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