The Monegar
The Todas have a monegar, or headman, who is responsible for the assessment which the Todas pay to Government for their grazing rights, &c. (see below). [[556]]
The earliest monegar whom the Todas remember is Teitchi or Teiti (52). He was succeeded by his fourth son, Mutevan, who is still alive. The two eldest sons had died before their father, and Persevan, the third son, was said to be weak-minded, and Mutevan was therefore chosen to succeed.
Mutevan is now a very old man, probably about eighty years of age, and his office was taken over some years ago by his eldest son, Ivievan. Though Ivievan is the monegar he is not the chief representative of his family on the naim, this position belonging to Kuriolv, the son of Pareivan and Persevan. Ivievan is helped in collecting the assessment by an assistant monegar, and till lately this place belonged to Parkurs of Kars.
It does not appear that the monegarship is a real Toda office, but that the earliest monegar was appointed by Mr. Sullivan, the first British official of the Nilgiris. The family, however, to which the monegar belongs is called the manikudupel, which may mean the monegar family, but I could not discover definitely whether this title is older than the institution of the monegarship. It is possible that Teitchi was one of the chief men of the naim when the Europeans first came to the hills and that he was therefore appointed as monegar.
It is quite clear that at the present time the monegar, Ivievan, is not the most important man among the Todas, but that the predominant position belongs to his cousin, Kuriolv, the representative of the family on the naim.