ONAM -- THE OLDEST, 8000 YEAR OLD, FESTIVAL OF KERALA
"Above, you find two pictures of the flowercarpet we made in our home to welcome King Mahabali on Onam day today 9th Sept 2011"
Today in Kerala we Celebrate Onam. It is one of the oldest festivals of India. The cultural heritage of Kerala comes into full bloom at this time.
King Mahabali ruled Kerala in 6000 BC. He was a very just, generous and righteous ruler. There was no crime or greed or jealousy. There was goodness and prosperity everywhere, and people did not even tell a lie.
The people were so happy in his Kingdom that they stopped worshipping the gods. One day King Mahabali decided to do the Ashwamedha yagna. Usually by doing this a king seeks to enlarge his kingdom. Those days all gods belonged to one sect called Devas, while King Mahabali ( or Maveli ) belonged to the Asura sect.
This made the King of Gods, Indra very jealous and nervous. He prevailed on Aditi, his mother to convince Vishnu to correct this imbalance. Vishnu decided to intervene and took the avatar of Vamana --a blue faced Brahmin midget ( dwarf ).
After this avatar Vishnu, came later as Parashurama, Rama, Krishna ( 4000 BC ) and Ayyappa.
On Dec 21st 2012 Vishnu's last and 10th avatar will be Kalki, on a white horse.
The Brahmin dwarf asked King Mahabali for alms-- a small grant of land. The King told him that he can take as much land area as he wished, within his kingdom. But the midget wanted only three strides ( paces ) of land.
Immediately the kings advisor Sage Shukracharya who was a seer, advised his king NOT to agree to this request, as he suspected something amiss and was sure of foul play.
Mahabali being a very generous king, could NOT imagine going back on his word, during a divine sacrifice.
So he agreed to grant the boon of three paces of land. Vamana immediately assumed the gigantic form of Vishnu ( the Preserver lord ) and in the first two steps covered the whole of earth and cosmos.
Then he asked the king where he should keep his third step. The king bowed down on his knees and told him to place the third step on his head.
Before that he asked that he should be able to visit and bless his subjects once every year.
Vishnu granted this boon and placed his foot on Mahabali's head and instead of driving him underground to the netherworld, he sent him to heaven -- pleased with his righteousness.
THIS IS THE REASON WHY ALL MALAYALIS CELEBRATE ONAM -- THE DAY THE KING WILL COME EVERY YEAR. A CARPET OF FRESH FLOWERS IS LAID AT THE ENTRANCE OF EVERY HOUSE. THIS HARVEST SEASON FESTIVAL IS SECULAR AND IT SYMBOLISES THE ADVAITHA PRINCIPLE.
DIWALI OR DEEPAWALI MARKS THE VICTORY OF GODS, OR DEFEAT OF KING MAHABALI.
DIWALI IS CELEBRATED BY THE WHOLE OF INDIA-- EXCEPT KERALA.
On Onam day everybody has a holiday and he feasts ( traditional vegetarian cuisine ) on a banana leaf, like in the good old days. All wear new clothes. The ancient dessert of sweet payasam is enjoyed. The festivities go on for a full 10 days and it culminates with Thiruvonam.
Since Mahabali, this fabled land of Kerala always had the most advanced society of India. The people are highly aware and the culture is very deep rooted. When the whole of India burns due to intolerance, Kerala is an oasis of peace.
This state has produced very eminent rishis and Maharishis. After the river Saraswati dried up in 4000 BC, there was an exodus down south to Kerala. A lot of the migrants settled down at the river Zuari ( Goa till the Portuguese started their inquisition ). This was NOT an Indian Aryan invasion--they were given refuge by Dravidians.
Maha means great and Bali means sacrifice --both in Malayalam and in Sanskrit. Mahabali's grandfather was Prahalad whose father Hiranyakashyap was slain by Vishnu in his Narasimha avatar ( before Vamana avatar ).
Every Malayali even if he works abroad, Christian or Muslim-- knows this 8000 year old Malayalam song-- if he does NOT, he is only a pseudo Malayali.
Onam is Kerala's most important cultural festival -- to remind the denizens of a once blissful, harmonious and happy era--under the rule of a benevolent king..
maveli nadu vaneedum kalam,
manusharellarum onnupole
amodhathode vasikkum kalam
apathangarkkumottillathanum
kallavum illa chathiyumilla
ellolamilla polivachanam
kallapparayum cherunazhiyum
kallatharangal mattonnumilla
adhikal vyadhikalonnumilla
balamaranangal kelppanilla
"When Maveli our king ruled the land "All the people were equal.
And people were joyful and merry;
They were all free from harm.
There was neither anxiety nor sickness,
Deaths of children were unheard of,
There were no lies,
There was neither theft nor deceit,
And no one was false in speech either.
Measures and weights were right;
No one cheated or wronged his neighbor.
When Maveli, our King, ruled the land,
All the people formed one caste less race
Vishnu came in his next Avatar as warrior sage Lord Parashurama. After Mahabali left Kerala, the land was oppressed by the Kshatriya ruling class.
Parashurama's ( Ram with an axe ) mission was to destroy the oppressing Kshatriyas. He threw his axe northwards along the coast line from Kanyakumari and reclaimed land from the sea, as per lore.
A lot on my childhood memories are attached to the Onam festivities when we as a bunch of happy kids went to pluck flowers, mainly Thumbapoo and Chemabrithipoo. Nowadays children tell their parents to pay money and buy flowers from the market.
The joy was in collecting the flowers, and the competition and adventure attached to it, by climbing trees, crossing streams etc.
In Yoga Vasistha Lord Rama asks his guru Sage Vasistha, who King Mahabali was, and the answer he got was that he was a great king and was protected by Lord Vishnu. Lord Shiva killed Banasura the evil son of King Mahabali.
CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL
..Posted byCapt. Ajit Vadakayilat6:13 AM
5 Comments:
vshesaid...Onam aashamshagal :)September 9, 2011 6:55 AMnvltecsaid...Happy onam Capt Sahab, I hope you are enjoying the 'Onam Sadya'.September 9, 2011 4:56 PMCapt. Ajit Vadakayilsaid...hi, thanks for the onam wishes. ate so much! capt ajit vadakayil..September 9, 2011 6:24 PMDruvsaid...Sorry i missed wishing your "Onam Celebrations", i have been busy building my blogs. I have a question, however: "On Dec 21st 2012 Vishnu's last and 10th avatar will be Kalki, on a white horse." Isn't Kalki supposed to come at the end of Kali yuga? 4,29,000 years from now?September 13, 2011 5:32 AMCapt. Ajit Vadakayilsaid...hi druv, Kalki avatar of Vishnu ( 10th and final avatar ) is NOT about sun going supernova 432000 years after the death of Krishna ( 8th avatar ). It is about denizens of planet earth upgrading their DNA from 2 strand (96% junk ) to 12 strand, full use. On Dec 21st 2010 the ecliptic of the sun will cross the milky way galactic equator, or the midpoint of our galaxy, opening a cleansing cosmic energy channel, to raise the planet to higher vibrations. Science will accept cosmic consciousness and Freemason stooge Darwin who knew nothing of DNA, will be consigned to the dust bin of history. This signifies the end of Kaliyug and the start of Satyayuga. This is symbolized by Lord Kalki, or Lord of the cosmos, riding a white horse Devadatta, sword in hand to kill the evil minds which dominate the present world, divorcing classical science from quantum spirituality. Future races will have clearer minds, and cannot be oppressed by holy inquisitions, spread by disinformation from thieves who dressed up as kings. The planet will go to the spiritual wisdom mode veering away from the current knowledge mode. This process will be kickstarted. capt ajit vadakayil..September 13, 2011 9:17 AM
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