Mēnōn

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This article is an excerpt from Castes and Tribes of Southern India By Edgar Thurston, C.I.E., Superintendent, Madras Government Museum; Correspondant Étranger, Société d’Anthropologie de Paris; Socio Corrispondante, Societa,Romana di Anthropologia. Assisted by K. Rangachari, M.A., of the Madras Government Museum. Government Press, Madras 1909.

Mēnōn

By Wigram,41 Mēnōn is defined as “a title originally conferred by the Zamorin on his agents and writers. It is now used by all classes of Nāyars. In Malabar, the village karnam (accountant) is called Mēnōn.” In the Travancore Census Report, 1901, Mēnōn is said to be “a contraction of Mēnavan (a superior person). The title was conferred upon several families by the Rājā of Cochin, and corresponds to [62]Pillai down south. As soon as a person was made a Mēnōn, he was presented with an ōla (palmyra leaf for writing on) and an iron style, as symbolical of the office he was expected to fill, i.e., of an accountant. Even now, in British Malabar, each amsham or revenue village has a writer or accountant, who is called Mēnōn.” Mr. F. Fawcett writes42 that “to those of the sub-clan attached to the Zamorin who were sufficiently capable to earn it, he gave the titular honour Mēnōn, to be used as an affix to the name.

The title Mēnōn is in general hereditary, but, be it remarked, many who now use it are not entitled to do so. Properly speaking, only those whose investiture by the Zamorin or some other recognized chief is undisputed, and their descendants (in the female line) may use it. A man known to me was invested with the title Mēnōn in 1895 by the Karimpuzha chief, who, in the presence of a large assembly, said thrice ‘From this day forward I confer on Krishnan Nāyar the title of Krishna Mēnōn.’ Nowadays be it said, the title Mēnōn is used by Nāyars of clans other than the Akattu Charna.” Indian undergraduates at the English Universities, with names such as Krishna Mēnōn, Rāman Mēnōn, Rāmunni Mēnōn, are known as Mr. Mēnōn. In the same way, Marātha students are called by their titular name Mr. Rao.