MEERUT, a city, district and division of British India, in the United Provinces. The city (pop. [1931], 136,709), lies south of the cantonments, and although dating back to the days of the Buddhist emperor Asoka (c. 250 B.C.) Meerut owes its modern importance to its selection by the British government as the site of a great military station. In 1805 it is mentioned as "a ruined, depopulated town." The cantonment was established in 1806, and the population rose to 29,014 in 1847, and 82,035 in It has accommodation for horse and field artillery, British and native cavalry and infantry, and boasts of the finest "Mall" in India. It was here that the first outbreak of the Mutiny of 1857 took place. (See INDIAN MUTINY.) The DISTRICT OF MEERUT forms part of the upper Doab, or tract between the Ganges and the Jumna, extending from river to river. Area, 2,293 sq.m. Though well wooded in places and abundantly supplied with mango groves, it has but few patches of jungle or waste land, being almost one continuous expanse of careful and prosperous tillage. Its fertility is largely due to the system of irrigation canals. The Eastern Jumna canal runs through the whole length of the district, and supplies the rich tract between the Jumna and the Hindan. The main branch of the Ganges canal passes across the centre of the plateau in a sweeping curve and waters the midland tract. The Anupshahr branch supplies irrigation to the Ganges slope, and the Agra canal passes through the southern corner of Loni pargana from the Hindan to the Jumna. The Burh Ganga, or ancient bed of the Ganges, lies at some distance from the modern stream; and on its bank stood the abandoned city of Hastinapur, the legendary capital of the Pandavas at the period of the Mahabharata.
The comparatively high latitude and elevated position of Meerut make it one of the healthiest districts in the plains of India. The
average temperature varies from 57° F in January to 87° in June. The rainfall is small, less than 3o in. annually. The popula tion in 1921 was 1,499,074. The principal crops are wheat, pulse, millet, sugar-cane, cotton and indigo, but this last crop has de clined of late years almost to extinction.
The authentic history of the district begins with the Muslim invasions. The town was taken by Kutb-ud-din in 1191, and all the Hindu temples turned into mosques. In 1398 Timar captured the fort of Loni after a desperate resistance, and put all his Hindu prisoners to death. He then proceeded to Delhi, and after his memorable sack of that city returned to Meerut, captured the town, and put the male inhabitants to the sword. After the death of Aurangzeb the country was exposed to alternate Sikh and Mahratta invasions. From 1707 till 1775 it was the scene of per petual strife, and was only rescued from anarchy by the exertions of the military adventurer Walter Reinhardt, afterwards the husband of the celebrated Begum Samru, who established himself at Sardhana in the north, and ruled a large estate. The southern tract, however, remained in its anarchic condition under Mahratta exactions until the fall of Delhi in 1803, when the whole of the country between the Jumna and the Ganges was ceded by Sindhia to the British. It was formed into a separate district in 1818.
The DIVISION OF MEERUT comprises the northern portion of the Doab. It consists of the five districts of Debra Dun, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Bulandshahr. Area, 9,180 sq.m.; pop. (1931), 4,907,632.