Kerala Kingdom

Remembrance of King Mahabali

The modern people of Kerala, a Southern state of India, celebrate the legend of King Mahabali who it is believed, was the Emperor of Bharatavarsha in pre-ancient times, several eons ago. The biggest festival of Kerala is Onam, celebrated in the remembrance of King Mahabali. Mahabali was described in ancient Indian texts as belonging to the Asura clan of Kings.

Relationship between the Asuras and Bhargavas

Small pockets of Asura regions existed in Northern India and regions beyond the Himalayas as well. Vrishaparvan, was a famous Asura King. The founder of the Puru dynasty of kings in North India (described in the epic Mahabharata as the forefather of the Pandavas and Kauravas), viz King Puru, was the son of Sarmishta, the daughter of King Vrishaparvan. Vrishaparvan's priest was the sage Sukra, (alias Venus), who was a Bhargava (the son or a descendant of the sage Bhrigu.) Often, the Asura Kings chose sages in the line of Bhrigu as their priest, whereas the Devas chose sages in the line of Brihaspati or Angiras, as their priests. Mahabali was yet another king whose priest also was named Sukra, in the line of Bhrigu.

The role of Vamana

The legend of Vamana coming and disrupting the sacrifice of Mahabali is as follows:- Vamana (meaning a dwarf-bodied man), who was a small Brahmin Boy, came and requested of the King Mahabali, three feet of land as alms, for his daily use and for practicing his daily ceremonial customs. Mahabali agreed to it, in spite of the warning by the Bhargava Sukra, his priest. Vamana, after getting the consent of the King, started to measure the three feet of land he wanted. But prior to that, he grew in size to unimaginably large and seemingly infinite proportions, and then he measured the land he wanted in just two steps - the first covering all the Heavenly planets, and the second taking up all the Mortal planets, and therefore in effect, covered the whole of Mahabali's Kingdom. Upon Mahabali's own request, (so as to be able to fulfill his given promise of three feet of land), Vamana placed his third step on the head of Mahabali and sent him to the netherworld. Vamana also gave Mahabali a boon, that his subjects and everybody else in all the ages to come, would always remember him as a great, virtuous and true King forever, and that every year he would be able to come and see them. It is to supposedly commemorate his arrival every year that the festival of Onam is celebrated.

In terms of modern scholarship, and according to the existing line of thinking with regard to recorded Indian History, this legend can be interpreted as follows. Vamana represents the arrival of a new foreign tribe into the Kingdom of Mahabali. Since Vamana was described as the son of Sage Kashyapa this new tribe could be the Kashyapa tribe. They asked the King for a small piece of land for their settling in his Kingdom. The King consented to it, in spite of the warning of his priest, the Bhargava Sukra. The Bhargavas were already aware of the Kashyapas as another priest-class but as having adherence to the Deva group of beings. The consequence of this consent by Mahabali was that the Kashyapas, starting from their small settlement permitted for occupation by the King, spread throughout the Kingdom of Mahabali and finally overthrew him or his Dynasty from his Kingship. Mahabali was later forgotten and existed only in the minds of his loyal subjects as a great King.

The transfer of power from the Bhargavas to the Kashyapas might also be interpreted from the legend of Bhargava Rama, where it is described that Bhargava Rama, after overthrowing the Kshatriya rulers of Central India, took the lordship of their lands and transferred the lands and the wealth to the Kashyapas, before retiring to the woods.

Thus the legend of Vamana, can be interpreted in a way to signify the transfer of power from the Asura Kings and their Bhargava Priests, to the Deva worshiping rulers and their Kashyapa Priests.

Roles of Sages Agastya and Vasistha

The Sage Agastya was very popular in the South Indian Kingdoms including the Kerala Kingdom. Agastya was described as a brother of Sage Vasistha. Sage Vasistha is also linked with the story of the Kerala tribe as per the epic Mahabharata. (See Mbh 1.177 and the section named The Myth regarding the birth of Kerala Tribe) This epic also says that Agastya and Vasistha were the sons of the ancient Devas Mitra and Varuna. Both were Gods common to the Deva and Asura groups of pre-ancient beings. But the Deva group demoted Varuna, who was one of the important deities of both the groups, to the status of the Sea-God while Indra took over the role of Varuna as the main God for them. But the Asura group maintained their reverence to both Varuna and Mitra.

Most conventional historians believe that Agastya and his kinsmen arrived in South India including Kerala by migration through land. Agastya is said to have opened a path across the Vindhya ranges in Central India into South India. It is believed, that there was a hermitage of Agastya near Panchavati or Nasik, where Raghava Rama made his temporary abode. There are numerous places in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, believed to be related to Agastya, like Agastyavata, Agasteswara, etc. The attribution of Sage Agastya, as a son of the Sea-God Varuna, could be due to his being good at sea-navigation and probably sea warfare as well. Indra and other Devas sought the help of Agastya, in defeating a clan of Asuras called Kalakeyas, who were ferocious sea-warriors. Thus Agastya's arrival in Kerala and South India could have been by sea as well.

Agastya was mentioned in Tamil Literature as Akattiyar. He is said to have developed a grammar for the Tamil language and probably introduced writing in Tamil using Tamil Brahmi script. Malayalam, the language spoken in Kerala is derived from this Middle Tamil and Sanskrit.