Vol 5 No 4 | Jan-Mar 2026
The Story of Mahabali
Story and art by Pranav P. Holla
The comic explores the multiple identities of Mahabali, the great Asura King whom Malayalis all over the world revere and welcome during the festival of Onam. Currently, a single image of Mahabali dominates storefronts, banners and media all over Kerala during Onam – a jolly, fair-skinned, pot-bellied, janayu-sporting King, clad in heavy jewellery. Was this always the image of Mahabali that occupied the most space in public consciousness?
This idea for this comic was brought to life after I read A.V. Sakthidharan’s book, Antigod’s Own Country. The book explores the deeper subtexts of dominant mythologies in Kerala, as well as shines a light on the possibilities of relations between the Vedic “Asuras” & followers of Shramanic faiths.
Onam and Mahabali
The great-grandson of the asura Hiranyakashipu, Maveli was just and generous, and a deeply loved leader. According to one myth, Maveli’s renown and invincibility made the gods jealous, who then hatched a plan to defeat the asuras. They requested Maveli to help them retrieve Indra’s treasure from the celestial ocean that it had fallen into, all the while trying to create the nectar of immortality to defeat the asuras in war. Only Maveli was skilled enough to churn the entire ocean, and in a bid to achieve peace between the two clans, he agreed.
The trickery of the gods was soon revealed, and a war broke out between the gods and asuras – which the asuras won. The story goes that this ushered in an era of peace in the land, remembered in Bahujan folk memory as one marked by equality between people, and no discrimination or malfeasance of any kind. This was Mavelinadu, the land of Maveli. He was of the land and he honoured it, honoured its people and rejected the varnashrama dharma.
In brahmanic tellings of the tale, the rule of asuras is depicted as a dark and evil time, one that outright rejects vedic and brahmanical teachings. As Mahabali grew stronger and more popular, the gods created yet another plan to unseat him. They sent Vishnu in the form of Vamana, a brahmin who asked Bali for a piece of land the size of three paces. Mahabali was renowned for his generosity, and granted the wish immediately, thinking it a very humble request. But immediately, Vamana grew to ‘cosmic size’, and placed one foot on the earth and the other on the sky. Not one to go back on his word, Bali accepted defeat and Vamana placed his foot on his head, pushing Bali into the underworld along with the other asuras.
The people of Kerala rejected Vamana, and pleaded to their ruler to visit them every year. The return of Maveli to his land every year is Thiruvonam or Onam, a harvest festival celebrated in remembrance of an egalitarian past, and a dream of a similar future.
Source: https://mavelinaducollective.com/the-story-of-maveli/
Sources for more reading
In a land of rich oral storytelling traditions, it is difficult to say for sure where myths really originated from. Some stories benefit from being written down by someone, and some are forgotten because there was no one to record them. Many stories are purposely erased by those that have the power to do so, and hence it is important to dig deeper and seek out versions of narratives that do not exist in the limelight.
https://www.keralatourism.org/kerala-article/2020/onapottan-celebration-of-the-divine/1015 –
Antigod’s own Country: A Short History of Brahiminical Colonisation of Kerala – A.V. Shaktidharan
Interview in Malayalam with historian Manu S. Pillai
https://youtu.be/w8LE1U8RNBM?si=7fEWmUkJHP4WWw1y
https://www.keralatourism.org/onam/history/mahabali-legend
