In shimmering golden bordered white sarees, with flowers as colourful in their hair as on the motifs made, called pookalam, the traditionally clad women of Kerala celebrate the festival of life and rebirth as Onam. Onam is mainly a three day festival, reveled even more elaborately for 10 full days in some parts. It is also celebrated as a harvest festival by people all over Kerala and even in other parts of India– without any barriers of caste, creed or status.
Onam is the story that transpired between Mahabali (an asura king) and Vamanan (the dwarf avatar of Lord Vishnu.) Mahabali was a pious, generous and a wise ruler of Kerala, much beloved by his subjects. Soon his fame as an able king began to spread far and wide, but when he extended his rule to the heavens and the netherworld, the gods felt challenged and began to fear his growing powers. His ego was also growing as the days went by which caused further concern to the divine ones. So, Lord Vishnu took his fifth incarnation of Vamanan and descended to Earth to put Mahabali’s ego to rest. Vamanan came in the form of a young Brahman mendicant and tricked Mahabali into giving what ever was asked for. Vamanan had just asked for 3 paces of land but Mahabali, blinded by the arrogance of his wealth and power couldn’t see Vishnu’s greater motive behind this. Mahabali granted the first of two paces and Vamanan placed one foot on the land and grew so big that it covered he entire Earth, and then placed the second foot on the heavens and netherworld. Now the whole of the universe being covered, Vamanan asked Mahabali where to place the third step? Mahabali, finally realizing that it is none other than the great Lord Vishnu himself, humbly asked Vamanan to place his foot on his head. And thus the Asura king finally found salvation. Thiruvonam is this spirit of this salvation and reminds us to celebrate our life on Earth.
In recent times though, many stories have cropped up around this legend. One of these being that Onam is in fact the celebration of the demon king coming back to Kerala after being banished from his kingdom by Vamanan owing to his ego. But some of the most scandalous of these are the following:
One is that Mahabali was actually a dalit king and he was unjustly thrown out of the kingdom by the greater gods because of his caste. Another is the one that the RSS committee wants to entirely change the myth as they do not think worshiping Mahabali, an asura, is right by the scriptures. They want to overhaul the whole festival and instead alter it to rejoice the birth of Vamanan.
Myths and legends may spread across the lands and change over time, but one reality we should ever be aware of is that Onam is a festival of rebirth and rejoicing. At its essence, it is about a generous king, who was deemed to live in the netherworld due to his karma, and Vamanan became his guide to enlightenment. Onam is about harvest– a harvest of happiness that the subjects of Kerala reap on the return of their beloved king. Onam is about salvation, that only the almighty can bring you.
So instead of ripping apart our culture, a better way to celebrate this or any other festival would be through only one way– through peace and harmony.
