Note 14 — Chapter XII · THE MIHIRAS OR MERS. a.d. 470–900.

The tales cited in the Rás Málá (I. 103) prove that most of the Kolis between Gujarát and Káthiáváḍa are Mairs. That till the middle of the tenth century the south-east of Káthiáváḍa was held by Medhs (Káth. Gazetteer, 672) supports the view that the Kolis, whom about a.d. 1190 (Tod’s Western India, I. 265) the Gohils drove out of the island of Piram, were Medhs, and this is in agreement with Idrísi (a.d. 1130 Elliot, I. 83) who calls both Piram and the Medhs by the name Mand. Similarly some of the Koli clans of Kacch (Gazetteer, 70) seem to be descended from the Medhs. And according to Mr. Dalpatram Khakkar three subdivisions of Brahmo-Kshatris, of which the best known are the Mansura Mers and the Pipalia Mers, maintain the surname Mair or Mer. (Cutch Gazetteer, 52 note 2.) Mera or Mehra is a common surname among Sindhi Baluchis. Many of the best Musalmán captains and pilots from Káthiáváḍa, Kacch, and the Makrán coast still have Mer as a surname. Mehr is also a favourite name among both Khojáhs and Memans, the two special classes of Káthiáváḍa converts to Islám. The Khojáhs explain the name as meaning Meher Ali the friend of Ali; the Memans also explain Mer as Meher or friend. But as among Memans Mer is a common name for women as well as for men the word can hardly mean friend. The phrase Merbaí or Lady Mer applied to Meman mothers seems to have its origin in the Rájput practice of calling the wife by the name of her caste or tribe as Káthiáníbaí, Meraníbaí. In the case both of the Khojáhs and the Memans the name Mer seems to be the old tribal name continued because it yielded itself to the uses of Islám. Mehr, Mihr, and Mahar are also used as titles of respect. The Khánt Kolis of Girnár, apparently a mixture of the Maitrakas of the text and of a local hill tribe, still (Káthiáwár Gazetteer, 142) honour their leaders with the name Mer explaining the title by the Gujaráti mer the main bead in a rosary. Similarly in Málwa a Gurjjara title is Mihr (Rájputána Gazetteer, I. 80) and in the Panjáb Máhar (Gazetteer of Panjáb, Gujrát, 50–51). And in Kacch the headman among the Bharwáds, who according to some accounts are Gurjjarás, is called Mir (Cutch Gazetteer, 81). Similarly among the Rabáris of Kacch the name of the holy she-camel is Máta Meri. (Ditto, 80.) All these terms of respect are probably connected with Mihira, Sun. ↑