The time when Travancore said no to longer Onam holidays in Keralam

An artiste dressed as King Mahabali during a cultural procession as part of Onam celebrations in Keralam. | Photo Credit: NIRMAL HARINDRAN

Nowadays, it is taken for granted that the Onam holidays would run into several days. But it was not always so, reveal old records from the time before the modern-day State of Keralam was formed in 1956.

Questions were raised and answers given in the Travancore Sri Mulam Assembly (a precursor to the current State Legislative Assembly) in the 1930s over a demand that the number of public holidays for Onam be raised to 10 as was the case with the Christmas-New Year break. Back then, the government took the stand that the number of holidays cannot be increased as there were already a “sufficiently large number of holidays in the year.”

A transcript from the Assembly records | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Assembly records preserved from those days show that a number of members, notably T.P. Velayudhan Pillai representing Tiruvalla, had persistently raised the issue in the Sri Mulam Assembly. The replies were given by the then Chief Secretary to government Rao Sahib, Dr. N. Kunjan Pillai, who defended the government’s stand. What seems to have irked some members was that the Christmas-New Year holidays in December lasted 9 to 11 days, while it was not so for Onam although Thiruvonam day was a public holiday.