Essay on “Onam” Festival
Onam is celebrated in the month of ‘Bhadrapad’ on the twelfth day of the waning moon. It falls at a time when the Southwest monsoon ends and the spring and harvest seasons begin in the state of Kerala.
The legend goes that the festival is the celebration of the homecoming of the ‘asura’ King Mahabali. King Bali, ruled in the state of Kerala. He was a kind and just ruler, beloved of his people. But when he wanted to expand his kingdom even further, Lord Vishnu took the ‘Vamana Avatar’ and going to the court of King Bali, immediately granted him the seemingly small wish of wanting three steps of Land. Then ‘Vamana’ assumed an enormous form and in one steps covered the entire earth and in the second the skies and waited for taking the third step, when Bali put forth his own head for Vishnu to place his foot. Pleased, Lord Vishnu told him to ask one last wish. Bali said that he wanted to come back to his land Kerala at least once a year. Onam is the day King Bali comes to visit his people and is celebrated to rejoice in his homecoming.
