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The 19th cen Maharashtrian philosopher and anti-caste social reformer Jotirao Phule had written extensively on King Mahabali’s reign. #Onam
In Gulamgiri, or Slavery, one of his seminal books on caste, Phule identifies Mahabali as a “strong and valiant King” who was “a friend of the downtrodden” and Vamana as “mean, cunning, treacherous and ungrateful.”
Phule referred to the popular Marathi saying, “ida pida javo, Balica rajya yevo”—let sorrows and troubles go and the kingdom of Bali come. Bali thus became for him the symbol of human achievement.
It was Bali Raja who provided the main symbol for Phule. Bali, remembered by the masses as an ideal king, who could make “troubles and sorrows go,” was for Brahminic theory a “demon,” upholder of adharma simply by the fact that he dared to violate his own dharma to be a good king
Even the puranic stories depicted Bali as a good king; it was simply that an asura was not supposed to be dharmic, and in being so, his kingdom rendered Indra and heaven unnecessary.
The fact is even today Bali is remembered in Maharashtra; the symbol of Bali Raja has been used by massive farmers’ organisations such as the Shetkari Sanghatana, anti-drought movements and others.
