Kerala Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac took to Twitter on August 31 to wish Onam and also added that Kerala celebrated the return of Mahabali during the festival. What has however irked many, especially from the right wing, is the portion of the tweet where the minister called 'Vamana' (an incarnation of Vishnu) ‘a cheat’.
“Happy Onam! We celebrate Mahabali who did not discriminate by caste or creed, not Vamana who cheated him.This edition of harvest festival has something to celebrate. Kerala has announced floor prices for 14 types of vegetables in its drive for self sufficiency in vegetables.” Isaac wrote on Twitter. Isaac was responding to a controversy that had been brewing for some time with the right wing insisting that Onam is a celebration of Lord Vishnu.
Happy Onam! We celebrate Mahabali who did not discriminate by caste or creed , not Vamana who cheated him.This edition of harvest festival has something to celebrate. Kerala has announced floor prices for 14 types of vegetables in its drive for self sufficiency in vegetables.
— Thomas Isaac (@drthomasisaac) August 31, 2020
Reacting to the tweet, Kerala BJP President K Surendran demanded that Thomas Isaac apologise and also rescind his tweet.
“Why is (Thomas) Isaac calling the dwarf, Vamana, who is one of dashavataras (ten incarnations) a deceiver? Vamana is the incarnation of Lord Vishnu himself. A god worshipped by crores of believers. Can Isaac take this approach with other religions?” Surendran asked in his Facebook post. The BJP leader also added that the biggest Onam celebrations is held at the Vamana Temple in Thrikkakara, Ernakulam.
“The devotees place Onam flowers in the middle of the Thrikkakara Appan Vamanamoorthy (the Thrikkakara temple’s deity). Thomas Isaac should apologize to the believers for calling Lord Vishnu a traitor. It must be remembered that Isaac won and became a minister with the votes of thousands of Vishnu devotees,” he added.
Popular legend in Kerala has it that Mahabali was a good natured daitya or asura King who was known for his just and good reign. His popularity is said to have angered the gods or deivas who feared that he might be able to rule them in heaven. As a result, they went to Lord Vishnu begging him to get rid of the asura King and Vishnu took the form of the dwarf Brahmin Vamana to visit Mahabali on earth. Maveli was performing the Ashvamedha pooja and giving away gifts, when Vamana approached him. According to the lore, the king was filled with sympathy for the dwarf and asked him what he sought. Vamana said that he was landless and wished to own the land that he could cover in three steps.
When Mahabali agreed, Vamana transformed into Vishnu’s giant Trivikrama avatar and covered all of the earth in one step and the heavens in the next. And as he was about to take his third step, Mahabali is said to have placed his head underneath Vamana’s foot to save the world from total destruction. With the third and final step, King Mahabali was pushed far below the earth into Paatala.
Before being banished from the earth, Vishnu is said to have allowed Kerala’s beloved king to visit his land once a year for ten days. These ten days which culminate in Thiruvonam have come to be celebrated as Onam, also a harvest festival as it comes right after the crops are harvested.
However, in the last few years, the BJP and other right wing groups, have started a debate on whether Onam is a celebration of King Mahabali or the birth of Vamana has turned. They have asserted that Onam is celebrated as Vamana Jayanti or the birth of Vamana - the fifth avatar of Lord Vishnu. According to this account, Mahabali is a devotee of Vishnu.
The Finance Minister took to Twitter again and said that he was only referring to an onam song penned by 20th centure reformer Sahodaran Ayyappan.
To all those who have been upset about my Onam tweet: Accept that there can be many narratives. I was referring to the one by Sahodaran Aiyyapan, an ardent disciple of Sree Narayana Guru. If you are not convinced read his Onapatu, the most popular Onam song of Kerala.
— Thomas Isaac (@drthomasisaac) August 31, 2020
Onam is not a Hindu festival. Onam is not a monolithic festival. It's a Malayali Harvest festival.
— Advaid അദ്വൈത് (@Advaidism) August 30, 2020
Onam belongs to everyone who was born or has links to Kerala. In the eyes of Asura King Maveli (Mahabali), all Keralites are same regardless of caste & religion.
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According to @trueindology, Onappattu, the song that almost every Malayali knows by heart is Fake! Until he gives his saction, all of India's folk songs must be considered fake then!
— Tony Joseph (@tjoseph0010) August 26, 2018
Here is the story of Onappattu, in which reformers who made Kerala what it is today, had a role to play in popularising it. Sahodaran Ayyappan along with Sree Narayana Guru would count among the foremost thinkers who shaped Kerala.https://t.co/uKO4RUzljQ
— Tony Joseph (@tjoseph0010) August 26, 2018
The original song probably belonged to the 9th or 10th centuries. According to experts quoted in the story, "some kind of upper caste cleansing of the song" had taken place before Sahodaran Ayyappan got to it.https://t.co/uKO4RUzljQ
— Tony Joseph (@tjoseph0010) August 26, 2018