The making of a region in medieval India: Mewat from 13th to 18th centuries

This article traces the changing socio-cultural, political and economic profile of Mewat as a region and its resident communities, particularly the Meos, from 13th to 18th centuries ce. Using a variety of sources such as the medieval Indo-Persian chronicles of Delhi Sultanate and Mughal state, the late medieval Rajasthani archival records, colonial ethnographic accounts and land settlement reports, and local oral traditions, it demonstrates the various historical factors behind the evolution of Mewat as a distinct region: the changing political situation involving complex interaction between various regional and imperial states; the processes of migration, de-tribalization, peasantization and Islamization of its chief resident community, viz. Meos; and the development of a diverse regional economy based on agriculture, artisanal production and trade.