram’s framework views ditions and beliefs. During the 1857 Revolt Meos the entire Mewati oral tradition as a homogenous took part in large numbers in a united effort with the cultural entity. Notwithstanding the Hindu-Muslim Hindus and Muslims as also suffered high casual- influence, folktales like Banshaawali, Pandoon Kau ties. Possibly as a result of this, the British govern- Kada, and Ghudchadi Meo ki Baat clearly fall within ment listed the Meos as jarayampesha a (criminal the genre of the Rajput warrior legends. While tribe). In the early 1920’s an aggressive peasant move- Mayaram describes Meo social structure as mixed ment broke out in Mewat led by Yasin Khan and and ‘hybrid’, she does not explain the somewhat Kanwar Muhammad Ashraf that protested against ‘low’ status of Meos in both traditional Islamic and high taxes. Kanwar Muhammad made the autonomy Hindu society. In this context the influence of the of Mewat a major issue of the movement. This how- non-sectarian Bhakti movement and Sufi saints on ever was viewed in tandem with the demand for Pa- Mewati Culture is important- Laldas, Bhikji, kistan and became known as the movement for a Charandas, Sahjobai, Dayabai and Ali Baksh are Meo Mewistan or some sort of mini- Pakistan. To counter poets influenced by Sufi/Bhakti thought. Nabi Khan, this the establishment of Alwar and Bharatpur (then Danshah, Mir Khan, Evaj, Nathu and Gulzari are also princely states) encouraged Hindu communal forces literary figures. It is ironic that in contemporary times resulting in the Shuddhi movement in Bharatpur and a culture that was deeply influenced by inclusive and the RSS found its feet in Alwar. Almost as a corol- pluralistic beliefs has become rich field for the de- lary the hitherto ineffective Tablighi Jamaat too found a new role. post-Babri demolition riots however, these areas During the Partition of India in 1947, Mewat saw erupted in violent communal clashes and Hindu the opposite of the unity displayed in 1857- as riot- temples were attacked in many urban clusters. The ing broke out between the Hindus and Meos. The BJP and Sangh Parivar used the communal tension Meos again bore the brunt of the devastation with to their full advantage. official records declaring 30,000 Meos dead in Alwar Socio-Economic and Cultural Factors Fostering District. By 1961 the population of the Meos in Communal Tension:- Alwar was 52,803 as against the 1872 census figure The Meos have historically seen themselves as a com- of 1,51,727. In view of the largescale exodus of munity independent of a Hindu or Muslim identity. Meos to Pakistan, Gandhi intervened and appealed This independent identity is based on a dinstict lan- to the Meos to return to their homes. Hundreds of guage- Mewati, cultural memory as recorded in the Meo families responded and returned to find that folklore of the region for distinct rituals. In this sense their properties had been confiscated and distrib- orthodox, mainstream Muslims see Meos as impure uted to Hindu refugees. The rehabilitation of these and mainstream Hindus consider the Meos to be, Meo families was almost wholly ignored by the In- quite simply, Muslim. Interestingly the Meos con- dian State.Under the leadership of social workers sider themselves superior both to the Muslim ser- Rameshwari Nehru and Saptbai, the Meos launched vice castes like- Fakir, Sakka, Darvesh, Nai, Badhai a movement to regain their lands which continued etc. and Hindu Dalit castes towards whom their treat- with minimal results till 1958. In the coming decades ment resembles Savarna Hindu behaviour. the Meos moved to the courts to fight their cases The social structure of the Meos is similar to Hindus and till date a number of cases remain pending in in their adherence to the system of gotra and pala. district courts of Alwar and Bharatpur. Meos have 12 palas and 52 gotras. The pala is a 6th December 1992, the demolition of the Babri tradition that resembles tribal kinship arrangements. Masjid in Ayodhya marks another turning point for Meos don’t marry within their gotra and their mar- the Meo community. During the riots of 1947 while riage though a Nikaah included till Independence Rajasthani Mewat was affected, the part of Mewat (1947) many Hindu rituals like Chaak Poojan and in Haryana remained fairly peaceful and also pro- Bhat. The influence of mainstream Muslim Maulvis vided shelter and residence to those displaced Meos has led to the disappearence of many of these rituals who had escaped from Bharatpur and Alwar. In the but the one Hindu marriage ritual that is still firmly literate which is lower than the all-India figure. Do- entrenched in Meo weddings is Dowry. Though mestic violence is commonplace. The payment of technically un-Islamic, marriages conducted by Dowry by the brides family Maulvis nevertheless include the ritual of Dowry. has been mentioned. Another social custom is that A third of the Meo population is dependent on agri- of buying brides from Jamuna Paar culture.

Load more