The Onam Legend and a Mythical Incongruence

Onam is once more upon us. The season when people take their traditional ‘mund’ (a swathe of white cloth wrapped around the waist much like the North Indian Dhoti) down from the shelves and dust them off to parade their traditional fervor to all. The season when people struggle to sit cross legged on the floor and try to appear comfortable as they slip morsels of the sumptuous treat half into their mouth and half onto themselves. The season of all this and so much more. But these days like almost every other feast/festival known to man, it too has become essentially commercialized. The feast has come to be associated with external gimmicks and its true spirit is perhaps lost in all the glitz and dazzle. This view; though it has been doing the rounds for some time in some of the discussions on the subject; and particularly in my memory, in mine and I guess other Malayalam classrooms; came home all the more strongly to me when I celebrated this Onam with my family to realize that many of my youngest cousins and even my niece didn’t know the legend behind Onam. Now this legend was something almost all of us knew when we were children and I guess almost all my readers (that’s what 2 or 3 of my friends?) would know it. But still here goes for the sake of posterity or that random soul who may due to some quirk of fate or chance end up at this blog.

Kerala it is believed was once ruled by the benevolent Asura Mahabali. Now benevolent and Asura are two words that mix as well as oil and water I must say, because an Asura by definition is one who does not possess any good in him. However Mahabali turned out to be of a different cut and his reign was apparently characterized by happiness and prosperity all round. A very popular folk song from Kerala when translated concludes that it was an age when there was no lie in all the land and all humans were equal. Now good though Mahabali may have been Asura as he was, trouble was bound to pop up and it did in the form of his son Banasura and the Asura guru Sukracharya who decided that an Ashwamedha yajna (rite) would be done in Mahabali’s name. Now this yajna when completed would make Mahabali the unquestioned king of the three known worlds (ie the over world (heaven), earth and the underworld (land of the dead)). Being an Asura it was decided by the Devas that it would be dangerous to bequeath such power on Mahabali. As is their vaunt the Devas beseeched lord Vishnu the preserver to protect them and vanquish Mahabali. Heeding their request Vishnu took the form of a dwarf Brahmin as his fifth avatar and appeared at the venue of the yajna seeking alms from the king. Mahabali was an astute devotee of the lord Vishnu and had taken the vow of charity. Thus he asked Vamana to request for anything he wanted in spite of his guru Sukracharya’s (who had seen through the ploy) advice. Vamana meekly requested for land as would be covered by three of his steps. Then assuming his Universal form Vamana covered the entire earth and the heavens with two of his steps. He then requests the king for place to take the third step. Mahabali humbly offered his head to the Lord. Impressed by his devotion Vamana decides to grant him a boon. Mahabali is said to have requested to be allowed to visit his subjects once every year. Having granted the boon Vamana places his feet on Bali’s head and pushes him down to Patala. It is this event that is commemorated through Onam and it is believed that every Onam the great Bali visits his subjects to ensure their welfare.

Now coming to the second part of the topic there is an interesting incongruence associated with the Mahabali legend and another legend regarding the creation of Kerala. It is believed that Kerala was created by Parasurama by reclaiming land from the sea god Varuna. However it is interesting to note that Parasurama was the sixth avatar of Vishnu thereby coming chronologically after Vamana. Then how could Bali have ruled Kerala which apparently had not been created yet. There are people who explain this off on the basis of different interpretations of the Sanskrit text. It is claimed that only a part of the land was reclaimed by Parashurama and by others that it was the advancement of Lord Varuna to encroach the land that was blocked by Lord Parasuram. But all do not adhere to this point of view leaving us thus with a bone of contention regarding the two avatar legends most commonly associated with the beautiful state of Kerala.