This is with reference to Sq. Ld. P.S. Rai’s article on Bali (DV, Jan 13, 1989, Aug.1-15, 1990) and “Bali, Vamana, Avatar: Aryans spreading”, (DV May 16, 91 p.17). Rai said that “The Onam festival which the Keralites celebrate every year is also in honor of the great and good King Bali”. But K. Mukundan (DV May 16, 91 p.18) said that “Onam is the festival of Aryans to remember their victory over Dalits”. He adds “why should Dalits celebrate Onam to remember the death of their good emperor? The Dalits must shed tears on that day because after this incident Dalits became the slaves of Aryans”.
What then is the reality? Two writers, however, agree that it is the festival not of Brahmins but of India’s original inhabitants.
We find references to Bali in the Ramayana, Bhagwat Purana and other Aryan books of mythology. So, Bali can’t be a historic personality. Mahatma Jyoti Phule had praised the King Bali on his social equality. Bali and Ravan etc. were mere Brahmin-baiters.
Both were only mythological characters and that is why our history books do not mention their names, whereas Buddha, Phule, Kabir are historic figures. N.K. Sharma, therefore, was right in saying that “Bali is not a historical figure”, (DV July 16,1991 p.21).
Non-Brahmin is also anti-Dalit:
In Maharashtra, the Marathas and some Backward Castes are in power. The Maharashtra government is a government of non-Brahmins but they are as much anti-Dalit and anti-Muslim as the Brahmins.
Dr. K. Jamnadas of Chandrapur, Maharashtra, has proved that all famous Hindu places of pilgrimage were originally Buddhist. According to him there was a time when almost the whole of India was Buddhist, except a few scattered sanctuaries where Hinduism continued a precarious existence. Dr. Jamnadas claimed that Hindu temples like Jagannath at Puri, Vitthala at Pandharpur, Tirupati and many others were Buddhist. The Bhaje Karle caves and Chiplun caves in Maharashtra are changing from Buddha shrine to Hindu.
