Vaman Dvadashi / Onam Onam is the principle festival of Kerala and is linked with the legend of the mythological king Mahabali. On Onam day the houses are cleaned, decorated and lit to welcome the benevolent ruler of yore. This is the time for the fantastic boat races at Alapuzha. Snake shaped boats rowed by almost a hundred strapping ores-men try to speed past one another egged on by cheering partisan spectators accompanied by a symphony of cymbals and drums. At Thrissur a colourful procession of caparisoned elephants is taken out.
The 12th day of the bright half of Bhadrapad is celebrated in remembrance of Vaman, the 5th avatar of Vishnu. Bali or Mahabali the grandson of Prahlad, had conquered all the gods with his heroic deeds. He even made Laxmi, the wife of Vishnu, one of his slaves. As Indra was the king of the gods, so Bali was the king of the demons. But he was also a devotee of Vishnu. Bali was a just ruler. He conquered the earth and after defeat-ing Indra, he conquered heaven also and ruled there for many years. All the gods had to run away and had no place to stay. They went to plead with Vishnu. They confessed that their only com-plaint against Bali was that he had taken away their freedom. "He is a good ruler, no doubt," the gods told Vishnu, "but he is a foreigner." The gods preferred "swarajya" (self-rule) rather than "surajya" (good rule).
Vishnu insisted that he could not do injustice to Bali. "At the right time we shall find a way out of this tangle," Vishnu said. "But fighting will be of no use, since Bali is a strong king. And the people are for him."
The gods left with the request that Vishnu should take avatar to solve their problem. Vishnu thought in his mind that the strong should be met with greater strength, or else with humility one should try to achieve one's purpose. Since Bali was his devotee, Vishnu did not want to fight with him, but he tried another way. Then Vishnu took birth in the form of a dwarf named Vaman.
