Talk:Kerala/Encyclopædia Britannica's blunders
Encyclopædia Britannica's articles related to Kerala, a southern state of India, are either full of blunders or extremely obsolete. Encyclopædia Britannica (hereafter EB) has been circulating these articles both in print and electronic editions for many years. The fact that EB included these articles decades back, shows the importance of these articles. However, EB has callously ignored to either update them or rectify the mistakes contained in them. A screaming blunder like Zamorin being a Muslim prince has been there in the article on Cabral for many decades. This article would list some of the worst examples of factual errors in articles related to Kerala.
See this part of the article on Nambudiri quoted from Britannica's online edition.
"Nambudiri
Rigidly orthodox, its members regard themselves as the representatives of the ancient Vedic religion and of the traditional Hindu code. They place great emphasis on their priestly status and do not normally engage in business. The chief landowners of Kerala, they derive their wealth from their landholdings."
None of these statements hold water today. Nambudiris have been divested of their rights on land for almost four decades.
The following article on Nayar states that this caste supplied the royalty of Kerala. How many Nayar kings were there in Kerala? It is pure blunder.
"Nayar
Before the British conquest in 1792, the Nayar caste supplied Kerala's royalty and nobility, militia, and land managers. During British rule, Nayars became prominent in politics, medicine, education, and law. Unlike most Hindus, Nayars traditionally were matrilineal, and fathers had no rights or obligations with regard to their children. Plural marriage, in which both men and women could receive multiple “visiting” spouses, was practiced until the 19th century. Laws passed in the 1930s enforced monogamy and gave children full rights of inheritance from the father."
"Travancore
Former princely state, southwestern India.Now part of Kerala state, it was part of the kingdom of Kerala in the early centuries AD. In the 11th century it fell under the Cola empire; the Hindu kings of the Vijayanagar empire held it briefly in the 16th century, after which it came under Muslim rule. In the mid-18th century it became the independent state of Travancore; then it was under British protection from 1795. After Indian independence, it merged with Cochin to form the state of Travancore-Cochin; boundaries were redrawn, and it was renamed Kerala in 1956."
In the above article it is stated that Travancore came under Muslim rule after its occupation by Vijayanagara empire. This is untruth. Travancore never was under Muslim rule."
To be continued.
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