This tweet created a lot of burn for all sorts of regional bigots, Marxists & pseudo atheist anti-Hindu haters from a region. They all declared that Onam is not Vamana Jayanti. But they are wrong.
For once in his life, Arvind Kejriwal is right.
Onam is indeed Vamana Jayanti.
Bhagavata Purana(8.18.5) says Lord Vishnu took birth as Vamana on Shravana Dvadashi.
This is exactly the time of Uthradom (Onam Eve).
The Onam festival is celebrated for four days until Purnima. Even South Indian tradition agrees that Onam marks the birth of Lord Vishnu as Vamana.
Onam is a celebration of the birth and victory of Lord Vishnu as Vamana and the returns of his devotee king Mahabali to earth.
Mahabali comes back every year from sutala to see his land & celebrate Lord Vamana’s birth at Vamana temple in Thrikkakara (=”place of holy foot”) in Kochi.
From ancient days, Onam was celebrated in Tamilakam (Tamilnadu-Kerala) not as the festival of Bali but as the birthday of “Asura destroying” Lord Vishnu.
This is mentioned in ancient Sangam literature in a poem called Maturaikkāñci.
PS-Nairs still keep the Onam battle traditions of this poem.
This tradition of celebrating Onam as the birthday of Vishnu continued to be celebrated in the middle ages. Medieval literature like the 10th century Divya Prabandham shows Onam continued to be celebrated as a festival of Lord Vishnu.
Rice and fruits were prepared and offered to Vishnu.
That Onam was a festival of Lord Vishnu is confirmed by Independent sources. William Logan, a Scottish civil servant of the 19th cent noted in his “Malabar Manual” that Onam was the day on which Vishnu descended to make his people happy. Along with Vishnu came Vishnu’s devotee Bali.
Francis Day was a 17th century East India Company administrator who lived in Kerala and Tamilnadu.
In his book, he recorded local folklore. He writes that Keralites celebrated Onam to mark the day when Vishnu wandered around the earth. Along with Vishnu came his devotee Mahabali.
Earliest record of Onam in Kerala comes from the Thirikkara Vamana temple (861 CE). Even today, Onam is celebrated here as the birthday of Vamana. It is believed that Bali also returns to worship the Lord every year on this day. Processions of Vamana Murti(“idol”) are carried out.
Unlike Abrahamic religions, Hinduism does not have any centralizing authority like the pope.
Because of this reason, the mode of celebration of the Onam festival has diversified over centuries among various caste and communities who celebrated the festival in different ways. This does not change the fact that Onam was originally a festival that marked the birthday of Vishnu as Vamana. And traditional Onam celebrates this aspect even today.
Even today, the most important part of Onam celebrations is Thrikkakara Appan, which is a clay Pyramid representing Lord Vamana who is worshipped as the guest.
This only shows how communists and evangelists have systematically divorced Onam from its Hindu roots Onam exceptionalism is a myth.
On the same Onam day, Vamana Dwadashi or Vamana Jayanti is celebrated across several regions of India.
The liars have been pitting Vamana against Bali. But such a dichotomy cannot be supported even by the story in Bhagavata Purana According to Bhagavata, Vishnu comes to test Bali’s generosity. He becomes satisfied & grants Bali any boon he wishes.
But Bali has only one wish. To ever be with Vishnu. Vishnu grants it. He leaves Vaikunta & repairs to Bali’s new abode Sutala where there is no fear and hatred.
Srimad Bhagavata (5.24) says Lord Vamana served as a gatekeeper of Bali in Sutala which is grander than Svarga.
Vamana kicked Ravana out of Sutala when Ravana invaded Sutala. Such is the beautiful relation between Bhagavan and Bhakta.
Hateful Marxists are not sparing even that just a minor detail.
While Onam/Vamana Jayanti in ancient days was celebrated on Shravana Ekadashi, it has from medieval times to this day been celebrated during Bhadrapada Ekadashi. There have also been regional variations and some communities still prefer Shravana Ekadashi for all that nonsense about ‘Aryan’ Vamana and ‘Dravidian’ Mahabali.
Here is a pre-modern painting from Mankot (c.1700) The dark-skinned dwarf is beautiful Vamana. And the Brahmin with choti in the painting is none other than Mahabali. Mahabali was a descendant of Rishi Kashyapa.
They are now taking their propaganda to a new low by depicting Bali as a Christian Saint like Jesus.
The Bali in this painting looks absolutely nothing like how Mahabali is traditionally depicted– with a choti and a sacred thread
Note: NOBODY, absolutely NOBODY, dressed like Jesus or any Christian saint in those days in Kerala.
Even local Christians of Kerala dressed like Brahmins.
Here is a painting of a local Christian couple of 19th century The Christian man wears Choti and dhoti like Brahmins.
In fact, Mahabali in this FAKE Marxist painting looks eerily similar to the so-called “Holy Face of Jesus” which is nothing but a forgery impression on the FAKE shroud of Turin. Just that he was a little Indianised by keeping the moustache, removing the beard and darkening the skin.
Author: @BharadwajSpeaks
This report was first published on the Twitter account of BharadwajSpeaks, We have republished it with kind permission.
Disclaimer: The Author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this Oped. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the Author, and neither The Australia Today News nor its partners assume any responsibility for them.
