1 MINOR LAND-OWNING AND AGRICULTURAL CASTES. 181
2 " Any Meo will tell glibly enough that the tribe is divided into twelve Pals and fifty-two
3 ■ Gots ; but no two enumerations of the Pals that I have seen correspond precisely ; and the
4 ■ tifty-two Gots include the Pal~, and are not, as would at first appear, in addition to them. The
5 ' following enumeration of the Pals is perhaps correct : —
6 1. Balant.
7 2. Ratawat.
8 3. Darwal.
9 4. Landawat.
10 5. Chirklot.
11 6. Dimrot.
12 7. Dulot.
13 8. Nai.
14 9. Ynnglot.
15 10. Dahngal.
16 11. Signal
17 12. Kalesa or Kalsakhi.
18 Meo
19 CLASS
20 1.
21 Chirklot
22 ... 26,467
23 8.
24 Balot
25 2,849
26 2.
27 Dhangal
28 ... 2i,075
29 9.
30 Taniir or
31 3.
32 Dimrot
33 .. 10,277
34 Tunwar ...
35 2,432
36 4.
37 Gurwai
38 ... 5,511
39 10.
40 Nai
41 2,Q.io
42 5.
43 L andawat
44 ... 3.294
45 11.
46 Badgujar ...
47 2,003
48 6.
49 Dulot _
50 ... 2,909
51 12.
52 Golwal
53 2,003
54 7.
55 Dherwal
56 ... 2,944
57 13.
58 Pdhut
59 1,639
60 14.
61 Bailana ...
62 1,380
63 " Besides these there is a thirteenth Palakhra or little Pal Pahat. The Pals which are strongest
64 " in Gurgaen are the Dahngals in the north of Niih ; the Chlrklots in the south-east of Niih and
65 ''in the country round Punahana; the Landawats, Dimrots, and Dulots in the Firozpur
66 " valley, and the Darwals in the country south of Ni'ih. These Meo sub-tribes still possess
67 " a strong feeling of unity and the power of corporate action."
68 The principal Meo sub-
69 divisions returned in Giirgaon
70 are shown in tlie margin. In
71 Ambala and perhaps elsewhere
72 the word Meo seems commonly
73 to be used as equivalent to
74 Men or fisherman ; and it may
75 be that some of the ]Meos re-
76 turned from other districts
77 than Gurgaon and those bor-
78 dering upon it, are not true
79 Meos.
80 479. The Khanzadah (Caste No. 123) .—The Khsinzadahs are practically
81 confined to Gurgaoo so far as the Panjab is concerned. Captain Powlett
82 describes them thus : —
83 " Tliey are the Mewati Chiefs of the Persian histori^ins, who were probably the representatives
84 "of the ancient Lords of Mewat. Tlicse Mewatis are called Khanzadahs, a r.ace which,
85 " though Musalman like the Meo^, wa~ aud is socially far superior to the Meos, and has no love for
86 " them ; but who in times p:ist have unitel with them in the raids and insurrections for which
87 " Mewat .vas so famous, aud wliich made it a thorn in the side of the Dehli Emperors. In fact, the
88 " expression Mewati usuall.y refers to the ruling class, while Meo designates the lower orders. The
89 "latter teim is evidently not of modern origin, though it is not, I believe, met with in history ; and
90 " the former is, I think, now unusual, KhauzaJah having taken its place.
91 " The Khanzadahs are numerically ins\gniticant, and they cannot now be reckoned among the
92 "ailstocracy. In social rank they are far above the Meos, and though probably of more recent
93 " Hindu extraction, they are better Musalmans. They observe no Hindu festivals, and will not
94 " acknowledge that they pay any respect to Hindu shrines. But Brahmins take part in their
95 " marriage contracts, and they observe some Hindu marriage ceremonies. Though generally as
96 " poor and ignorant as the Meos, they unlike the latter say their prayer>, and do not let their
97 " women work in the fields.
98 '• They are not first rate agriculturists, the seclusion of their women giving them a disadvan-
99 " tage beside most other castes. Sume have emigrated and taken to trade in tlie Gangetic cities,
100 "but these have no connection now with i he original Khanzadah country. Those who have not
101 " abandoned the traditions of their clan are often glad of military service, and about fifty are in
102 " British regiments. In the service of the Ulwir State there arc many. There are 26 Khanzadah
103 " villages in the State, in most of which the |)roprietors themselves work in the field and follow the
104 " plough.
105 "The term Khanzadah is probably derived from Khanazad, for it appears that Bahadur Xahar
106 " the first of the race mentioned in the Persian histories, associated himself with the turbulent
107 " slaves of Firoz Shah after the death of the latter, and, bein? a pervert, would contemptuously
108 " receive the name of Khanazad (slave) from his brethren. The Khanzadahs themselves ludig-
109 " naiitly repudiate this derivation, and say tbe word is Khan Jadii (or Lord Jadii), and was iutend-
110 " ed to render stiU nobler tbe name of tlie princely Rajput race from which they came. Con-
111 " verted Jadiis were called by the old Musalman historians Mewatis, a term Cband applies to a
112 !' Mewat chief of the Lunar race, of which race the Jadii Maharaja of Karauli calls himself the
113 « head."