Mahabali, Vamana, and Sadya: A journey through Onam myths & traditions | News Brake Ep 123

00:00:01 Speaker 1: No, 00:00:02 Speaker 1: I need a car. 00:00:06 Speaker 1: My a lot 00:00:09 Speaker 1: holy. 00:00:12 Speaker 1: The th must see him 00:00:25 Speaker 1: on season has once again arrived at our doorsteps with its floral palms, crunches at and a myriad of fun games. But at the heart of Onum is a legend of King Maha, the righteous and beloved ruler of Kerala whose reign was marked by prosperity, equality and happiness to this day. King Maha folklore remains a symbol of selfless devotion and goodwill. 00:00:54 Speaker 1: Hi and welcome to Newsbreak. This is Harita Benjamin. And in today's episode, we'll dive into the mythology of Mahai, the cultural significance of Onum and explore how this timeless legend continues to inspire and unite people across generations. Writer and columnist Lakshmi Rajiv joins us today on Newsbreak podcast for a conversation on on. 00:01:20 Speaker 1: She has authored the books are to a Lama das diary, Shabir Mala and women and Sri Van Katea of Tirupati and co-authored the book Tirath, an artist's impression with Rur Lakshmi is also an entrepreneur. She has launched the brand Ila Herbal Oil during the COVID lockdown. 00:01:38 Speaker 1: So we are really glad to have you here Lakshmi today. Thank you so much for joining us. 00:01:44 Speaker 2: Thank you. So much Manora for inviting me to this program. OK. 00:01:47 Speaker 1: So uh without further ado, let's move on to our first question. So from my understanding on is primarily a harvest festival, right? It is a celebration to denote the good times that arrive in Ching after a period of shortage which is usually seen in the Kar uh you know, time. 00:02:04 Speaker 1: So when did this concept of onum originate according to, you know, uh history? And what does history exactly say about the social and economic angles of 00:02:14 Speaker 2: on it's a harvest festival as we all know. But uh it's a story on is a legend and on is also a mythological story. There is no historical reference related to on anywhere in India, especially in Kerala. 00:02:28 Speaker 2: So it's usually hailed as the month of Shawana. Shawana means one which is audible, but one which can be heard. So the season is full of flowers, uh the chirping of birds and the the various sounds related to uh nature and harvest. That's why it's called Shaam. The one it can be heard or can be heard. If you listen to the nature, you can hear that Oram has arrived. There is pleasantness all over, all over. 00:02:56 Speaker 2: So we cannot really, I'm very sorry to say that we can never relate. We can never trace back the history of Oam anywhere in our mythology or basically, it's not a, it's not a historical event, it's not a religious event either we cannot trace it back to anywhere it has been there 00:03:12 Speaker 2: there ever since, 00:03:13 Speaker 1: right? So I mean, that is interesting because you know, we have all heard about the tale of Maha Beli, ok, the righteous king who ruled over Kerala. And the story of how Vishnu Vuna Avatar actually tricked him to send him to the Pathalam to satisfy jealous gods. 00:03:28 Speaker 1: So where did this tale originate from then? Is there anything at all mentioning uh uh Mahay in the historical text or you know, in the epics? Anywhere at 00:03:38 Speaker 2: all, we can call that it's divine literature, it's not historical literature, it, it's not history, it's divine literature. 00:03:45 Speaker 2: And we can uh we can see uh the, the, the maha, the a you know that v is the Adar of uh Mahavishnu. And uh it is mentioned in the Bhagavad, the Mahaan. The story is mentioned in Daar of Daar of VNA is first mentioned in the uh holy text. Uh Bagha, the Mahurin. It describes in detail about all tens of Mahavishnu as we all know. 00:04:10 Speaker 2: And in that this particular story happens that the Sura king ruled in and at the position location is not not Kerala. 00:04:20 Speaker 2: So that's another subject. So yeah, so it happened somewhere else in India and uh the avatar happens and you know the story as it goes and you know that the Bama, you know what happens in the story, everybody knows and there is no mention of or anywhere in the p the Purana and in the later part of the Devi P, that's another divine text, the spiritual text or holy text of Hindus. Uh The question which we now raise has emerged. 00:04:49 Speaker 2: Jem is the son of Paris. Uh Vyasa. Vyasa is supposed to be the author of these puranas. And we don't know who Vassar is and ask whether it was right on the part of Varna to do this to Mahai, the Christian, the politically valid Christian these days arose in the eighth century itself. And um and then Vasa answers, Maman was wrong and that is why he had to Mahavishnu had to 00:05:16 Speaker 2: be the gatekeeper of uh Mohali in the Sutala layer of the Pala. Not many Mais know about this story, David PGA depicts uh Mahavishnu as a sinner. 00:05:28 Speaker 1: So uh so ma'am, although Maha Bali is a key character in our folklores, many of the traditions also revolve around Vuna, right? Like now the Takara temple, which is an important part of on is in fact dedicated to Vuna. Now a few years ago, there was a demand to label on as Vuna Jahi as well. So maybe it was because of, you know, these little traditions which are followed here and there. So what is your take on this? 00:05:53 Speaker 2: Basically, the Takara Temple is not a Vuna temple. It's a Mahavishnu temple right now. 00:05:59 Speaker 2: And historians uh have clearly collected evidences of it being a Shiva temple before that great men like a great historians like EVKV extra uh states that it was also AJ wear before it was a Shiva temple. So see how complicated history is. So it never is a war. It's a, it's a Puna. Uh it's a, it's a full-fledged Mahavishnu is being worshiped at Takara Vuna. We have an image of Vuna in our mind. The short one with the 00:06:27 Speaker 2: uh with a very short boy with a, with an Ola Kura and all that umbrella made of palm leaves. And the idol is not that it's, it's a full fledged Vishnu idol there. And uh before that, it was a Shiva temple. I know the advent of Shiv, how Vish uh replaced many of the Shi Shi temples and uh how sh Shi temples, uh how Jina we harass were replaced by Hindu temples. 00:06:54 Speaker 2: So right now, Mahs Lord Mahars is being worshiped in Takara Temple. You can celebrate any Jini. You can celebrate, we celebrate Sri Krishna Jain, we celebrate Sri Nara and Ajai. We celebrate Ayan Khali Jini. Anyone can celebrate any Jain d we have the freedom to do that. But both these cannot be combined on them is a totally different uh festival. 00:07:17 Speaker 2: It means happiness, oram, etymologically, it means just happiness, folk songs associated with Oram hail Lord Shiva and not Mahavishnu for your information. 00:07:27 Speaker 1: That's 00:07:27 Speaker 1: an entire information I think to me and to our audience, 00:07:32 Speaker 2: Trikk Karan uh in earlier times was Shiva 00:07:37 Speaker 2: and it it clearly. Yeah, it's very evident in all those. It's very long. I narrated a few lines. You can, you can people who are interested in the uh in on party and search 00:07:50 Speaker 2: and find out. 00:07:51 Speaker 1: OK. So basically the Ruak temple first, uh there was a Jain temple base there and then it was uh you know, shiism was observed there and then it became a Vaishnavi temple. So that's how it went about. OK. OK. 00:08:05 Speaker 2: Great. And it's never ever, it's never ever a Ana temple. That's the main point in that 00:08:11 Speaker 1: great. So, and uh in one of your earlier articles, you speak of how these own traditions are, you know, deeply linked to Jainism. Buddhism meant even Shiv is like how you mentioned right now. So, uh in fact, you had made an observation that, you know, on the bloated belly could 00:08:27 Speaker 1: have been inspired by the Jane Tang grass. So could you uh probably elaborate on this? 00:08:33 Speaker 2: Actually, we are talking about uh a concept that's spanning over centuries and you know, how limited our knowledge is, how limited anybody's perspective is about what happened in Kerala over all these centuries. But all I can say that it is an all inclusive festival, it purely meant happiness and after the harvest 00:08:54 Speaker 2: and it included everything, everything happened to Kerala, not Kerala, Malay, Ala Nada. Kerala also is a much recent development and whatever happened in Mala Nada became uh a part of on a, you know, you cannot say that the transition is we cannot mark the transition. Then how you, you know that is another, another important aspect, whether the own said they should be or not. So we were never a we were never a people who followed vegetarianism. 00:09:23 Speaker 2: So, so many traditions, we absorb so many traditions. And if on is an all inclusive festival, you can make out from uh but what we still preserve is its root of it being a harvest festival. If you travel from Tantum to Kassar goa, you can find out that uh banana chips and 00:09:41 Speaker 2: um it's made of banana. You see it everywhere. I think that's the only factor, only unique mark that we can see everywhere related to one of peoples serve up peri and banana chips. Yeah, in, in abundance, there is also a time when uh bananas were a, a abundantly available. That's one dish which we all serve. 00:10:04 Speaker 1: OK. So 00:10:05 Speaker 1: uh ma'am, you, you just spoke about the own traditions like the Sadia and you know how it was not always a completely vegetarian meal and you know, there was non vegetarian uh you know, uh dishes which was served in the Sadia in different parts and you know, across time. So there is a sort of homogenization process which is happening right over the years. Uh You know, if you're looking at on tradition. So what do you have to say about this? Like, how does this happen? 00:10:34 Speaker 1: Because we have adapted from different cultures and different parts of Kerala are, you know, observing, you know, different traditions. But over the years, you know, we are, you know, uh emerging towards a common blend which is being followed across Kerala. So what do you have to speak about this? Why do you think that is 00:10:51 Speaker 1: happening? 00:10:52 Speaker 2: It's called food elitism. You feel that vegetarianism is superior and uh non people who are eating non vegetarian is inferior. 00:11:02 Speaker 2: So people, uh I, I think we had a, we were not a generation who had the right to eat three full meals a day and jackfruit and fish, uh stuff like jack fruit and fish saved us from poverty, starvation and even that's related to starvation. Non vegetarian was there in abundance. It is a coastal state, right? We had fish in abundance and we survived with the many forms of fishes and meat available 00:11:31 Speaker 2: all over Kerala. And later came, I'm talking about the very primordial inhabitants of Kerala, then later came Buddha and late then came uh Brahmins and I think even Brahmins adopted their uh vegetarian habits from the Buddha about Buddhists. 00:11:48 Speaker 2: So we can never say that this was never the practice of anywhere in any part of the world. So we slowly, I don't know how it happened. But uh Buddha, as you know, Buddha, Buddha, Buddhist preach Nonviolence, maybe as a part of that, their culture, their religious beliefs, they must have started this practice of having only vegetarian meals. And, uh, later many people adopted it, that one shouldn't serve non vegetarian meal to a vegetarian, a strict vegetarian. 00:12:16 Speaker 2: The rest of the world can eat whatever they want to eat. Especially on, on, it is not a religious festival. It can be celebrated by anybody, any, in any form they wish it's to ultimately bring happiness to the person who is celebrating it. 00:12:30 Speaker 2: If there is happiness, there is one, if there is no happiness, there is no own. So one can decide and uh you know, one can decide and one can derive one's own in one's own way. That is how it has been always. And we should not start it from the kaka or we should not start it from a temple or any religious institution. It, it starts from within, it starts in our house, it spreads to all over the place, it starts in your heart 00:12:57 Speaker 2: and you can have anything, you, it places your heart. OK? 00:13:01 Speaker 1: And I think those are beautiful words coming from, you know, our guest today, uh uh happiness that is the essence of on. And I think uh you know, all Mali and any person who is observing onum or otherwise should embrace it as much as possible because that's the only way we can, you know, move forward in life. Uh And uh this is why we have festivals like on 00:13:22 Speaker 1: uh to make sure that, you know, we remain happy within it and you know, find joy in little things. Uh So ma'am, uh before we wind up, is there any owner, memory or, you know, own games from your childhood or even now that you would like to share with our audience? And we can wind up on that note. 00:13:40 Speaker 2: This 00:13:40 Speaker 2: makes me emotional. Actually, I, I think uh I lost my father when I was 25 years old. And after that, my mono was never complete. 00:13:51 Speaker 2: And uh it was also a time I remembered him the most and sadness follow me during on festivals. But I, I did celebrate and now this year I lost my mother in law. And this year we don't celebrate on at all. And it it it has vanished from my heart, totally vanished from my heart this this year. And during the, you know, we also witnessed a terrible tragedy this year. So uh uh personally and most of like most of us, 00:14:18 Speaker 2: we don't rejoice at this moment, but we do it for the sake of the younger ones, right? We have to inculcate, we have to, we have to tell them that you have the right to celebrate. And I think for the sake of my Children and for the sake of my 00:14:38 Speaker 2: uh the whole entire mais, I think I also embrace this moment. This is another war of this won't be repeated again. So next year, I also pray that I, I should be able to celebrate or enjoy it on a greater level. 00:14:54 Speaker 1: And uh Lakshmi, uh we sincerely hope that, you know, you feel uh better next year and, you know, you will be able to find the joy in unam again. 00:15:03 Speaker 1: Uh this year as we all know, all Malay Alis are uh you know, celebrating on with a heavy heart. Uh and our hearts are with, you know, the victims and the victims families at the wear uh landslides. Uh So we do hope that, you know, we will uh you know, disrupt and uh Kerala will, you know, emerge stronger once again 00:15:22 Speaker 1: uh to celebrate on uh in with a stronger face. So, yeah, so with that, I think we can come to the end of today's episode. Thank you so much Lakshmi Raji for joining uh news break uh podcast with on Manorama. This is a podcast which is produced by Harri Benjamin. That is me. It airs every week and is available on all podcast platforms. Do follow on manorama.com for more updates. Thank you so much for joining us.