Onam is probably the only festival in Kerala which is celebrated across religions. Reasons could be different but it is observed by almost everyone in Kerala.

Amit Shah’s tweet on Onam a few years ago

While Dalits celebrate it as a homecoming of Mahabali, a mythical demon king associated with Dalit identity, RSS/BJP celebrates it as the birth of Vamana, Brahmin, whom they consider as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. No surprises here.

Further, RSS mouthpiece, Kesari suggests that Onam be celebrated as Vamana Jayanti and the pot-bellied, handlebar king (Bali) be sent back to the netherworld, where all demons should belong.

In an attempt to distort and erase any reference to Dalit ruler, Brahmins have cooked various stories in which Dalits were portrayed as demons in mythical stories. According to the myths cooked by Brahmins, Mahabali is considered as a demon (Asura) king who ruled Kerala and was known for his giving and charitable nature. However, Dalit consider him to be a just and egalitarian icon.

The story of Onam goes like this – 

Vishnu took the form of Vamana (diminutive) Brahmin and asks for three footlongs of land from King Mahabali. After Mahabali agreed, Vamana assumed a gargantuan form – he covered the earth with one step and the skies in another. For his third step, Vamana asked where shall he put his third step and Mahabali offered his own head. Vamana stepped on him and pushed him down to the netherworld, but granted Mahabali a yearly visit to his kingdom. This annual visit, homecoming, is celebrated in Kerala as Onam.

Later Brahmins wrote various Veda and scriptures in which Bali, an Asura king, was denigrated and Vamana, representing Brahmins, was glorified.

Despite the fact, Bali’s welfare state was beneficial to everyone, including Brahmins, Brahmins hated Bali just because he belonged to an Asura race according to them. Could we say, under King Bali, it was the first welfare state in the world?

According to Jotiba Phule, the Varna system began to be established after the defeat of Bali and Jotiba writes about King Bali and Vamana in his book Gulamgiri (Slavery). [Read – Onam – What Jotiba Phule Said About King Bali and Vamana] Hence, it could be said that Onam also marks the beginning of the caste system and slavery in Kerala.

Further according to Jotiba Phule, Bali was killed in the battlefield but his son Banasura defeated Vamana and Bali’s subjects celebrated the victory. To this day, women in Maharashtra remember Bali’s egalitarian rule and say,

“Ida Peeda Jao, Bali Raj Yeo” (May our troubles and sorrows go, and Bali’s rule return).

“Bali thus became for him [Phule] the symbol of human achievement. The missionary influence was demonstrated by his reference to Christ as the “Bali of the West.” Where most Europeans had seen Krishna as the equivalent and counter to Christ, and were followed by Brahmin theorists like Harishchandra making a reversal to claim priority for Krishna and Vishnu, Phule instead looked at the asura Bali as Christ. Bali figures at the centre of a long and somewhat puzzling Brahminic myth, killed despite his generosity by the deceitful Brahmin boy Waman [or Vamana],” writes Gail Omvedt in her book ‘Seeking Begumpura: The Social Vision of Anticaste Intellectuals’.

“The insistence to continue the celebration of Onam, therefore, is an insistence to celebrate the defeat of the struggles of the untouchables and the lower-castes of our country,” writes James Micheal on Round Table India.

Image credit – Internet