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During the starlit nights of Muthukur in the early 1950s when Father would lug his cot out under the open skies and lie down on it, he would offer his limbs to his kids asking them to knead them till he said 'no more'. The sweetener was a story from puranas.
The one he loved best to narrate was that of the Vaman Avatar of Vishnu. Apparently there was this great rakshasa (demon) king, Bali Chakravarty, who conquered all, but was devoted to Lord Vishnu...he was the grandson of Prahlada, the legendary devotee of a previous avatar. King Bali ruled his subjects with love and they returned his affection evenly. And Bali was very generous to Brahmins (like Father) and gave them whatever reasonable gifts they asked for. And he never breached his promises.
And he grew so powerful that he became a threat to Devas who, out of jealousy, prayed to Vishnu to suppress Bali and conquer his empire. So, Vishnu, for reasons best known to himself, disguised as a dwarf brahmin lad. On seeing this cutest kid, all the devatas were so enchanted that they gifted him all sorts of equipment...this one gave him chappals, that one sacred threads, yet another one a mini-dhoti, yet more an umbrella....
And this lovable kid, Vamana, approached Bali, standing in the waiting line, to seek his gift. When his turn duly came, he asked Bali:
"Great King! Will you give me the simple gift I seek?"
"What is it?"
"Just a piece of land that my feet would span in three steps"
Bali laughed at this modest wish of Vamana.
The drill was that the King would pour water from the spout of his dispenser (kamandalu) into the cupped hands of the seeker (or is it the other way round?) and utter:
"Oh! Yes! I will!"
Just then, Shukracharya (the guru of Bali), who was standing by, grew suspicious and advised Bali to say:
"Oh! No! Sorry!"
But Bali had already decided to grant the simple wish of this cute brahmin boy. Upon which Shukracharya took the form of a tiny bee and crawled into the spout of the kamandalu clogging it so that not a drop of water flowed from it.
Vamana then took a long sharp needle (perhaps gifted by another devata) and poked it into the spout from the wrong side. And the bee lost one of its eyes in the process and flew off in pain. And resumed the shape of Shukracharya, but with one of his eyes gone blind forever.
Father would then show us Shukracharya in the evening sky...the glowing planet Venus. And say that, had Shukracharya not lost one of his eyes, he would be shining brighter than the full moon.
Anyway, Bali shook his kamandalu and succeeded in letting the holy water drop into the cupped hands of Vamana.
Then there was divine treachery...Vamana grew up and grew fast and grew tall till he became a veritable giant.
And with one giant step he spanned the entire earth. And with another he covered the entire heavens. And then asked Bali (who was bewildered but realized by then that this chap was indeed Lord Vishnu):
"Where do I place my third step?"
"Place it on my head, if you so please!"
And Vamana pressed his giant foot on Bali's head and Bali duly sank into the nether world (Paataala).
But before sinking, he asked Vishnu one return-gift:
"Lord! I love my Malayali subjects to distraction and they too love me. So please permit me to come up to Kerala once every year just for a few days to mingle with my folks"
"Granted!"
And Bali returns to his lost earthy kingdom annually during its plentiful harvest season. It is celebrated as Onam in Kerala.
And Bali will then get back to his Netherlands where he duly established a welfare state.
Story over...and Father would be drowsing.
But I had a few queries. For, I read in my Second Form geography book that the earth is round like a football. Indeed the Telugu word for geography used to be Bhoogola Sastram (Round Earth Science).
"Father! If the earth is round, how could Vamana step on it and cover it?"
Father was cleverer than Calvin's dad:
"Those days the earth was flat. It became round by and by"
"Hmmm!"
"Tomorrow I will tell you the story of Varaha Avatar in which a rakhasa called Hiranyaksha rolled up the flat earth like a coir mat and dumped it into the sea"
By then Father was yawning.
Another query:
"When he suddenly grew up like a giant, did Vamanas' tiny chappals, umbrella, dhoti, and sacred thread also grow large enough to fit him?"
"Grrrrrr..."
The one he loved best to narrate was that of the Vaman Avatar of Vishnu. Apparently there was this great rakshasa (demon) king, Bali Chakravarty, who conquered all, but was devoted to Lord Vishnu...he was the grandson of Prahlada, the legendary devotee of a previous avatar. King Bali ruled his subjects with love and they returned his affection evenly. And Bali was very generous to Brahmins (like Father) and gave them whatever reasonable gifts they asked for. And he never breached his promises.
And he grew so powerful that he became a threat to Devas who, out of jealousy, prayed to Vishnu to suppress Bali and conquer his empire. So, Vishnu, for reasons best known to himself, disguised as a dwarf brahmin lad. On seeing this cutest kid, all the devatas were so enchanted that they gifted him all sorts of equipment...this one gave him chappals, that one sacred threads, yet another one a mini-dhoti, yet more an umbrella....
And this lovable kid, Vamana, approached Bali, standing in the waiting line, to seek his gift. When his turn duly came, he asked Bali:
"Great King! Will you give me the simple gift I seek?"
"What is it?"
"Just a piece of land that my feet would span in three steps"
Bali laughed at this modest wish of Vamana.
The drill was that the King would pour water from the spout of his dispenser (kamandalu) into the cupped hands of the seeker (or is it the other way round?) and utter:
"Oh! Yes! I will!"
Just then, Shukracharya (the guru of Bali), who was standing by, grew suspicious and advised Bali to say:
"Oh! No! Sorry!"
But Bali had already decided to grant the simple wish of this cute brahmin boy. Upon which Shukracharya took the form of a tiny bee and crawled into the spout of the kamandalu clogging it so that not a drop of water flowed from it.
Vamana then took a long sharp needle (perhaps gifted by another devata) and poked it into the spout from the wrong side. And the bee lost one of its eyes in the process and flew off in pain. And resumed the shape of Shukracharya, but with one of his eyes gone blind forever.
Father would then show us Shukracharya in the evening sky...the glowing planet Venus. And say that, had Shukracharya not lost one of his eyes, he would be shining brighter than the full moon.
Anyway, Bali shook his kamandalu and succeeded in letting the holy water drop into the cupped hands of Vamana.
Then there was divine treachery...Vamana grew up and grew fast and grew tall till he became a veritable giant.
And with one giant step he spanned the entire earth. And with another he covered the entire heavens. And then asked Bali (who was bewildered but realized by then that this chap was indeed Lord Vishnu):
"Where do I place my third step?"
"Place it on my head, if you so please!"
And Vamana pressed his giant foot on Bali's head and Bali duly sank into the nether world (Paataala).
But before sinking, he asked Vishnu one return-gift:
"Lord! I love my Malayali subjects to distraction and they too love me. So please permit me to come up to Kerala once every year just for a few days to mingle with my folks"
"Granted!"
And Bali returns to his lost earthy kingdom annually during its plentiful harvest season. It is celebrated as Onam in Kerala.
And Bali will then get back to his Netherlands where he duly established a welfare state.
Story over...and Father would be drowsing.
But I had a few queries. For, I read in my Second Form geography book that the earth is round like a football. Indeed the Telugu word for geography used to be Bhoogola Sastram (Round Earth Science).
"Father! If the earth is round, how could Vamana step on it and cover it?"
Father was cleverer than Calvin's dad:
"Those days the earth was flat. It became round by and by"
"Hmmm!"
"Tomorrow I will tell you the story of Varaha Avatar in which a rakhasa called Hiranyaksha rolled up the flat earth like a coir mat and dumped it into the sea"
By then Father was yawning.
Another query:
"When he suddenly grew up like a giant, did Vamanas' tiny chappals, umbrella, dhoti, and sacred thread also grow large enough to fit him?"
"Grrrrrr..."
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