Meena

This article is about the Meena tribe of India. For other uses, see Meena (disambiguation).

Meena (pronounced [miːɳa]) is a tribe from western India which is sometimes considered a sub-group of the Bhil community.^[5][6] It used to be claimed they speak Mina language, a spurious language. Its name is also transliterated as Meenanda or Mina. They got the status of Scheduled Tribe by the Government of India in 1954.^[7]

Meena

1888 picture of Meenas
Total population
5 million^[1] (2011 Census)
Regions with significant populations
India
Languages
Mina, Hindi, Mewari, Marwari, Dhundari, Harauti, Mewati, Wagdi, Malvi, Garhwali, Bhili etc.^[2]^[3]
Religion
Hinduism (99.7%), others (0.14%)^[4]
Related ethnic groups
• Bhil  • Parihar  • Meo

Ethnography

 

Mina caste man in 1898

The Meenas were originally a nomadic tribe.^[8][9] They were described as a semi-wild and hill tribe similar to the Bhils.^[10] But in the British Raj, for the fulfillment of its purpose by the British Government, they were described as a "criminal tribe" and listed according to the Criminal Tribes Act.^[11] Presently they are described as Scheduled Tribe by the Indian Government.^[12]

Geography

Currently they are present in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Delhi in India.^[12]

History

Origin

 

Minas

The Meenas claim a mythological descent from the Matsya avatar, or fish incarnation, of Vishnu.^[13] They also claim to be descendants of the people of the Matsya Kingdom, which flourished in the 6th century B.C.^[14] The historian Pramod Kumar notes that it is likely that the tribes living in the ancient Matsya kingdom were called Meena but it cannot be said with certainty that there is anything common between them and the modern Meenas. They are considered to be adivasi (aboriginal people).^[15]

Nandini Sinha Kapur, a historian who has studied early India, notes that the oral traditions of the Meenas were developed from the early 19th century AD in an attempt to reconstruct their identity. She says of this process, which continued throughout the 20th century, that "The Minas try to furnish themselves a respectable present by giving themselves a glorious past". In common with the people of countries such as Finland and Scotland, the Meenas found it necessary to invent tradition through oral accounts, one of the primary uses of which is recognised by both historians and sociologists as being "social protest against injustices, exploitation and oppression, a raison d'être that helps to retrieve the image of a community." Kapur notes that the Meenas not merely lack a recorded history of their own but also have been depicted in a negative manner both by medieval Persian accounts and records of the colonial period. From medieval times through to the British Raj, references to the Meenas describe them as violent, plundering criminals and an anti-social ethnic tribal group.^[16]

According to Kapur, the Meenas also attempt Rajputization of themselves.^[17][18]

Rajput period

The Meenas ruled at certain places in Rajasthan until they were overpowered by invading Rajputs. After the end of their rule, the Meenas made forests and hills their shelter and started fighting to get back their kingdom. One such example was the Kingdom of Amber, Who had to face many wars to stop their struggle and later established peace by making treaty with conditionals.^[19][20] From Meenas the Bundi was captured by Rao Dewa (A.D. 1342), Dhundhar by Kachhwaha Rajputs and Chopoli fell to the Muslim rulers. Kota, Jhalawar, Karauli and Jalore were the other areas of earlier Meena influence where they were forced to surrender ultimately.^[21]

British colonial period

 

A Meena of Jajurh

The Raj colonial administration came into existence in 1858, following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 which caused the government of Britain to decide that leaving colonial administration in the hands of the East India Company was a recipe for further discontent. In an attempt to create an orderly administration through a better understanding of the populace, the Raj authorities instituted various measures of classifying the people of India.^[22] One such measure was the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, under the provisions of which Meenas were placed in the first list of the Act in 1872 in Patiala and East Punjab States Union, Rajasthan and Punjab.^[23] Another such measure was the Habitual Criminals Act of 1930, under whose provisions the Meenas were placed.^[24] The community remained stigmatised for many years, notably by influential officials of the Raj such as Herbert Hope Risley and Denzil Ibbetson, and were sometimes categorised as animists and as a hill tribe similar to the Bhils.^[10] The Meenas remained an officially designated criminal tribe until 1952, three years after the Act had been repealed. Mark Brown has examined the impact and issues of the Meena community during British rule and the change in their status from being a higher social group to a criminal tribe.^[25]

Rebellion

In the 1840s, Meenas organized a huge movement in Jaipur under the leadership of Lakshminarayan Jharwal against the British rule, which was a Meena rebellion against the British government.^[26]

Recent history

 

Meena

Kumar Suresh Singh notes that the Meenas have not abandoned their customary laws^[27] Meenas have better rights for women in many respects compared to many other Hindu castes.^[28]

Caste reservation

 

Meenas, Hindoos of low caste

The Meena fall into the Scheduled Tribe category in the state of Rajasthan and the majority of them are classified as being Hindu,^[29] but in Madhya Pradesh Meena are recognised as a Scheduled Tribe only in Sironj Tehsil, Vidisha, while in the other 44 districts of the state they are categorised as Other Backward Classes.^[30]

In Rajasthan, the Meena caste members oppose the entry of Gurjars into Scheduled Tribe fold, fearing that their own share of Scheduled Tribe reservation benefits will be eroded.^[31]

It is believed^{[by whom?]} that the well-off Meena community enjoy a major share of ST reservation at the cost of other tribals.^[32][33]

Subdivisions

The Meenas themselves are also a sub-group of Bhils.^[34]

The Meena tribe is divided into several clans and sub-clans (adakhs), which are named after their ancestors. Some of the adakhs include Ariat, Ahari, Katara, Kalsua, Kharadi, Damore, Ghoghra, Dali, Doma, Nanama, Dadore, Manaut, Charpota, Mahinda, Rana, Damia, Dadia, Parmar, Phargi, Bamna, Khat, Hurat, Hela, Bhagora, and Wagat.^[15]

Bhil Meena is another sub-division among the Meenas. As part of a sanskritisation process, some Bhils present themselves as Meenas, who hold a higher socio-economic status compared to the Bhil tribal people.^[35]

A sub-group known as "Ujwal Meena" (also "Ujala Meena" or "Parihar Meena") seek higher status, and claim to be Rajputs, thus distinguishing themselves from the Bhil Meenas. They follow vegetarianism, unlike other Meenas whom they designated as "Mailay Meena".^[36]

Other prevalent social groupings are Zamindar Meena and the Chaukidar Meena. The Zamindar Meena, comparatively well-off, are those who surrendered to powerful Rajput invaders and settled on the lands believe to be granted by the Rajputs. Those who did not surrender to Rajput rule and kept on waging guerrilla warfare are called the Chaukidar Meena.^[37]

Culture

 

Mina

There is a custom in the Meenas to perform Pitra Tarpan after taking a collective bath on the day of Diwali.^[38] They adopt the culture of worshiping trees and plants in marriages, festivals and other ceremonies as per the Dharadi tradition.^[39] They worship different family deities according to the gotra.^[40] They celebrate Meenesh Jayanti on the third day of the Chaitra month's Shukla paksha.^[13]

Art

Mandana Paintings are widely practiced by the women of the Meena tribe.^[41]

Demographics

Main article: List of Scheduled Tribes in Rajasthan

According to the 2011 Census of India, the Meenas have a total population of 5 million.^[42] According to a report by Hindustan Times, the population of Meenas in Rajasthan is 7% of the state's population.^[43] And according to the report of a German news television Deutsche Welle, the Meenas constitute 10% of the population of the state of Rajasthan.^[7] Whereas according to a report by BBC Hindi, the population of Meenas is 14% of the state's population.^[44]

See also

• Rajasthani people

References

1. Prakash, Ravi (18 November 2020). "क्या आदिवासियों को मिल पाएगा उनका अलग धर्म कोड, झारखंड का प्रस्ताव अब मोदी सरकार के पास" (in Hindi). Ranchi: BBC Hindi. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
2. The assignment of an ISO code [myi] for the Meena language was spurious (Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices). The code was retired in 2019.
3. "A Sociological Evaluation of the Major Government Schemes Meant for Promoting Education and Health among The Members of the Meena Tribe in Rajasthan" (PDF).
4. "Meena in India". Joshua Project. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
5. Sezgin, Yüksel (2011). Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 41. ISBN 9783643999054. from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
6. Rath, Govinda Chandra (2013). Emerging Trends in Indian Politics. Taylor & Francis. p. 166. ISBN 9781136198557.
7. "आखिर क्यों भड़कते हैं आरक्षण के आंदोलन | DW | 12.02.2019". Deutsche Welle (in Hindi). Retrieved 12 May 2022.
8. "Mina".
9. The Culture of India. The Rosen Publishing Group. 15 August 2010. p. 36. ISBN 9781615301492.
10. Kapur, Nandini Sinha (2007). "The Minas: Seeking a Place in History". In Bel, Bernard (ed.). The Social and the Symbolic. Sage. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-76193-446-2.
11. "Crime, Liberalism and Empire: Governing the Mina Tribe of Northern India".
12. (PDF). Census India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 November 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
13. Kapur, Nandini Sinha (2000). "Reconstructing Identities and Situating Themselves in History : A Preliminary Note on the Meenas of Jaipur Locality". Indian Historical Review. 27 (1): 29–43. doi:10.1177/037698360002700103. S2CID 141602938. the entire community claims descent from the Matsya (fish) incarnation of Vishnu
14. Pati, Rabindra Nath; Dash, Jagannatha (2002). Tribal and Indigenous People of India: Problems and Prospects. APH Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 978-8-17648-322-3.
15. Kumar, Pramod (1984). Folk Icons and Rituals in Tribal Life. Abhinav. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-8-17017-185-0.
16. Kapur, Nandini Sinha (2007). "The Minas: Seeking a Place in History". In Bel, Bernard (ed.). The Social and the Symbolic. Sage. pp. 129–131. ISBN 9780761934462.
17. Kapur, Nandini Sinha (2007). "Minas Seeking a Place in History". In Bel, Bernard; Brouwer, Jan; Das, Biswajit; Parthasarathi, Vibodh; Poitevin, Guy (eds.). The Social and the Symbolic: Volume II. Sage. pp. 129–146. ISBN 978-8132101178.
18. Kothiyal, Tanuja (14 March 2016). Nomadic Narratives: A History of Mobility and Identity in the Great Indian Desert. Cambridge University Press. p. 265. ISBN 978-1-107-08031-7. from gradual transformation of mobile pastoral and tribal groups into landed sedentary ones. The process of settlement involved both control over mobile resources through raids, battles and trade as well as channelizing of these resources into agrarian expansion. Kinship structures as well as marital and martial alliances were instrumental in this transformation. ... In the colonial ethnographic accounts rather than referring to Rajputs as having emerged from other communities, Bhils, Mers, Minas, Gujars, Jats, Raikas, all lay a claim to a Rajput past from where they claim to have 'fallen'. Historical processes, however, suggest just the opposite.
19. Ramusack, Barbara N. (8 January 2004). The Indian Princes and their States. Cambridge University Press. p. 19. ISBN 9781139449083.
20. Rima Hooja (2006). A history of Rajasthan. Rupa & Co. p. 396. ISBN 9788129108906. OCLC 80362053.
21. Meena, Madan (2021). "Rulers, Criminals and Denotified Tribe: A Historical Journey of the Meenas". Tribe-British Relations in India. Springer Nature. pp. 275–290. doi:10.1007/978-981-16-3424-6_17. ISBN 978-981-16-3423-9. S2CID 240554356.
22. Naithani, Sadhana (2006). In quest of Indian folktales: Pandit Ram Gharib Chaube and William Crooke. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34544-8. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
23. "Caught in nostalgia: Artist Madan Meena's work inspired from 'The Thirsty Crow'".
24. Danver, Steven L. (2015). Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues. Routledge. p. 550. ISBN 9781317464006.
25. Brown, Mark (2004). "Crime, Liberalism and Empire: Governing the Mina Tribe of Northern India". Social and Legal Studies. 13 (2): 191–218. doi:10.1177/0964663904042551. S2CID 143535325.
26. Bajrange, Dakxinkumar; Gandee, Sarah; Gould, William (2019). "Settling the Citizen, Settling the Nomad: 'Habitual offenders', rebellion, and civic consciousness in western India, 1938–1952" (PDF). Modern Asian Studies. 54 (2): 337–383. doi:10.1017/S0026749X18000136. S2CID 56335179.
27. Singh, K. S. (1993). Tribal Ethnography, Customary Law, and Change. Concept Publishing Company. p. 300. ISBN 9788170224716.
28. Kishwar, Madhu (13 August 1994). "Codified Hindu Law: Myth and Reality". Economic and Political Weekly. 29 (33): 2145–2161. JSTOR 4401625.
29. Sezgin, Yüksel (2011). Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 41. ISBN 978-3-64399-905-4. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
30. Patel, Mahendra Lal (1997). Awareness in Weaker Section: Perspective Development and Prospects. M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. p. 35. ISBN 978-8-17533-029-0. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
31. Satyanarayana (2010). Ethics: Theory and Practice. Pearson Education India. p. 96. ISBN 978-8-13172-947-2.
32. "How Meenas got the ST status". The Economic Times. 31 May 2007.
33. "Flip side of the Jat agitation in Haryana". India Today. 9 March 2012.
34. Sezgin, Yuksel (2011). Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. LIT Verlag Münster. ISBN 9783643999054.
35. Majhi, Anita Srivastava (2010). Tribal Culture, Continuity, and Change: A Study of Bhils in Rajasthan. Mittal. p. 127. ISBN 978-8-18324-298-1.
36. Sodh, Jiwan (1999). A Study of Bundi School of Painting. Abhinav. p. 31. ISBN 978-8-17017-347-2.
37. Mann, Rann Singh; Mann, K. (1989). Tribal Cultures and Change. Mittal Publications. p. 18.
38. Das, Jayasree; Chakraborty, Sudipta (2021). "Scope of dark tourism as a revival strategy for the industry" (PDF). Business Studies. XLII (1 & 2).
39. Meena, Ram (5 May 2020). "Sociolinguistic Study of Meena / Mina Tribe In comparison to other Tribes of Rajasthan". pp. 45–58.
40. Danver, Steven L. (10 March 2015). Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues. Routledge. p. 550. ISBN 9781317464006.
41. Meena, Madan (2009). Nurturing Walls: Animal Paintings by Meena Women. Tara Books. ISBN 978-8-18-621168-7.
42. "Will the tribals get their separate religion code, Jharkhand's proposal is now with the Modi government". BBC.
43. "In Rajasthan, tribal body acts as family court for ST couples". Hindustan Times.
44. "वसुंधरा के लिए सांप छछूंदर वाली स्थिति". BBC (in Hindi). June 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2022.

Further reading

• Adak, Dipak Kumar. Demography and health profile of the tribals: a study of M.P. Anmol Publications.
• Brown, Mark (2003). "Ethnology and Colonial Administration in Nineteenth-Century British India: The Question of Native Crime and Criminality". The British Journal for the History of Science. 36 (2): 201–219. doi:10.1017/S0007087403005004. JSTOR 4028233.
• Bajrange, Dakxinkumar; Gandee, Sarah; Gould, William (2019). "Settling the Citizen, Settling the Nomad: 'Habitual offenders', rebellion, and civic consciousness in western India, 1938–1952". Modern Asian Studies. 54 (2): 337–383. doi:10.1017/S0026749X18000136. S2CID 56335179.
• Piliavsky, Anastasia (2015). "The "Criminal Tribe" in India before the British". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 57 (2): 323–354. doi:10.1017/S0010417515000055. JSTOR 43908348. S2CID 144894079.
• Sharma, Sohan Lal (2008). Emerging Tribal Identity: A Study of Minas of Rajasthan. Rawat Publications. ISBN 9788131602386. JSTOR 23620676.
• Channa, V.C. (2008). "Development in Meena Villages: A Case Study". Indian Anthropologist. 38 (1): 33–42. JSTOR 41920055.
• Meena, Madan (2021). "Rulers, Criminals and Denotified Tribe: A Historical Journey of the Meenas". Tribe-British Relations in India. Springer Nature. pp. 275–290. doi:10.1007/978-981-16-3424-6_17. ISBN 978-981-16-3423-9. S2CID 240554356.