History of Meenas, Meena or Mina(मीणा)

Meenas, Meena or Mina(मीणा) is a caste and community mainly found in Rajasthan, India.
Originally Meenas were a ruling caste, and were ruler of Matsya, i.e., Rajasthan or Matsya Union but their slow downfall began with the assimilation with Scythian and was completed when the British government declared them a "Criminal Tribe". This very action was taken to support their alliance with Rajput kingdom then in Rajasthan, and Meenas were still in war with Rajputs, carrying out guerrilla attacks to retain their lost kingdoms.
History
Vedic Period:
In the ancient times Rajasthan was ruled by a dynasty of Meenas which had the emblem of Fish like the Pandyan kingdom of the south. The Meena kingdom ruled the west of the river Jamuna roughly corresponding to the modern Jaipur and Alwar (ruler) areas. The Meena kingdom (Fish kingdom) was called Matsya Kingdom in Sanskrit was mentioned in the Rig Veda.
In the later days the Bhils and Meenas mixed with the Pardeshis (foreign people) who were Scythian, Hepthalite or other Central Asian clans. The Scythian mixed Meenas and Bhils remain as Rajput subclans, while the Meenas and Bhils who were displaced by the Scythian invaders and Muslims have mixed with the tribal Bhils and form the Bhil (tribal) Meenas.
Meenas of Rajasthan till date strongly follows Vedic culture. Meenas mainly worship, Bhainroon (Shiva), Hanuman and Krishna as well as the Devies. Meenas have better rights for women in many respects compared to many other Hindu casts. Like remarriage of a widows and divorcees is a common practice and well accepted in their society. Such practice are part of Vedic civilization.

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