Thiruvananthapuram: King Mahabali’s visit to his former subjects this time is caught up in several controversies with some twists given by certain quarters to the popular notions of his reign and descent into the nether world.
BJP national president Amit Shah, in his post on Facebook on Tuesday, wished all Malayalis ‘Vaman Jayanti,’ virtually endorsing the controversial article in the latest Onam issue of RSS mouthpiece Kesari (Malayalam) written by Mr K. Namboothiri. Mr Shah offered ‘Vaman Jayanti’ to all the countrymen implying that it is a national festival.
According to the article, Onam was originally celebrated as the birthday of Vamana and not as the homecoming of Mahabali, the demon king. Mr. Nampoothiri criticises the practice of picturing Mahabali as a potbellied man with a huge moustache.
In fact, Mr Shah has used the same picture that appeared on Kesari cover page. A senior BJP leader told DC that a Malayali RSS national leader J. Nandakumar, all-India Joint Prachar Pramukh, had asked Mr. Nampoothiri, professor in Government Sanskrit College, Thiruvanant-hapuram, to write the article in the Onam special edition of Kesari.
Mr Nampoothiri argued that Onam was originally intended to celebrate Vamana Jayanti (birthday of Vamana), who is one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. It also cites that there is nothing to rejoice over the annual homecoming of Mahabali as per popular beliefs.
“Lord Vishnu had actually ‘blessed’ the demon king and not ‘punished’ him by pushing him into ‘pathala’ (nether world). There is no indication in spiritual texts like ‘Bhagavatham’ or ‘Narayaneeyam’ that Mahabali was pushed to the nether world. Instead, such texts say that the noble king had emerged victorious in the trial by Vamana and he was blessed by the God,” says the article.
Mr Nampoothiri criticised the portrayal of Mahabali as a man with moustache, potbelly and wearing an ‘olakkuda’ (traditional palm leaf umbrella). He said that certain elements have been attempting to destroy Hinduism by distorting mythical stories and painting the Asuras in bad light.
The article also claimed that Lord Vishnu became the saviour of King Mahabali from his blind self-esteem and put him on a higher pedestal forever. Mahabali was, in fact, grateful to Vamana for his redemption from the material world where he had done all his yagas on the banks of Narmada river in Gujarat. Kerala did not exist during the tenure of King Mahabali, he said.
