Odysseys of George

Happy Onam to all fellow Malayalees. I received many greetings today and thus decided to wish all in this manner. I also received a pookolam from a fellow blogger, Vijay.

So what is Onam?

Briefly, Onam is an annual harvest festival, celebrated mainly in the south Indian state of Kerala. It is a popular festival among Malayalees, and falls during the month of Chingam (August-September as per the Gregorian calendar), the first month of the Malayalam calendar and lasts for ten days. During this 10 days, the rich culture of the Malayalees are portrayed in various ways such as the intricately decorated Pookalam, ambrosial Onasadya, breathtaking Snake Boat Race and exotic Kaikottikali dance.

Onam has two significance:

1. It is the communal memory and celebration of past history as ennunciated in the Mahabali Legend. A story of how paradise was lost.(Story below)

2.It is the celebration of the harvest tied with the memory of the golden age of prosperity. It is believed that during those days the whole of Chingam was celebrated as Onam season.After the rain drenched month of Karkidakam with its privations, Chingam is a welcome month for people in the state of Kerala. The festival is the harbinger of spring — signalling the start of the harvest season.

So how does the story goes?

Onam celebrates the visit of King Mahabali, a king of ancient Dravida to the state of Kerala every year. He is believed to have ruled in South India before the Ramayana event.

The story goes that the beautiful state of Kerala was the capital of the Asura (demon) king, Mahabali. However, he was very religious and was greatly respected in his kingdom and was considered to be wise, judicious and extremely generous. It is said that Kerala witnessed its golden era in the reign of King Mahabali. Everybody was happy in the kingdom, there was no discrimination on the basis of caste or class. Rich and poor were equally treated. There was neither crime, nor corruption. People did not even lock their doors, as there were no thieves in that kingdom. There was no poverty, sorrow or disease in the reign of King Mahabali and everybody was happy and content.

In the days of Ridveda, there were two major groups of Aryans; The Indo-Aryans who believed that Aditi was the true mother of the gods and Irano-Aryans (Dasyu) who believed Diti, the twin sister was. This caused a split between the Indians and the Aryans with many Daityas migrating towards Iran, but some remained in India. Mahabali is the descendent of this line.

As a Daitya, a descendent of Diti who was a cannibal, he was viewed by the Devas as unsafe. Looking at the growing popularity and fame of King Mahabali the Devas became extremely concerned that the Daitya way (cannibalism) might conquer the people. They felt threatened about their own supremacy and began to think of a strategy to get rid of the dilemma.

Disguised as Vamana, Lord Vishnu told Mahabali he was a poor Brahmin and asked for a piece of land. The generous King said he could have as much land as he wanted. The Brahmin said that he just wanted as much land as could be covered by three of his steps. The King was surprised to hear this humble request, and insisted that the boy ask for more. But the Brahmin again said that he only wanted as much land as he could cover in three steps. So Mahabali agreed.

As King Mahabali agreed to grant the land, Vamana began to expand and eventually increased himself to a size of cosmic proportions. With his first step the Brahmin boy covered the whole of earth, and with a second step he covered the whole of the skies. He then asked King Mahabali, where is the space for him to place his third step.

The King realised that he was no ordinary Brahmin. Mahabali with folded hands bowed before Vamana and asked him to place his last step on his head so that he could keep his promise. The Brahmin placed his foot on Mahabali’s head, and was pleased and offered him patala, the nether world.

As he was pushed down into hell, King Bali made a last request. He requested that he be allowed to visit Kerala once in a year to ensure that his people were still happy, well-fed, and content. Lord Vishnu was pleased to grant Mahabali his wish.

Definition:
Pookolam - flower rangoli

Onasadya - grand feast presented on banana leaf

Snake Boat race

Kaikottikali - women sing songs praising the legendary King Mahabali and dance around the pookalam. It is a captivating sight to watch troupe of female dancers performing in their traditional Kerala attire consisting of gold bordered off-white mundu-neriyathu and decked with a fragrant gajra in their hair.

References: Wikipedia mainly! It was a learning process for me too.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 7:21 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.