When I was told to write about Onam, the first idea that came to my mind as a subject for the piece was the magnificence of the festival that marks the homecoming of the erstwhile legendary king of Kerala, the Mahabali. A detailed account of Onasadya, Athapookalam and all other related vibrant facts associated with Onam would make a really sumptuous article capable of arousing delighted interest. But let us attempt something different.
Kerala, under the rule of Mahabali was a near Utopia, where social, economic and political justice existed in near perfection and perfect harmony was at its zenith. Any thought, in the present world, about putting efforts towards re-creating such a state might sound absurd, but having such optimism is not entirely out of question, as some civilisations, through their hard work and bravado had often made the impossible, possible. Now, what are the changes that we should envisage to re-create such a perfect society? Is it really possible to make such a revolutionary change?
According to the legendary song Maveli naadu vaaneedum kaalam, equality was one of the striking features of the Mahabali’s kingdom. Establishing a society where there is perfect equality is an impossible task as discovered by socialist regimes like in China and Cuba. Economic, social as well as political inequality would be there as long as human life would be here in this universe. So the effort should be towards reducing this degree of inequality with adequate measures in the governmental level as well as individual level.
During Mahabali’s rule, there were no theft or deceit, nor were there any cheating or lies. All these factors seem to be directly related to economic and social inequality and hence they would be hopefully removed once near economic and social equality is established. And in Mahabali’s Kerala, there was no caste system and all human beings belonged to one single caste, humanity. Hence abolition of caste system is one of the most important pre-requisites for the re-creation of a perfect society.
There is no doubt that the tasks that we have to pursue to recreate a perfect society, like the kingdom of Mahabali, are daunting. Now as we know the things that we have to change to create a perfect society, we should be able to find the method that we should adopt to establish such a society. The good news is that the solution is pretty simple; but the bad news is that it is very hard to implement.
Education and knowledge is the simple solution that is available to us in creating such a perfect society. But the fact is that rendering education and imparting knowledge to the millions of people is a very difficult task, which to our amazement, Mahabali’s kingdom was able to do. A paradigm shift in the nature of education, from creation of possessive impulses like money and power to the creation of creative impulses like art and literature in the minds of the people, is imperative. Minds that become enlightened, after getting such an education, would be instrumental in creating a society that would be similar to one that Mahabali ruled.
Though preposterous it might sound at the outset, on serious thinking we could conclude that this is a novel and sensible thought as something has to be done immediately to stop us from becoming a group of people with scant regard for humanity and human life. So this Onam, in addition to tasting Onasadya and making Athapookalam, let us think about re-creating Mahabali’s Kerala and take our small steps towards achieving the “impossible”. May be in the future, history lessons that our children and grand children would learn, would speak about us as the persons who have shown the guts to think beyond the realm of possibility and have made the impossible, possible.
(Republished from the Onam edition of Pine Mag, the official magazine of Calpine Technologies, the firm where I work )
According to the legendary song Maveli naadu vaaneedum kaalam, equality was one of the striking features of the Mahabali’s kingdom. Establishing a society where there is perfect equality is an impossible task as discovered by socialist regimes like in China and Cuba. Economic, social as well as political inequality would be there as long as human life would be here in this universe. So the effort should be towards reducing this degree of inequality with adequate measures in the governmental level as well as individual level.
During Mahabali’s rule, there were no theft or deceit, nor were there any cheating or lies. All these factors seem to be directly related to economic and social inequality and hence they would be hopefully removed once near economic and social equality is established. And in Mahabali’s Kerala, there was no caste system and all human beings belonged to one single caste, humanity. Hence abolition of caste system is one of the most important pre-requisites for the re-creation of a perfect society.
There is no doubt that the tasks that we have to pursue to recreate a perfect society, like the kingdom of Mahabali, are daunting. Now as we know the things that we have to change to create a perfect society, we should be able to find the method that we should adopt to establish such a society. The good news is that the solution is pretty simple; but the bad news is that it is very hard to implement.
Education and knowledge is the simple solution that is available to us in creating such a perfect society. But the fact is that rendering education and imparting knowledge to the millions of people is a very difficult task, which to our amazement, Mahabali’s kingdom was able to do. A paradigm shift in the nature of education, from creation of possessive impulses like money and power to the creation of creative impulses like art and literature in the minds of the people, is imperative. Minds that become enlightened, after getting such an education, would be instrumental in creating a society that would be similar to one that Mahabali ruled.
Though preposterous it might sound at the outset, on serious thinking we could conclude that this is a novel and sensible thought as something has to be done immediately to stop us from becoming a group of people with scant regard for humanity and human life. So this Onam, in addition to tasting Onasadya and making Athapookalam, let us think about re-creating Mahabali’s Kerala and take our small steps towards achieving the “impossible”. May be in the future, history lessons that our children and grand children would learn, would speak about us as the persons who have shown the guts to think beyond the realm of possibility and have made the impossible, possible.
(Republished from the Onam edition of Pine Mag, the official magazine of Calpine Technologies, the firm where I work )
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