Onam- a time to Feast or a time to Fast?

                                                              

                                                             It is sung of Mahabali:-

When Maveli, our King, ruled the land,

All the people were equal.

And people were joyful and merry;

They were all free from harm.

There was neither anxiety nor sickness,

Deaths of children were unheard of,

There were no lies,

There was neither theft nor deceit,

And no one was false in speech either.

Measures and weights were right;

No one cheated or wronged his neighbour.

When Maveli, our King, ruled the land,

All the people formed one casteless race

Many Malayalees, mostly from the Dalit and non- Brahmin communities have not been celebrating Onam. On the contrary they see the occasion as the perfect manifestation where a popular king was removed by deceit at the hands of the priestly class. Just like Good Friday where Christians generally fast on the occasion of their Lord Jesus having been crucified, these people also fast on Thiruvonam remembering the day their king Mahabali was banished from the land.

While some may criticize their actions as being of a minority viewpoint the political and social reasons behind their actions cannot be ignored especially in a society like Kerala’s that calls itself egalitarian, progressive and educated but still suffers from the closed caste-community mentality when it comes to important functions in one’s personal lives such as birth, marriage and death.

This website is a small attempt to ensure that there is a space for their voices to be heard..