Four Misinformations In Edgar Thurston's Book

Castes and Tribes of Southern India, published in the year 1901, was written by Edgar Thurston and Shri. K. Rangachari. Edgar Thurston was Superintendent in Madras Governement Museum; Correspondant Etranger, Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris; Socio Corrispondante, Societa Romana de Anthropologia. Shri. K. Rangachari was his assistant. Volume 5 of this book contains a description about the Nair community of Kerala. I am going to share four mistakes I found in this description. Click on each image to enlarge it. 

1) Edgar Thurston has mentioned in his book that Capt. Alexander Hamilton has written in his travel diary that Nair women had ten husbands. Here is the screenshot of the paragraph of Edgar Thurston's book, 

To know what Edgar Thurston has said is true or not, I decided to download and read Capt. Alexander Hamilton's travel diary. The travel diary's title is "A New Account of East-Indes (1688-1723)". This travel diary is in two volumes. I found that in pages 308 and 309 of Volume 1, the same sentences of Edgar Thurston's book are given. But these details are NOT about Nair women. This is about an incident that happened in Japan or Korea. Japan is mentioned as Japon and Korea is mentioned as Corea in Capt. Hamilton's book. The first mention about Nairs in this travel diary is in page number 310. Nairs are mentioned as Nayers. I have underlined the word Nayers with violet colour in the screenshot of page number 310. Here are the screenshots of pages 308, 309, and 310 of the first volume of Capt. Hamilton's book,

                                

Read all the three screenshots carefully. If you compare the sentences of the pages 308 and 309, you will find that Edgar Thurston has copied the sentences of the incident that happened in Japan or Korea as it is. But Edgar Thurston has falsified it and has shown it as information about Nair women. Also, I personally don't believe what Capt. Hamilton has written about that Japanese or Korean woman is true because I have never heard that Japanese and Korean women used to practice polyandry. 

2) Edgar Thurston has written in his book that Tipu Sultan had once issued a proclamation that Nair women should stop associating themselves with ten men. Here is the screenshot of what Edgar Thurston has written, 

                                 

When I searched about it I got the translation of the order given by Tipu Sultan from the book Mahrattas, Sikhs and Southern Sultans of India by Dr. Shimran Khan. Tipu Sultan has said "people of Malabar" and not "Nair women" in his proclamation. Its screenshot is given above. So, Edgar Thurston falsified one more information and showed it as information related to the Nair community. 

3) Edgar Thurston has written in his book that Onam continues for eight days. Here is the screenshot of it,

This information is also incorrect. Because, the festival of Onam lasts for ten days. There is a saying Aththam Paththu Onam (अत्तम् पत्त ओणम) in Malayalam which means the tenth day from the star Aththam (Hasta) is Onam (Shravana). The ten star names are Aththam (Hasta), Chiththira (Chitra), Chothi (Swāti), Vishākham (Vishākha), Aneezham (Anurādha), Thrikketta (Jyeshtha), Moolam (Moola), Poorādam (Poorvāshāda), Uthrādam (Uttarāshāda), and Thiruvonam/Onam (Shrāvana). 
Edgar Thurston has also written that according to some Onam is the annual celebration of Malabar New Year which first began with Shri. Cheraman Perumal's first departure to Mecca. I do not know if some Keralites have this belief or not but I have never heard that this is also one of the myths related to Onam. 

4) Edgar Thurston has written in his book that Thiruvathira is celebrated as the deathday of Lord Kamadeva. Here is the screenshot of it, 

This information is also incorrect. Because, Thiruvathira is celebrated as the birthday of Lord Shiva. One of the songs sung in the Thiruvathira time starts with the sentence Bhagvanu Thirunaal allo, Bhagavathikku Thirunombu allo (भगवानु तिरुनाळ् अल्लो, भगवतिक्कु तिरुनोंबु अल्लो). Which means, "It is the holy day for Lord (Lord Shiva), it is the sacred fasting day for Goddess (Goddess Parvati)." 

So, from this, I learned that one should do their own research about historical facts before believe them and declaring them true. 

 

Nambiar, A Non-Nair Caste, And Its Sub-Castes

Nambiar((नम्बियार) is a caste found in Kerala. It is often mistaken as a sub-caste of Nair caste. Because in the British era Nambiar and many other independent castes were recorded as sub-castes of the Nair caste in the Census Reports. But actually Nambiar is an independent community. The name of their community organisation is Nambiar Mahasabha. All the members of this caste are General Category Hindus. The surnames of this caste are Nambiar, Menon, Poduval, and Pillai. 

In Tamil, Nambiar means 'trusted one'. Shri. Muriyadathu Nambiar was one of the chieftains in the kingdom of Kochi. The families of Erambala, Varikkara and Vengayil were initially Nambiars but were additionally dignified with the title Nayanār by an assembly of Chirakkal Raja and Brahmins. The Vengayil Nayanar family owned 200,000 acres (810 km2) including forest lands- Kallyat ;-They were one of the largest landlords of Malabar and owned 36,779 acres (148.84 km2) of land. The senior Nambiar of this family was styled Kalliat Eshamanan-Nambiar and Nayanār. 

The sub-castes of Nambiar caste are as follows,

1) Nambiar-Pillai - They are General Category Hindu Pillais and are mostly found in Kochi and Travancore regions of Kerala. The other General Category Pillais are Mārār-Pillais and Illathu Nair-Pillais. Though all three of them are General Category, they are not related to each other. 

2) Nambiar-Menon - They are General Category Menons. In the British Era, there were different types of General Category Menons like Paricha Menon, Pattola Menon etc. They were divided into these types according to their professions. 

3) Payyanur Poduval - This sub-caste of Nambiar is found in Northern Malabar. Sometimes they are mistaken as Ambalavasi Poduvals. But they are not related to Ambalavasi Poduvals in any way. 

Members of General Category Nambiar caste prefer to marry from their caste only. They don't prefer to marry from other General Category castes and OBC/SC/ST castes. The male members of Hindu Royal families of Malabar and Kochi marry only from General Category Nambiar and Nambiar-Menon families.