Onam And Dashavathar

Happy Onam to everyone.
Onam is on 11th Sep this year.

This festival celebrates the said arrival of King Mahabali to every home in Kerala.
This festival is essentially connected to mythology,connected with Dashavathar
of Mahavishnu.
There are a few confusions here.
1.As per Bhagavatha puranam, Mahabali appears leading the Asura team in
Samudra maththan during the second Avathar ( kurma) of Mahavishnu.
2. Mahabali is stated to be the grandson of Prahlada, who appears as a a small
boy in the 4th Narasimha Avatar of Mahavishnu
3.Mahabali , in his capital role appears in the the 5th Avathar during which
Mahavishnu takes Avatar as Vaamana
4.Parasurama, the 6th Avathar of Mahavishnu is stated to have created Kerala
out of ocean.
Many questions arise in one's mind.

1.How Mahabali appears during the 2nd Avathar and 4th Avathar?
2.Prahlad is stated to be the grandfather of Mahabali.
Mahabali,the grandson makes his appearanace in the second Avathar
during churning of ocean and his grandfather Prahlad , as a child
appears during 4th Narasimha Avathar.
3.Onam celebrations relate to Vamanaavathar, during which
period Mahabali is stated to have ruled Kerala
4. To crown it all, Kerala, the state itself is stated to have been
created out of the ocean by Parasurama,the 6th Avatar of Mahavishnu
and hence the name God's own country.

Vedas,Upanishads, Puranas,Shrimat Bhagavatham and other
mythological scriptures widely differ from each other.
.
There is no onus of doubt that Mahabali, in the story
of Samudra Manthan, is the same as Mahabali in Vamana Avatar.
Vamana Avatar was taken
to stop Mahabali completing the Mahayajna.

There is another confusion in the continuity of characters of
Dasavatharam series. In Mahabali’s story, there is another prominent figure.He is Banasura, the son of Mahabali.
Can we look for Banasura’s story after Mahabali’s exit to netherworld?
He comes again during Krishna Avatar time (9th Avatar) when
Krishna’s grandson- Anirudh falls in love with Banasura’s daughter-
Usha and Banasura detains Anirudh for that crime which leads to
Krishna-Banasura war.
This means a character we have seen during 5th Avatar resurfaces out only during 8th Avatar time. In between Treta yuga has crossed.


This means, there is NO CONTINUITY in the stories associated with
Dasavathara as characters come up somewhere in between and go out
quickly and resurface back in a different time period.
Same way, there is no logic to see a Grandson coming first before
Grandpa
Parasurama created Kerala.This concept does not seem to have any
never has any verifiable source.

• So there is no major scripture that talks about the creation of Kerala by Parsurama..
• So as there is no scripture that says Mahabali was the
• ruler of Kerala.

It is interesting to note that the capital of Asuras was Sonitha, corresponding to Sonitpur in Assam.


It seems that Puranas are fantasy versions of history. ,which would make people remember for long periods.

Parasurama came to Gokarna and threw his axe to reclaim the land
from seas.

Vishnu Purana speaks of Mahabali performing mahayagna on the banks of Narmada.It corresponds to Bharuch of Gujarat.

It is a possibility that people from narmada migrated downwards taking all these legends and stories.

Essentially Onam in any sense is purely a Harvest festival. Its the only
gap between the two rainy seasons where the harvest can happen
in Kerala. And probably such harvest festival could eventually be
expressed in the form of myths .

And Mahabali’s character is presented as a form of utopia,
where there was no lies or cheats, no form of slavery, no form of deceit,
no form of enmity etc…an ideal concept indeed.
Whether Mahabali 's kingdom was in Assam or Gujarat,
now he is a celebrity only in Kerala.
We will put an end to all confusions if we believe that yugas are not linear and they come in cycles repeatedly and there might have been so many Ramas ,Krishnas and mahabalis justifying the wrong sequence in myths..Why to break our heads?Let us set aside all conflicts , celebrate Onam and enjoy Onam sadya.
Happy Onam to all friends.
jayasala42

 

Thank you.I have also heard about this story and have read about kalpas and manvantharas.But for a normal person, the linear position alone will strike with our shortest span of life on earth to the extent of around 80 years.very difficult to imagine that lunch follows dinner, dinner referring to yesterday's or that of previous day.
Five years back I wrote a snippet
Are we living in kaliyuga?
jayasala 42

 

Thank you joylokhi.Now and then it is interesting to analyse and indulge in certain discussions, though it may not serve any practical purpose.
jayasala42

 

It is only academic discussion.let us celebrate Onam with all enthusiasm .Let it elevate the people's spirits.The celebration for 10 days will motivate them to turn to routine with more vigour and plan for next Onam from now onwards.
jayasala 42

 

Balajee,
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts.

Smriti is one of two types of Vedic literature. The other is shruti. Smriti is considered less authoritative than shruti. The Sanskrit root for smriti comes from the verb, smr, which means "to remember." Shruti comes from the verb, shru, which means "to hear."

Vedic texts that are considered smriti come from remembered teachings versus texts that are shruti which were compiled from teachings that were heard. Lessons that are heard are thought to be more reliable then those that are merely remembered; This is the reason why shruti literature is held in higher esteem.
jayasala42