1793.—"To be sold ... an Elegant New Bengal Meana, with Hair Bedding and furniture."—Bombay Courier, Nov. 2.
1795.—"For Sale, an Elegant Fashionable New Meanna from Calcutta."—Ibid. May 16.
MEERASS, s., MEERASSY, adj., MEERASSIDAR, s. 'Inheritance,' 'hereditary,' 'a holder of hereditary property.' Hind. from Arab. mīrās̤, mīrās̤ī, mīrās̤dār; and these from waris̤, 'to inherit.'
1806.—"Every meerassdar in Tanjore has been furnished with a separate [pottah] (q.v.) for the land held by him."—Fifth Report (1812), 774.
1812.—"The term meerassee ... was introduced by the Mahommedans."—Ibid. 136.
1877.—"All miras rights were reclaimable within a forty years' absence."—Meadows Taylor, Story of My Life, ii. 211.
" "I found a great proportion of the occupants of land to be mirasdars,—that is, persons who held their portions of land in hereditary occupancy."—Ibid. 210.
MEHAUL, s. Hind. from Arab. maḥāll, being properly the pl. of Arab. maḥall. The word is used with a considerable variety of application, the explanation of which would involve a greater amount of technical detail than is consistent with the purpose of this work. On this Wilson may be consulted. But the most usual Anglo-Indian application of maḥāll (used as a singular and generally written, incorrectly, maḥāl) is to 'an estate,' in the Revenue sense, i.e. 'a parcel or parcels of land separately assessed for revenue.' The sing. maḥall (also written in the vernaculars maḥal, and maḥāl) is often used for a palace or important edifice, e.g. (see [SHISHMUHULL], [TAJ-MAHAL]).
MEHTAR, s. A sweeper or scavenger. This name is usual in the Bengal Presidency, especially for the domestic servant of this class. The word is Pers. comp. mihtar (Lat. major), 'a great personage,' 'a prince,' and has been applied to the class in question in irony, or rather in consolation, as the domestic tailor is called [caleefa]. But the name has so completely adhered in this application, that all sense of either irony or consolation has perished; mehtar is a sweeper and nought else. His wife is the Matranee. It is not unusual to hear two mehtars hailing each other as Mahārāj! In Persia the menial application of the word seems to be different (see below). The same class of servant is usually called in W. India bhangī (see [BUNGY]), a name which in Upper India is applied to the caste generally and specially to those not in the service of Europeans. [Examples of the word used in the honorific sense will be found below.]
c. 1800.—"Maitre." See under [BUNOW].