this indian life

By: thisindianlife

Oct 05 2009

Category: music

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A. R. Rahman’s Academy Award winning song Jai Ho is performed at the annual Onam festival in Mehrauli, Delhi.

Click to hear a clip of Jai Ho:

Kerala’s biggest festival is especially celebrated with gusto by the over 1,000 Malayalee immigrants living in Delhi’s suburb, Mehrauli. The Malayalee Diaspora left the green beauty of Kerala in the South to pursue career opportunities in the big city of Delhi in the North. The Onam festival strengthens community and identity.

The festival celebrates the harvest season and is based on a legendary king’s rule over Kerala in a time of peace. Onam is the joyful celebration of the annual return of the king in the form of a man dressed up like the mythic ruler. It is celebrated by Hindus, Christians and Muslims in harmony.

During the Onam festival, songs are sung, dances are danced, games are played and a special vegetarian meal is eaten off of banana leaves.

Click to hear Kerala singer K. J. Yesudas:

A traditional Onam song expresses the harmony experienced under the king’s legendary reign:

All the people had equality.
And people were joyful and merry;
They were all free from harm.
There was neither anxiety nor sickness,
Death of the children was never even heard of,
There were no lies,
There was neither theft nor deceit,
And no one was false in speech either.
Measures and weights were right;
No one cheated or wronged his neighbor.
When Maveli, our King, ruled the land,
All the people formed one casteless race.