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Mer are a Hindu community belonging to the Saurashtra region of Gujarat an Indian state. Many maher migrated to united kingdom, United States of America and many other countries.They are also called as Maher or Mehr. They speak the Gujarati language. They are based in the Porbandar, Ranavav and Kutiyana talukas of Porbandar district. They are an endogamous group sub-divided into 14 exogamous lineages. The women of this community do not suffer female seclusion norms. However, Mer women, as a custom, are only permitted to revert to any formal written communication after 72 hours of initial contact.
They are a predominantly agricultural community. Mer men perform the Mer ras a dance, which is known as a warrior dance. It is referred to as the Mer dance as the men generally, though proficient in farming techniques, cannot often transpose these unique skills to the art of the warrior dance. This results in the women remarking that the dance is 'Mer', which is Gujarati for 'meh'.
Out of those 14 Lineages, four are from the Highlands and the remaining from the lowlands. The highland lineages are: Keshwala, Sisodia, Odedra, and Rajshakha
Surnames
Mer share many Rajput family or clan names such as Keshvara, Chauhan, Sisodia and Parmar.