An #Onam story:

There was a tangible tension which hung that day among the mountains. Mahadev sat silent, listening to the Devas. Vishnu was smiling.
"It is like going backwards in civilization, O Lord" Indra spoke.

Mahadev could understand the worry, the fear, the tension. He has been in the south, with Sage Agastya, working on the grammar of the southern language, creating a language fit for the literature of the Gods. Through the bottomless dark depths of never ending nights, they sat.

As the sounds of waves of irreverent Tamravarni rose across the silences of the forests, Sage Agastya spoke each syllable, perfected every arch of the alphabet, spoke and aligned each design of diction to create a language they called Tamil, driven from the Tamravani.

This completed the vision laid down by the Sanatana, from Mountains in the north to the seas in the bottom, lies the land of Bharata, and her sons are called Bharatavanshi, a federation working under the divine guidance of Vedas, a world of many kings and one human morality.

Mahadev was everywhere, He heard everything, He knew everything. He knew there was trouble brewing in the land next to Tamravarni. The society there was in regression. As the rest of Bharat moved towards a civilization which has since moved away from animal morality, not there.

Down south, under the rule of the lord Vishnu's great devotee Prahlad, himself the grandson of Brahmin sage Kashyapa, the land had slowly taken to agriculture and cattle-rearing. Art and literature came up, like North, muscle power lost primacy and intellect came to fore.

Women were empowered, contributing to the agriculturist society. Mahadev had sent his own son, Kartikeya there to preside over the new world opening up there down south. He thought about the times Parvati would wake up on stormy cold nights in the Himalayas, remembering him.

He looked at Indra, pained at what seemed to be a lost sacrifice of Sati. Devraj continued.
"The king Mahabali has been softly supporting the spiritual secession from the Sanatana. There are forces, which do not believe that the nature is a great protector...

They say they will protect what they feel like protect. They claim that it is they who decide who is to be protected, against 'Dharmo Rakhati Rakshitah' or Dharma protects who protect Dharma, they claim, Vayam Rakshamah- We Protect. His rule is becoming a rule of mercenaries.

"O Lord Mahadev, this kingdom has to be crushed. He is allowing the Aryavrata to spiral into a darkness of ignorance and violence. It is a society of crime, violence and debauchery. It will end itself soon. There is no Dharma."

Mahadev closed his eyes, contemplating. #Onam

They waited and waited and then Mahadev spoke.
"It is not so simple." He pointed to the Peepal Tree little far. He said,"You can cut the tree, Devraj, too easy. Can you cut to Shadow?"

Devraj could not understand. He thought it to be a simple thing.

Mahadev need not pick up the weapon himself, his son, Karthikeya is the patron God down south, in Mahadev resides the all of Bharata, Parvati as Patron deity of East, Ganpati in West and Mahadev himself watching like the great father over the land of Aryans, the Evolved.

Mahadev and Sages have guided the hunting tribes towards a settled life of Agriculture and cattle-rearing, with time, safety and capability to ponder over the questions of Dharma or morality.
"Mahabali has not conquered the land. The land has conquered it. He has veered far but.

he didn't do this under duress. He is a learned man. He comes from the family of the great Brahmana- Kashyapa. A Brahmana is the one who knows and wants to know more than he knows. Mahabali has moved away. He is a kind ruler. Too kind for those in there wanting to break away.

His power is not of a dictator. Mahabali is not the tree, he is the shadow which has spread far and wide. He negates the knowledge of his Vaishnav father, Sage Virochana. Or perhaps, he is haunted by the half-truth of his father Virochana. You know it well, O Indra." #Onam

Mahadev continued- "A king is the moral compass for those he rules over. You and Virochana had gone to Bramha together and while you stayed for Sixty-four years more than him, he came back mistaking the body for the soul. That is what he propagated- the Asura thought." #Onam

"He is a learned man. You cannot kill his thought. A half-read intelligent man is more dangerous than an illiterate idiot. He knows not and thinks he knows all. But he is still a Brahmana and Vishnu must visit him. We need to bring people back to the fold." #Onam

"They are our own people. We cannot allow them to descend into the darkness of a world that existed centuries back, a world of debauchery, criminal love of luxuries and violence without any trace of morality and ethics. I have an idea. Let Vishnu go there, as a Brahmin..."

"And do what, Mahadev?" Vishnu asked with a smile on his lips for he could see into what Mahadev planned for the future.
"Just set two centers for the education of Vedas. There is no modern education there. They need to see the light of knowledge. Asatoma Sadgamaya." Shiva said

"This is how you reach out to your own" Mahadev said and got up. Vishnu then turned into a Brahmin, a knowledge-seeker, an intellectual and a teacher and appeared in the grand court of King Mahabali. The king asked- "O Brahmin, what is your truth?"

The Brahmin smiles- "There isn't The Truth. Who are we to say my truth is The Truth, or your Truth is The Truth. The day one person says that, claims God has spoken to him and his is The truth, the society decays as we surrender the right to rise."

The benevolent Asura King smiles- "But Brahmin, you know I am not a brainless warrior, I have learned my truth from the great sage Virochana. He said that the only truth is our physical existence. He was taught by Brahma himself for Thirty Two years."
Brahmana smiled.

"Maybe there was more to learn for another 32 years and for another 32 years. Maybe what Sage Virochana told is not even half the truth. If you are so certain, O great king, give me just two pieces of land, in the north of your kingdom and another on the south, to set my school"

"Just two steps inside my kingdom. But no one believes in it here, they look at the Sanatana Satya or the truth you speak about as a conspiracy of the North to conquer the south. You will not even get the students to take the knowledge you are keen to impart. I grant the land."

"Thank you, O great king." Said the Brahmana, "I will try my luck. If I have more students, I will come for the land for the third school."
The Great King laughed mockingly.
Years passed. Then came a great flood. The food was scarce, as animals were washed away.

The whole land went under the great deluge, and there was water every where. There was no small animals to be hunted, killed and eaten. The man turned to children and women. There was no protection from the wild beasts, as villages fell. The schools of the Brahmana were spared.

There were inmates in his campuses, build with huge walls, on high lands, with strong fortifications. Men after months, found a land where no one wanted to kill them, women found a land where they were not weaker sex, not slaves, children found a land where there was happiness.

And then the creed of the Brahama grew and grew until there was no one to believe in Raksh Culture around the palace of great King Bali. His minister rushes to him- "Oh King, our way of life is gone. No one goes out to hunt to kill animals. People are farming....

People in the Brahmin's sanctuary light up the Havans in the evening with what they call the Sandhya and that keeps them safe from wild animals. They farm for food and consider cows revered which gives them milk even under the worst of weathers. They live one with the nature."

And then the Brahmana arrived in the court. The Great King falls at his feet- "Thank you for saving my people, O great Brahmana. Tell me what do you want." The Brahmana said- "All your land is now my school, all your citizens -my inmates. There are still people coming here, Sire.

"I need to place my third step. I need land to place that. I will make another school to teach Sanatana." said the Brahman.
"I have nothing left, O Brahmin. You have all my lands, my people. What do you want now?"

The Brahmana smiled- "You have seen the prosperity your people have with Sanatana. What about your army and your court. They too need to be taught how to be respectful to the soul, be one with the nature."
Mahabali bowed," O great Brahmin, I too come under your tutelage."

And then the Brahmana came into his real form and blessing the King said- "I am very pleased with you, O Mahabali. I will always take care of your land and your people. You will come to my third school, I will teach you, O the son of Virochana, myself...

Your love for your people is great. As a father, you care for them, but out of ignorance you allowed them to go on the path of sin and debauchery. But you did that because you did not know. I grant you one visit every year to them. ...

You will visit your people have food on their plates, roof over their heads, and happiness in their hearts. This will be God's own country.This will be a day of festivity for all the people for it denotes your lands being One with Aryavrata again."- Said Lord Vishnu

Vishnu blessed the King, who surrendered himself to his Guru, as the truth which his grandfather Prahlad embraced, came to him after one generation, and said- This day of festivity will be called #Onam and will be celebrated. May your people be One and happy.