Vamana Jayanthi and Onam - Selective Liberalism Strikes Again
- In Religion
- 09:29 AM, Sep 24, 2016
- Santhi Pasumarthi
Some facts from Puranas.
- The festival of Onam falls on Tiruvonam(Shravana Nakshatra/star) in the month of Simha(Chingam). This is not a random date. This is the birth star(and birthday depending on the calendar you use) of Vamana. Google ‘Vamana Nakshatra/birth star etc’ and you will find umpteen links. The primary source is Srimad Bhagavata Purana. Vamana and Venkateswara are said to have born in this Nakshatra and people born in this Nakshatra brag about it.
- There is Trikkakara(place of holy feet) temple in Kerala dedicated to Vamana(one of the very few) that is very closely and significantly associated with Onam celebrations.
- Vamana Jayanthi is observed on Bhadrapada Shukla Dwaadashi(source Bhagavatam) by people following Chandramana(lunar) calendar since they go by tithi and not by the Nakshatra(Vamana was born when both that tithi and Nakshatra coincided). That includes the ‘South Indian’ states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. This year it fell on Sept 13th(usually around Onam)
- Bali was the grandson of Prahlada. Both were born Asuras. Prahlada is the foremost of Vishnu Bhaktas. So too was Bali. Given below is a shloka from Pratah Smaranam and Bali is in there!!
बलिर्विभीषणो भीष्मः प्रह्लादो नारदो ध्रुवः |
षडैते वैष्णवाः प्रोक्ताः स्मरणं पापनाशनम् ||
Bali is also one of the Chiranjeevis and again remembered every morning in Pratah Smaranam
अश्वत्थामा बलिर्व्यासो हनूमानस्च विभीषणः |
कृपः परशुरामश्च सप्तैते चिरजीविनः ||
- Bali performed a yagam(per Bhagavatam) which is a ‘Vedic’ ritual(read Brahmanical?) which Vamana attends. He was made the king of Sutala after Vamana placed his foot on him. Devi Bhagavatam says Vamana agreed to be his doorkeeper!! Bali is remembered as a great Daata and Bhakta to this day by all.
- Onam focuses on the return of the just ruler Bali and not on Vamana. But elsewhere in India, Vamana Jayanthi is observed as a day of prayer but not very popular.(there are Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Parashurama Jayanthis too!! Rama, Krishna and Buddha jayanthis are well known. ).
Now to the recent controversy.
- It was reported that an article published in Kerala talked about celebrating Onam as Vamana Jayanthi. When people feel the need to do this, not sure if they understand Bali and Vamana correctly. I have not read the article so can’t comment much on it.
- Saying it is also known as Vamana Jayanthi is not wrong. Since the dates and legend are one and the same. Ramayana is also called Sitayah Charitam Mahat(great story of Sita) and Poulatsya Vadha(Ravana’s fall).
- There was a tweet to ‘Deshvasis’ from the BJP President wishing them on Vamana Jayanthi. This was on Onam eve which is Bhadrapada Shukla Dwadashi and hence Vamana Jayanti. The word Onam was not mentioned.
- It was followed by a tweet geeting Malayalis on Onam.
Let us come to the outrage. Almost every liberal news site carried an article condemning this. There was a furor on twitter and elsewhere. Even politicians condemned it. The outrage was surprisingly directed at the tweets!! It was said to be offensive and insulting to Malayalis(the 1st tweet??) when it referred to Deshvasis, was called Onam tweet, termed as Hinduization of Indian/South Asian festivals. People pleaded to leave this and other very few cross-cultural festivals alone. It was also called a case of Brahmanization of a secular festival!! Even North-South divide and Dalit angle were brought in. Some nasty videos circulated on social media. Two things common in all these was poor understanding of Hinduism and lack of logic. There is a 3rd one which will come at the end of this article.
Inferences:
Onam is a Hindu festival. Saying that it is not a Hindu festival just because it is celebrated across religions and communities (a very heartening feature) or because no deity is worshipped shows lack of understanding of Hindu culture and history. Out of the 6 Astika Darshanas(6 theist schools of Hindu philosophy. Astika – a believer in Vedas), Mimamsa and Samkhya are Nireeshwara Darshanas and don’t require a God.
The clearly obvious connection to Vamana Jayanthi is neither Brahmanization nor anything else.
If so called liberals want to ignore that aspect, wonder what is bothering them in treating this as an ‘alternative reading’? The phrase happened to be the most loved for liberals until recently. Also, what made them think that tweet was an ‘Onam tweet’ when it was clearly not. Even Diwali is celebrated on different days in some parts of India. And same day is called by different names (eg: Ugadi, Cheti Chand, Gudi Padwa all fall on same day).
By blinking and making a huge fuss, the so called liberals have exposed themselves. The slim veil of liberalism is no longer there. They went for divisiveness over diversity. This selective liberalism is nothing but intolerance 2.0.
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