Onam
Flower Rangoli (pookalam) is an Onam tradition
Official name	Onam, Thiruvonam[3]
Observed by	Malayalis
Type	Hindu religious festival, Harvest festival[1][2]
Observances	Sadya, Thiruvathira Kali, Puli Kali, Pookalam, Ona-thallu, Thrikkakarayappan, Onathappan, Tug of War, Thumbi Thullal, Onavillu, Kazhchakkula, Athachamayam, and Vallamkali.
Begins	Chingam (siṃha) masam, Atham (hastā) nakshatram
Ends	Chingam (siṃha) masam, Thiruvonam (śrāvaṇa) nakshatram
Date	multi-day
2023 date	28 August – 31 August
Frequency	Annual
Related to	Balipratipada

Onam (IPA: [oːɳɐm]) is an annual harvest and cultural festival related to Hinduism that is celebrated mostly by the people of Kerala.^[4][5] A major annual event for Keralites, it is the official festival of the state^[4][6] and includes a spectrum of cultural events.^[7][8][4][9]

Onam commemorates Vamana (the fifth avatar of Hindu deity Vishnu) and the generous but egotistical daitya king Mahabali.^[10][11] According to the Hindu legends, after Indra (the king of the devas) is defeated by Mahabali (the king of the asuras), the devas ultimately seek refuge in Vishnu, who agrees to restore Indra to power. To do so, Vishnu incarnates as a dwarf priest called Vamana. The king Mahabali (himself a devotee of Vishnu) conducts ritual prayers, one of which is attended by Vamana, who requests only three feet (steps) of land to build a fire-altar. Mahabali agrees, despite being told about Vamana's divine nature by the sage Shukra. Vamana grows in size, and in three strides, encompasses all of the universe and beyond. The three worlds are restored to Indra, and Mahabali and the asuras are banished to the netherworld (Patala).^[12][13] However, witnessing Mahabali's love for his subjects, Vamana grants the king's sole wish to visit his kingdom once every year. This homecoming of Mahabali is celebrated as Onam in Kerala every year.^[14][11]

The date of Onam celebration is based on the Panchangam, and falls on the 22nd nakshatra Thiruvonam in the month Chingam of Malayalam calendar, which in Gregorian calendar falls between August–September.^[15][4]

History

The festival has ancient origins and is intricately linked with Hindu mythology.^[16] Literary and epigraphical evidence suggests that Onam has a long religious context and history in Kerala and neighboring parts of South India:^[16]

• The earliest known reference to the word Onam as a celebration is found in Maturaikkāñci – a Sangam era Tamil poem from the 3rd century CE. It mentions a festival called Onam being celebrated in dedication to Maayon (Vishnu) in Madurai, when games and duels were held in temple premises, oblations were sent to the temples, people wore new clothes and feasted.
• The 8th-century Alvar mystic saint Nammalvar mentions of the one who measured the three worlds, a parallel to the legend of Mahabali and Vamana.^[17]
• The 9th-century Pathikas and Pallads by Periyazharwar describes Onam celebrations and offerings to Vishnu, mentions feasts and community events.
• An 11th-century inscription in the Thrikkakara Temple (Kochi) dedicated to Vamana – an avatar of Vishnu – mentions a series of offerings made by a votary over two days prior and on Thiru Onam.
• A 12th-century inscription in the Tiruvalla Temple, one of the largest Hindu temples in Kerala dedicated to Vishnu, mentions Onam and states a donation was made to the temple as the Onam festival offering.
• Uddanda Shastri, a southern Indian Sanskrit poet visiting the court of the Zamorin, has written about a festival called śrāvaṇa.^[18] It is presumed that this verse is about the festival of Onam as the word Onam (or Thiruvonam) is the Tamil/Malayalam form of the śrāvaṇa nakshatra mentioned in Indian astronomy:

चोकुयन्ते पृथुकततयश्चापतादिन्य उच्चैः सर्वानार्यःपतिभिरनिशम् लम्भयन्त्यर्थकामान्।

बभ्रम्यन्ते सकलपुरुषैर्वल्लभाभ्यः प्रदातुम् चित्रम् वस्त्रम् श्रावणकुतुकम् वर्तते केरळेषु॥

Gangs of lads, playing their bows hoot loudly again and again; All women make their husbands provide wealth and pleasure; All men are wandering hither and thither to present beautiful garments to their women. The festivity of 'Sravana' takes place in Kerala.

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A 16th-century European memoir describes Onam. It mentions among other things that Onam is always celebrated in September, the Malayali people adorn their homes with flowers and daub them over with cow's dung believing its auspicious association with goddess Lakshmi.

According to Kurup, Onam has been historically a Hindu temple-based community festival celebrated over a period of many days.^[16]

Significance

Onam is an ancient^[19][20] Hindu festival of Kerala that celebrates rice harvest.^[10][21] The significance of the festival is in Indian culture, of which two are more common.

Mahabali and Vamana

According to Hindu mythology, Mahabali was the great-great-grandson of a Brahmin sage named Kashyapa, the great-grandson of a demonic dictator, Hiranyakashipu, and the grandson of Vishnu devotee Prahlada. This links the festival to the Puranic story of Prahlada of Holika fame in Hinduism, who was the son of Hiranyakashipu. Prahlada, despite being born to a demonic Asura father who hated Vishnu, rebelled against his father's persecution of people and worshipped Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu tries to kill his son Prahlada, but is slain by Vishnu in his Narasimha avatar, Prahlada is saved.^[22]

Prahlada's grandson, Mahabali, came to power by defeating the gods (Devas) and taking over the three worlds. According to Vaishnavism, the defeated Devas approached Vishnu for help in their battle with Mahabali.^[10] Vishnu refused to join the gods in violence against Mahabali because Mahabali was a good ruler and his own devotee. Mahabali, after his victory over the gods, declared that he would perform a Yajna (homa sacrifices/rituals) and grant anyone any request during the Yajna. Vishnu took the avatar – his fifth^[23] – of a dwarf monk called Vamana and approached Mahabali. The king offered anything to the boy – gold, cows, elephants, villages, food, whatever he wished. The boy said that one must not seek more than one needs, and all he needed was "three paces of land." Mahabali agreed.^[10][24]

Vamana grew to an enormous size and covered everything Mahabali ruled over in just two paces. For the third pace, Mahabali offered his head for Vishnu to step on, an act that Vishnu accepted as evidence of Mahabali's devotion.^[10] Vishnu granted him a boon, by which Mahabali could visit again, once every year, the lands and people he previously ruled. This revisit marks the festival of Onam, as a reminder of the virtuous rule and his humility in keeping his promise before Vishnu. The last day of Mahabali's stay is remembered with a nine-course vegetarian Onasadya feast.^[10][25]

The name Thrikkakara is originated from 'Thiru-kaal-kara' meaning 'place of the holy foot'. The main deity at Thrikkakara Temple is Vamana, the smaller temple to the side has Shiva as the deity. Vamana temple is known as 'Vadakkum Devar' and the Shiva temple is known as 'Tekkum Devar'. A number of subsidiary deities have been installed at Thrikkakara Temple.^[26] The 1961 census report on Onam festival states :^[26]

Though the Vamana temple is accepted as the main temple at the elite level, the local people consider the Shiva temple as the more important one. They believe that Shiva was the 'Kuladeivam' (family deity) of Mahabali and that there was no Vamana temple at that time. The palace of Mahabali was situated at the place where the Vamana temple is at present. After the fall of Mahabali, his palace was destroyed and later on Vamana was installed on that spot by the saint Kapila.

According to Nanditha Krishna, a simpler form of this legend, one without Mahabali, is found in the Rigveda and the Vedic text Shatapatha Brahmana where a solar deity is described with powers of Vishnu. This story likely grew over time, and is in part allegorical, where Bali is a metaphor for thanksgiving offering after a bounty of rice harvest during monsoon, and Vishnu is the metaphor of the Kerala sun and summer that precedes the Onam.^[27] According to Roshen Dalal, the story of Mahabali is important to Onam in Kerala, but similar Mahabali legends are significant in the region of Balia and Bawan in Uttar Pradesh, Bharuch in Gujarat, and Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra. The story is significant not because Mahabali's rule ended, but it emphasizes the Hindu belief in cyclical nature of events, that no individual, no ruler and nothing lasts forever, except the virtues and self-understanding that overcomes all sorrow.^[28]

Parashurama

An alternate tale behind Onam relates to Parashurama, an incarnation of Vishnu who is credited in Hinduism to have created the Western Ghats and Kerala.^[29] According to this legend, Vishnu observed the kings of the Kshatriya (warrior) waging constant war on one another and growing arrogant.^[29] He assumed the avatar of Parashurama, the warrior sage, in the era of the king Kartavirya Arjuna. This king persecuted and oppressed the people, the sages, and the gods.^[29] Following the murder of his father Jamadagni, Parashurama swore vengeance against the king and the warrior class, slaying them as he travelled the world. When all the oppressors had been vanquished, he threw his axe into the ocean. The ocean retreated from the region where the axe descended, creating the land of Kerala.^[29] The Onam festival, according to this legend, celebrates Parashurama's creation of Kerala by marking those days as the new year.^[30]

The legend and worship of Parashurama is attested in texts and epigraphs dated to about the 2nd century CE.^[29]

Cultural festival

Onam is a "popular major Hindu festival in Kerala", states Christine Frost, but one that is also celebrated by other communities with "much zest alongside Hindus".^[31] The festival is celebrated in BECs (Basic Ecclesial communities) in Trivandrum with local rituals, according to Latin Catholic Bishop^[32] Selvister Ponnumuthan.^[33] These traditions, according to Selvister Ponnumuthan, start with the lighting of Nilavilakku, an arati that includes waving of flowers (pushparati) over the Bible, eating the Onam meal together with the Hindus as a form of "communion of brothers and sisters of different faiths".^[33] The significance of these practices are viewed by BECs in Trivandrum as a form of integration with Hindus, mutual respect and sharing a tradition.^[33]

Paulinus of St. Bartholomew (1748–1806), in his 'A voyage to the East Indies' describes Onam as :^[26]

The fourth grand festival, celebrated in Malayala, is called Onam, and happens always in the month of September, on the day of new moon (not always). About the 10th of September the rain ceases in Malabar. All nature seems as if regenerated; the flowers again shoot up, and the trees bloom, in a word, this season is the same as that which Europeans call spring. This festival seems, therefore, to have been instituted for the purpose of soliciting from the Gods a happy and fruitful year. It continues eight days and during that time the Indians are accustomed to adorn their houses with flowers and daub them over with cow's dung; because the cow, as already observed, is a sacred animal dedicated to the Goddess Lakshmi, the Ceres of the Indians. On this occasion they also put on new clothes throw aside all their old earthenware and supply its place by new. The men, particularly those who are young, form themselves into two parties and shoot at each other with arrows. These arrows are blunted, but exceedingly strong, and are discharged with such force, that a considerable number are generally wounded on both sides. These games have a great likeness to the Cerealia and Juvenalia of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Onam and Islam

Various sections of Islam have raised concerns about the celebration of Onam by Muslims. However some Muslims observe Onam anyway, considering its celebrations and rituals as a cultural practice.^[34][35]

Celebrations, rituals and practices

Onam falls in the month of Chingam, which is the first month according to the Malayalam Calendar. The celebrations mark the Malayalam New Year, are spread over ten days, and conclude with Thiruvonam. The ten days are sequentially known as Atham, Chithira, Chodhi, Vishakam, Anizham, Thriketa, Moolam, Pooradam, Uthradam and Thiruvonam. The first and the last day are particularly important in Kerala and to Malayalee communities elsewhere.^[10]

The Atham day is marked with the start of festivities at Thrikkakara Vamanamoorthy Temple, Kochi. This Vishnu temple is considered as the focal centre of Onam and the abode of Mahabali, with the raising of the festival flag.^[36] Parades are held, which are colourful and depict the elements of Kerala culture with floats and tableaux.^[37]

Other days have a diverse range of celebrations and activities ranging from boat races, cultural programs, sports competitions, dance events, martial arts, floral Rangoli – pookkalam, prayers, shopping, donating time or food for charity to spending time with family over feasts. Men and women wear traditional dress. The Kerala sari or Kasavu sari is particularly wore on this day.^[38]

Athachamayam

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