Rediscovering Onam

Onam festival is a quintessential part of the identity of Keralites. Onam is truly an all-inclusive festival that is celebrated across caste-religious divides in Kerala. However, the understanding of the origins of Onam festival and the central figures in its legend Vāmana and Mahabali seems to have undergone many distortions to the extent that most Malayalis who celebrate the festival today do not know of many of its significant aspects. It came as a shock to me few years back when I did some reading on this festival, and realised how little I knew of this most important event in Kerala. And so began my attempt to rediscover Onam for myself.