mehtar

English

Etymology

From Persian مهتر (“prince, chief, elder, great personage”). Regarding the sense of a scavenger, Yule & Burnell (see References) state that the term was "applied to the class in question in irony, or rather in consolation".

Noun

mehtar (plural mehtars)

1. (India, historical) A ruler in certain princely states of the Northwest Frontier region.
2. (India, historical) A sweeper or scavenger of low caste.

References

• Henry Yule, Arthur Burnell (1903) Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases