THE MONTH OF AUGUST, AFTER THE RAINS, IS FESTIVAL SEASON IN KERALA. The slender green sliver of land that clings to the southwestern flank of the Indian peninsula, as it curves down to meet the very tip of the country at Kanya Kumari, is redolent with myth and legend. The melodious gurgling names—Manimala, Bharatapuzha, Ponnai— of the rivers of Kerala, along which the people live, echo the stories of past ages. The festival of Onam celebrates the golden age of a mythical ruler of Kerala, King Mahabali, who visits his people once a year.

The story is often told in dance and dramamudiyettu: the audience, waiting for the performance to begin in the darkened surroundings of a temple ground or village square, know every detail of it. Every move, every nuance is anticipated; but this only adds to the atmosphere of heightened expectation. Each finely tuned interpretation is a dialectic between the audience's ability to perceive and the actors' desire to respond and exceed the unspoken challenge. The dancers wear elaborate costumes that glitter in the light of huge brass oil lamps that throw giant shadows against the plain backdrop. Even before the performance begins frenzied drumming warns the audience of the drama that is about to unfold.

King Mahabali is a wise and good king, but he belongs to the faction known as the asuras, or demons. The gods or devas are afraid that he might become too powerful. So they ask Vishnu (also known as the Preserver in the Hindu trinity of Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva or Creator-Preserver-Destroyer) to curb his power. Vishnu takes the form of a dwarf called Vamana and knocks at the gates of Mahabali's palace . The king receives him politely, feeds him, and offers Vamana a boon.

'Ask what you will', commands the most powerful ruler in the world. 'Will you give me three paces of land?' asks Vamana. The demon king laughs at the insignificance of the request and agrees at once. 'Remember, once you have promised, you can't go back on your word' the dwarf reminds him. Even as Mahabali agrees to the conditions, the dwarf beings to expand. With the first step he covers the whole sky, blotting out the stars. With the second he straddles the nether world. One more step and the earth will be destroyed. At that moment, Mahabali realises that he has been defeated. He bends his head and offers it as the last step for Vamana.

The gods rejoice, but since Mahabali was a ruler who loved his people, they agree that he should be allowed to return to them once a year. The people of Kerala celebrate his return with flower carpets and lights, feasting and new clothes, feats of valour and games and fireworks during the ten-day festival of Onam. At Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of modern Kerala, the main roads are closed to traffic. The entire population is in the streets. The women wear their traditional costume: an off-white pure cotton sarong or mundu with a woven gold border, and a matching breast cloth or thuni, draped across one shoulder over a tight-fitting blouse in a contrasting colour. The Kerala love for gold jewellery, is displayed in cascading gold necklaces. Little girls wear tiny gold 'parrot's cage' earrings and, since their mothers are busy presiding over small coconut-frond kiosks, selling fried banana fritters, they cling to their fathers, who sport pencil-thin moustaches and crests of perfumed and oiled hair. Onam has a medieval grandeur. There are more than a dozen tusker elephants, caparisoned in their gold-leaf ornaments. Part of the old Palace at Thiruvananthapuram has been set aside for the mass displays of floral carpets that are adjudged as to size and originality (the Keralite is nothing if not fiercely competitive). Stages are erected for the display of the martial arts that once used to be the pride of the warrior community known as the Nairs. Traditional folk rituals such as Theyyam and Kothamuri and stately dance dramas such as Kudiyattam and Kathakali are performed on another stage. The performers wearing fierce makeup and glittering headdresses, rove through the crowd. The actor playing the demon Darikan holds a flaming torch into which he throws fistful of a powder that crackles around him in tongues of fire. In other parts of Kerala dominated by inland rivers and lakes, there are snake boat races or Valomkalli. Each village has its own snake boat that is about 103 feet in length and can accommodate four helmsmen, 100 rowers and 25 singers who urge the rowers on with Vanchipattu, boat songs. The banks are crowded with excited spectators.

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