#HappyOnam to all Malayalis around the world

Another #Onam is here, and like every year, so is a fresh round of heated debate about what the festival represents. For the benefit of the larger audience, let's unpack the mythology of this harvest festival of Kerala.

Thread.

Unlike most other festivals in India, Onam is not about the victory of "good over evil". It is a celebration of an Asura King by the name of Mahabali, or Maveli as Keralites endearingly call him, who was banished to Patala by Lord Vishnu, coming back home to visit his people.

The story goes like this: Maveli was an ideal ruler whose time was marked with prosperity, justice & fraternity among the masses. The Devas who were jealous of Maveli's popularity complained to Lord Vishnu, who took the form of a Brahmin dwarf named Vamana to defeat King Maveli.

Vamana requests Maveli for three feet of land. The generous king asks him to go ahead and take it. It is then that Vamana shows his enlarged image and covers the entire earth with one step, and the skies with the other. Then he asks Maveli where he can place the third step!

King Maveli, being the truthful man he was, suggested that Vamana place the third step on his own head, thus sacrificing himself to keep his word, even though he realised that he was being tricked into a defeat. Thus Lord Vishnu sends Maveli to the netherworld, or Patala.

While accepting his defeat, King Maveli asked for a final wish to Vamana, that he be allowed to visit his people every year. Onam is the celebration of this annual homecoming of Maveli, and Malayalis welcome their King with open arms, sumptuous feasts and flower carpets.

Now, while this being the story behind this festival, imagine the ridiculousness of presenting it as a celebration of Vamana's birth! It is nothing short of insulting the festival of Onam, the ideas of justice and equality that it champions.

#MaveliNotVamana

There is a very popular Onam song (Onappattu) among Malayalis, believed to written by one of the greatest revolutionaries of all time, Sahodaran Ayyappan, which accurately represents the sentiments behind Onam.

Here are the first few verses, with translation:

മാവേലി നാടു വാണീടും കാലം
മാനുഷരെല്ലാരുമൊന്നുപോലെ
ആമോദത്തോടെ വസിക്കും കാലം
ആപത്തങ്ങാര്‍ക്കുമൊട്ടില്ലതാനും

(The times when Maveli ruled this land, all humans were considered equals. In these times, people lived in harmony and happiness, there was no danger to anyone!)

കള്ളവുമില്ല ചതിവുമില്ല
എള്ളോളമില്ല പൊളി വചനം
തീണ്ടലുമില്ല തൊടീലുമില്ല
വേണ്ടാതനങ്ങള്‍ മറ്റൊന്നുമില്ല

(There were no lies, no injustice, and no false promises made! There was no untouchability, no caste inequality, and no discrimination whatsoever!)

The song then goes on to describe about the lack of class inequality & superstitions, importance of gender equality and universal right to education, and then narrates the story of the sinister trick played by the Brahmin God Vamana to defeat the great King Mahabali.

It describes in detail how everything went downhill ever since, how the land became riddled with the varna system, and how the masses were dehumanised and persecuted. It attacks the ones in power who "became fat by drinking the sweat of the common people" and "oppressed women".

Now, why do the Amit Shahs and Arvind Kejriwals wish Vamana Jayanti during this time? Why are savarna caste-Hindus emphasising the "Hinduness" of Onam? Why are champions of alternate truth like True Indology writing threads?

Self-explanatory, I suppose?

#MaveliNotVamana