Mahabali was a kind and prosperous king of Kerala, but the gods grew jealous of his power. Vishnu took the form of a pandit and tricked Mahabali into granting him as much land as he could cover in three steps. Vishnu then expanded hugely and placed one foot on the earth and one on the sky. When he asked where to put the third, Mahabali offered his own head, sending him to rule the underworld. Kerala celebrates Onam festival annually to honor Mahabali and remember the happiness under his rule.
Mahabali was a kind and prosperous king of Kerala, but the gods grew jealous of his power. Vishnu took the form of a pandit and tricked Mahabali into granting him as much land as he could cover in three steps. Vishnu then expanded hugely and placed one foot on the earth and one on the sky. When he asked where to put the third, Mahabali offered his own head, sending him to rule the underworld. Kerala celebrates Onam festival annually to honor Mahabali and remember the happiness under his rule.
Mahabali was a kind and prosperous king of Kerala, but the gods grew jealous of his power. Vishnu took the form of a pandit and tricked Mahabali into granting him as much land as he could cover in three steps. Vishnu then expanded hugely and placed one foot on the earth and one on the sky. When he asked where to put the third, Mahabali offered his own head, sending him to rule the underworld. Kerala celebrates Onam festival annually to honor Mahabali and remember the happiness under his rule.
Mahabali was a kind and prosperous king of Kerala, but the gods grew jealous of his power. Vishnu took the form of a pandit and tricked Mahabali into granting him as much land as he could cover in three steps. Vishnu then expanded hugely and placed one foot on the earth and one on the sky. When he asked where to put the third, Mahabali offered his own head, sending him to rule the underworld. Kerala celebrates Onam festival annually to honor Mahabali and remember the happiness under his rule.
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ONAM
Once upon a time, there was a king called
Mahabali, who ruled Kerala. During his rule, Kerala was rich and prosperous. There was no theft, no riots and overall peace was found in Kerala. Everyone in the kingdom were happy and contended with their lives. Mahabali himself was a humble and kind-hearted king who listened to each and everyone’s needs. Gradually, people grew fond of Mahabali. One thing you should know is that Mahabali was an Asura or Demon king. So, as I was saying, people started to get fond of Mahabali and Asuras in general. This concerned the Devas or the gods, especially Indra, the ruler of the devas. Indra thought that one day, Mahabali would grow too strong and defeat Indra and take his position as ruler of the Devas. Afraid of losing his position, sought out the help of Vishnu and asked him to find a way to stop Mahabali to get any stronger. Vishnu agreed to help out Indra, and set out for Kerala. Before he entered Mahabali’s palace, he transformed into the shape of a pandit. Mahabali asked Vishnu to identify himself. Vishnu introduced himself as Pandit Vamana and asked Mahabali for an amount of land that is equivalent to three steps of his foot. Mahabali was surprised. He asked the pandit to request for more land but Vamana refused. Mahabali then accepted to give Vamana the land he'd requested for. When Mahabali asked Vamana to take three steps of land, Vamana instantly increased into an enormous size. He put one foot on the whole of earth and one foot on the whole of sky. Then he asked Mahabali where he should put his third foot. Mahabali then realised that this pandit was actually Vishnu in disguise. He asked Vishnu to put his third foot on his head. Vishnu was impressed by Mahabali’s behaviour and asked him for a boon. Mahabali humbly asked Vishnu to give him at least ten days every year to visit his kingdom to see how the people of his kingdom were. Vishnu granted Mahabali his wish and then stepped on Mahabali’s head. As he did, Mahabali was sent to the underworld to be the king of the underworld.
To show Mahabali that we are still living contended and
happy lives, we celebrate the festival of Onam grandly. We eat Onam Sadya, make pookalams, hold boat races and do much more to celebrate the return of MAHABALI.