Page:Hindu Feasts Fasts and Ceremonies.djvu/136

120 But a question may arise here as to why this day which is a sorrowful day on which a good sovereign died should be observed with festivities. It is stated that Mahabali requested Vishnu that the day of his departure to the other world should be observed with festivities and the boon, it is said, was granted by the deity. There is also another belief. On the Onam day, king Mahabali is supposed to again pay a visit to his country, his object being to see whether his subjects still enjoy the same amount of happiness and prosperity, as they did under him. So, to give a right impression to their whilom sovereign, the Malayalis keep up the festivities on this day, for, if they should mourn, Mahabali would return to his abode in the other world with a grieved heart and a vexed mind.

At the approach of Onam, the houses in Malabar are decorated with flowers and festoons. A clay image of Vishnu is made in every home and worshipped during these ten days. The god is inaugurated with a special feast called Puadai feast in which rice and nendra plantain are cooked and offered to the god. The duty of bringing flowers and boughs to decorate the