This is with reference to Sq.-Ld. P.S. Rai’s article on Aug.1, 1930) on Maha Bali Chakravarti.
We of the Bahujan Sangharsh Samite (M ass Struggle for Equality) every year publish The King Bali special issue on the eve of Diwali in our Marathi fortnightly, Bahujan Sangharsh. We never celebrate the Hindu festival, Diwali, but celebrate it as “Bali festival’ and bring out the Bali special issue. Also, we arrange meetings on this greatest of the pre- Aryan king in different Paris of Maharashtra.
This has been going on from 1985. Nagesh Choudhary, the Editor of Bahujan, is the founder of this Bali festival. When he read about the references to Balian Mahatma Phule’s collected works, he started this festival but the “Hindu. Press” always ignored it.
In his book, Slavery, Mahatma Phule writes: According to the brahminical legend Vaman defeated King Bali and looted the gold of his kingdom. But now we use its corrupted word “gold of shilangana”. This incident is celebrated as Dasahara in Maharashtra. On this {- by using flour. It signifies that women are ridiculing King Bali is coming to fight with Vaman. Also, women remember the King Bali on the occasion of Diwali festival by making idol of the same king. They also pray saying in Marathi (Let the Brahmin rule end and King Bali’s’ rule come}.
Valmiki on Bali: in the Ramayana, its author, Valmiki has praised King Bali by writing several slokas on him: “This king Bali is just, truthful, noble and honest. He has an illustrious personality. He is like Yama (the king of death). Fearing the enemy, Bali never runs away from Warfield. He distributes land to all. equally. He always waits for suitable time to do “anything”. Valmiki Ramayana — Uttarakhand — Sarg.1. In the Rigveda also in verse 1/17, 2/18 the Bali – Vaman fight is fentioned. This proves that Bali is a great pre-Aryan king standing for equality. In the Bhagavat Purana, the fight between King Bali “and the Indra (Brahmin) is vividly described. Here the Brahmins conceded that it was the King Bali that established his kingdom through justice and equality by defeating the Aryans.
Mahatma Phule said that King Bali’s kingdom was spread over nine regions and Bhagavat Purana also accepted that Bali ruled over the swarga (where the Gods live); on mrutu (where mortals live), on Patal (below the earth).
Brahmins also praised Ball: D.D. Satwalekar, a ‘Brahmin writer, says in his book, Vaidic Dharma khanda_1, about what the Aryans thought about the King Bali: they praised, “King Bali’s kingdom of two castes (Brahmins and non-brahmins) is good. In his kingdom no one troubled us. He never put any obstacles n our yagna. He is trying for our progress slowly”.
This proves Brahmins by and large were happy with ‘Bali’s rule but only some selfish Brahmins opposed Bali because he put into practice justice and equality. So, they conspired and destroyed Bali’s kingdom.
The lesson to be learnt is even an egalitarian king practicing justice will not be tolerated by Brahmins. They do not want the rule of non-Aryans. Even today we can see that all “Left” and “Right” Brahmins are against the non-Brahmin rulers. That is why they are always against Bali. That is why all non-Aryans should celebrate Bali’s festival as it is done in Kerala, named Onam.
Editor: We need a lot more literature on Ball Chakravarti as it will enable us to reconstruct our history and trace our roots. The pre-Aryan Untouchables had a glorious history and the Indus Valley Civilization is its best proof. But the Aryans have destroyed our history when they destroyed all Buddhist monuments, libraries and temples. Mahabali should be used by our people to conduct such a research into our roots so that we could put pride into our broken hearts.
