Meerut meri jaan !!!!

Origin of Name of District

The district of Meerut (which forms part of the revenue division of the same name) is named after its headquarters city and is said to be associated with earliest traditions of the Hindus according to which Maya, the father-in-law of Ravana, founded this place which has, therefore, been call Maidant-ka-Khera. According to another version Maya, a distinguished architect, got from king Yudhishther the land on which the city of Meerut now stands and he called this place Mayrashtra, a name which in course of time became shortened to Meerut. Tradition are so has it that the district formed part of the dominions of Mahipal, king of Indraprashta and the word Meerut is associated with his name.

Location, Boundaries, Area

Meerut district is the part of upper Gagna-Yamuna doaab, which lies 28 degree 47' and 29 degree 18' in north direction and 77 degree 7' and 78 degree 7' in east direction. In shape it is roughly a rectangular. its length from east to west varying between 92 km and 51 km from north to south direction. On the north it is bounded by district of Muzaffarnagar, on the south by that of Bulandshahar district and on the south Ghaziabad, and district Baghpat is in the west direction. Ganga river makes its boundary in east direction a separates it from the districts of Moradabad and Bijnore . Hindon river makes its Boundary in west Direction in separates it with the Baghpat district.

History of District as Administrative Unit

According to tradition, the Pandavs exercise governmental authority in the upper doab but very little is known about the early history of the district as an administrative unit until the region of Akbar. In his days the present parganas roughly corresponded to the sixteen mahals, which formed a part of two sirkars (Delhi and Saharanpur) in the subah of Delhi. Of these mahals Sardhana was included in the sirkar of Saharanpur and together with the bulk of the present district of Muzaffarnagar, formed a dastur; those of Jalalabad, Barnawa, Hapur, Sarava, Garhmukteshwar, Meerut and Hastinapur ( comprising of Meerut dastur), those of Loni, Dasna, Baghpat, Jalalpur Baraut, Kotna, Chhaprauli and Tanda Phugana (belong to dastur Delhi) and Puth (forming a part of the Baran dastur) all fell within the limits of the sirkar Delhi. The north western portion of the district (comprising of the present tehsil of Baghpat) constituted the mahals of Baghpat, Jalalpur Baraut, Gotna and Tanda Phugana, the tehsil of Ghaziabad constitued the mahals of Dasna, Jalalabad and Loni, the south-eastern portion of the districts constituting the tehsil of Hapur, contained the Mahals of Hapur, Sarava, Garh Mukteshwar and Puth, the tahsil of Mawana was roughly identitical with the mahal of Hastinapur and the tahsil of Meerut with that of a large mahal of the same name, and the tehsil of the Sardhana comprised of the three mahals of Sardhana, Barnawa and Sarawa. Under the marathas, the districts was included in the Saharanpur or Baoni division, which consisted of fifty two parganas and this arrangements continued till 1803 when, by a treaty, the Sindhia ceded to the British the whole of his possessions between the Ganga and Yamuna. The conquered terriotory was partition and attached to the districts of Etawah, Aligarh and Moradabad , The last-named including Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar and the parganas in the neighbourhood of Hapur and Meerut. In 1804 the upper doab was seperated by the Moradabad district and was constituted into a new district (under the name of Saharanpur) flanked by the Ganga on the east of the Yamuna on the west end bounded by some hills ( called the Srinagar hills) on the north and the district of Aligarh on the south. Between 1804 and 1806 the parganas of Baghpat, Sarnawa, Loni, Chhaprauli, Dasana, Jalalabad and Dadri were placed in the charge of the residents at Delhi but later were attached to the southern division of Saharanpur, with a collector resident at Meerut, the revenue administration of the northern division being under the collector stationed at Saharanpur. The district of Meerut came into being in 1818 and included the southern division of the Saharanpur district and the Aligarh paragans of Dankaur Kasna Adha, Tilbegampur, Sikandarabad, Baran, Malagarh, Agauta and Ahar-Malakpur. This position remained unaltered till 1824, when the Aligarh Parganas with Thana Farida and Dadri, were transferred to the new district of Bulandshahar and the paragans of Khatauli, Soron, Lalukheri, Jansath, Shamli, Baghpat and Jauli to the new district of Muzaffarnagar. The tehsils of the district in 1823 were Meerut, Pariksjitgarh, Khatauli, Kandhla, Dasna, Hapur and Sikandarabad. By this time district had assumed something of its present shape and size but its boundaries, area and internal adjustments kept on under going several changes till 1859, thie first change taking place in 1835 (after the lapse of the jagir of Bala Bai of Gwalior) when the district was reconstituted with the tahsils of Meerut, Hastinapur, Kandhla, Baghpat, Dasna, Hapur, and Puth-Siyana; the second with the lapse of the estates of Begum Samru in 1836 when the parganas of Sardhana, Barnawa and Kotana were included in the district, each forming a seperate tahsil till 1840; the third in 1842, when the paragans of Shikarpur, Sambhlera, Bhuma, Kandhla and Budhana were transferred to Muzaffarnagar, the tahsils constituting the district then being Meerut, Sardhana, Baraut, Baghpat, Hapur and Dasna; the fourth in 1853 when 110 villages of Loni and 14 of Dasna were transferred to Delhi, 15 being given to Muzaffarnagar and 7 being received in exchange. In 1859 pargana Loni was restored to Meerut and its consisted of 130 villages, of which 104 were those which had been transferred to Delhi and 26 were new villages which belonged to Delhi. In May of that year the disrict was reorganised so far as to constitute six tahsils, those of Meerut with 323 estates; Sardhana with 154; Baghpat withh 277; Muradnagar with 266; Hapur with 329; and Mawana with 289. In 1859 the headquarters of Muradnagar tahsil was transferred to Ghaziabad, the same arrangement continuing till now. All the villages within five miles of the railway bridge on the Yamuna were transferred from this district to the Delhi province on April 1, 1915, the area thus lost being 29,177 acres or approximately 46 square mile

In the same time the headquarter of Muradnagar tehsil change to Ghaziabad district. In 1976 Ghaziabad and Hapur Tehsil was separated from Meerut district. and new district Ghaziabad was established. In 1998 Baghpat district was established. At present there are three tehsils in Meerut district, they are Meerut, Mawana and Sardhana.