ONAM

ONAM.

Last Monday (23.08.2010) the media covered the Keralaite festival of Onam. They tried to explain the significance of Onam as harvest festival. Some of the features in the daily papers referred to the legend of Mahabali making his annual visit to see his subjects were happy. Many visual media showed the Pookolam being prepared on the front lawn of houses. Some visited Kerala homes to find the preparations of Ona Sadhya and also to taste the dishes prepared. One or two papers announced that Ona Sadhya is prepared in few restaurants in Mumbai offering 20 to 40 forms of dishes at a cost between 150 to 600 Rupees per person. They all reminded the long past childhood fascination with Onam. There were Onapatu, Thumbi Thullal, Onakkali, Pulikkali etc. Not everything is in memory. It fades out with aging.

Only a few media pointed out the fact that Onam is confined to people of Kerala alone including all faiths, The Tamil Brahmins in Kerala has absorbed the festival as their own although in the next door Tamil nadu no one celebrates this Onam. Outside Kerala, the legend of Mahabali is not connected to land of Kerala. It is strange to note that Mahabali being subdued by Vamana an avatar of Vishnu; a Puranic legend is widespread all overIndia but not its connection with Kerala.

There is another legend also connected with Kerala that of Parasurama reclaiming land from Varuna the god of ocean. Therefore the land Kerala is famed among Keralaite as Parasurama Kshetram. Both contradict each other. According to Bhagavata and other Puranas; Vishnu incarnates Vamana as 5^th avatar and Parasurama later as 6^th avatar. The two could not be reconciled by scholars and they explained that Mahabali ruled the whole world and not Kerala. But Keralaite has not taken cognizance of the explanations. For them Mahabali is their king of kings. The legend of Parasurama is reclaiming land from ocean is popular in Konkan cost of Maharashtra but not the coast further south till Gokarnam. Kerala is supposed to spread south from Gokarnam to Kanyakumai.

The legend says that:

Maveli (Mahabali) Nadu Vaanidum Kalam,

Manusharellarumonnupole.

It means: During the reins of Mahabali all people were equal.

However in all of India not just Kerala there were any times when all people were treated equal. They wee differentiated as Varnas, castes etc. There was a hearsay connected with the visit of Swami Vivekananda. He is supposed to have called Keralam as a madhouse. It looks true to the present as well.