Miss Noten Malvi (DV May 16 1991) article on Bali Chakravarti: “Reconvert Diwali as festival of Bali”, says that “on the occasion of Dasara in Maharashtra non-Brahmin women make idols of King Bali by using flour just to ridicule the cruel dwarf Brahmin, Vaman, by saying that “the great pre-Aryan King Bali is coming to fight Vaman”. This is not correct. It is the Brahmin woman who makes the idol of King Bali during the Dasara. To give the correct picture, I am producing the original text from Mahatma Phule’s book, Slavery: –
A most remarkable and striking corroboration of these views is to be found in the religious rites observed on some of the grand festivals which have a reference to Bali Raja, the great king who appears to have reigned once in the hearts and affection of the Sudras and him the Brahmin rulers displaced. On the day of Dushara, the wife and sisters of a Sudra, when he returns from his worship of the Shumi tree and after the distribution of its leaves, which are regarded on that day as equivalent to gold, amongst his friends, relations and acquaintances, he is greeted, at home with a welcome “ida pida Jabo ani baliche rajya yewo”. (let all troubles and misery go, and the kingdom of Bali come). Whereas the wife and sisters of a Brahmin place on that day in the foreground of the house an image of Bali, made generally of wheaten or other flour, and when the Brahmin returns from his worship of the Shumi tree, he takes the stalk of it, pokes with it the belly of the image and then passes into the house. This contrariety, in the religious customs and usages obtaining amongst the Sudras and the Brahmins and of which many more examples might be adduced, can be explained on no other supposition but that which I have tried to confirm and elucidate in these pages.
Mahatma Phule, says Bali, was the descendant of the Sudra king, Hiranyakashyapu, who was also his great grandfather. Hiranyakashyapu was deceitfully killed by an Aryan, Narasimha. After his death his son, Prahlad, ruled the nation. Prahlad‘s son, Virochan, was the father of King Bali. Prahlad and Virochan reigned peacefully. Bali’s period was full of events. Under the leadership of Vaman, the Aryans attacked Bali who bravely fought back but died unfortunately in the battle on the day of Ashwin Shuddha’s (as per the Marathi calendar). After hearing the news of the fall of Bali, his queen Vindhya Wali, jumped into the flames of fire and died. It is said that since then the custom of Sati was established. Bali’s son, Banasura, fought bravely with Vaman but lost ultimately and ran away from the battlefield. On the day of the Ashwin Shuddha, Vaman looted all the gold belonging to Bali. Since then, the day is celebrated as Dasara.
Vaman defeated and died in Himalaya:
Later, Banasura mobilized all his troops and attacked Vaman and defeated him. Banasura recovered all the stolen wealth from Vaman who ran away to save his life. Banasura chased him to the Himalayas where many Aryans died of starvation. Ultimately, Vaman also died there only. Banasura and his people became very happy after exterminating the oppressor Aryan Vaman.
“Bhau Beej” significance:
He returned to his capital and celebrated the victory with great enthusiasm. He measured all his wealth and worshipped it on the day of Ashwin Vidhya 13. On Vidhya 14 and Vidhya 30, he feasted all his people. On the day of Kartik Shuddha, he distributed prizes among the chiefs of various regions of his kingdom and ordered them to join their respective regions. Since then, Kartik Shuddha 1 is celebrated as Bali Pratapavat and the day of Kartik Shuddha 2 is celebrated as Bhau-Beej. On this day of Bhau-Beej, Sudra women greet their brothers by saying “ida pida jabo ani baliche rajya yewo” and remind the people about the great King Bali. But such a custom of remembering Bali is not found among Brahmins.
Brahma‘s attack: After the death of Bali’s son, Banasura, there was no responsible person to rule the country. Aryans took this opportunity and under the new leadership of Brahma, they attacked Banasura’s kingdom. Banasura’s people were defeated badly by Brahma. Brahma made many laws to help the Aryans but penalized the vanquished Sudras. Brahma was also called Prajapati. After the death of Brahma, Aryans were called Brahmins, only since then the word “Brahmin” came in usage.
Cruel Parasuram:
After the death of Prajapati, Parasuram became the chief of Brahmins. Parasuram was personification of cruelty. A group of Sudra fighters called Maha-aris waged 21 battles with Parasuram to save themselves from the slavery imposed upon them by the Brahmins. But Parasuram defeated the Maha-aris through receipt. To prevent further rise of these Sudras, the Aryan Parasuram inflicted untouchability and other cruel customs, on the non-Aryan original inhabitants of India.
India’s name is “Balistan“:
Thus, only from the days of Hiranyakashyapu till King Bali’s son, the Brahmins were on ravage. Following this the non-Aryans realized that the Brahmins were expert in magic and mantras. They got frightened and stopped resisting Brahmin aggressors.
Mahatma Phule in his book, “Sarvajanik Satya Dharma Pustaka“, says that, ‘the aborigines of Baltistan namely Astik, Pishachi, Rakshahs, Ahir, Kikutas, Brilla, Koli, Mang, Mahar etc. were brave and peaceful people, but the greedy Aryans from Iran invaded this golden land and converted the aborigines into Sudras.
Mahatma Phule had aptly used the word “Balistan” instead of Hindustan. The word Balistan reminds us of our great King Bali. Therefore, we should call ourselves Balistanis instead of Dalit. If 85% of the Balistanis get united and identify themselves as the owner of this nation, then it will be easy to launch a “Quit Balistan movement” against the Aryans.
