136 
R. S. White way —Place names in Merwdra. 
[No. 2, 
Place names in Merwdra.—By R. S. Whiteway, B. C. S., Ajmer. 
The British District of Merwara is a narrow slip of country between 
70 and 80 miles long and from 15 miles to 1 mile broad. The head 
quarters are at Nyashahr or new Beawar, a station on the Rajputana line 
of railway. The district commences some 5 or 6 miles north of this. 
Dewair the extreme connected point is 66 miles south, and some 10 
miles south of it are a few disconnected villages. The district lies along 
the backbone of the Aravalis with very little level ground. Around 
Beawar the general level is about 1500 ft. above the sea, the highest 
point is Goramji some 50 miles south which rises to over 3000 ft., in 
the east the Meywar plain slopes gradually away from the foot of the 
hills, but in the west the drop to the plains of Beawar is considerable 
averaging about 1000 ft. and for some distance the country is wild jungle 
and rocky ravine. Cultivation is carried on in the valleys, the popula¬ 
tion presses heavily on the good land while the soil is naturally thin, 
hence heavy manuring and high cultivation require large herds of cattle. 
As the rainfall is precarious nearly every village has one or more tanks to 
retain the surface flow off, either to give direct iiTigation or retain the 
water in the wells by percolation. For administative purposes there 
are two tahsils, Beawar in the north and Todgarh (called after the well- 
known Col. Tod) in the south, Todgarh is the name of the tahsil only 
and not of any village, the head quarters are in the village of Barsawara 
an elevation of about 2500 ft. The inhabitants of the country are Mers 
(cf. Meru, a hill) a jovial set of men somewhat given to drinking. 
There are a fcAV traces of early clans (mostly pastoral as Cujars) whom 
the Mers ousted—but speaking generally all the colonization has been 
done by this latter race—and that mainly within the last 60 years since 
the English came into the country. Before we took it the inhabitants 
scourged the neighbouring countries by their raids. They were not 
numerous and were mainly collected in a few inaccessible villages. 
They were reclaimed by Col. Hall and Col. Dixon who raised the 
Merwara batallion and by building tanks rendered settled habits pos¬ 
sible. It is still their boast that the English alone conquered them. 
Their claims as to origin range high, but it is almost certain that they 
were composed mainly of outlaws who found here a protection from 
any settled form of government. To the south there are a few Bhils. 
Nominally the Mers are divided into Mahomedans and Hindus 
but the division is little more than a name as all intermarry, and whether 
a woman is buried or burned depends on the nominal religion of her 
husband. Their language is a form of Hindi, but with peculiarities 
