Celebration and Culture

As I crossed the bridge going to my seva I knew something was up. Sacred drumming was coming from the direction of the Biotech Building and loud cheers rent the air from time to time. All the female students I saw were dressed in their best. Many were wearing the traditional white cotton Kerala sari, bordered with gold trim. Fragrant jasmine strands adorned their hair.




When I arrived at the building I was amazed to see a huge statue of Kali, two elephants with Amma’s picture on their backs and many costumd dancers. They were awaiting the arrival of the mythical, exiled King Mahabali. Every year at Onam the beloved ruler comes to visit his former subjects in Kerala to see how they are faring in this modern world. King Mahabali was arriving a few days early at Amrita University as the students will have a week’s holiday to spend celebrating with family and friends.


The holiday has the emotional resonance of Christmas. It is a time when families reunite, children receive new clothes and other gifts and all share a sumptuous repast on the last day of the ten-day festival.

Amma has stressed that a festival should be celebratory, but also reflect good culture. I decided to observe the celebration with this in mind and see if I felt the students’ festival reflected these values. By the end of day I was deeply impressed and moved by the wholesome, aesthetic, unified, deeply meaningful and joyous nature of the celebration.

A major theme of Onam is unity. I could see students from all around India and abroad participating together. Muslim girls dashed from event to event hand in hand with their Hindu friends. The celebration was a join venture of the Multimedia Department and the Biotech students who share the same building. Multimedia had really outdone themselves with the decorations, posters, the pookalam (traditional Onam flower arrangement) and all the arrangements. The Biotech students enthusiastically joined in all the games and competitions through out the day. The leadership and organizational abilities of the students were really impressive. They were held under the trees on a lush green lawn, reminding me of the Gurukula campuses of old.

Throughout Amrita Unviversity the festival was celebrated during the day. Seeing all this I wished that I could have attended a University like this when I was young. Seeing these young people I thought that India must certainly prosper in the future as these brilliant, energetic and cultured young people take their place in society.

Rita S.