Onam is a unique festival of cultural beauty, which is observed in the state of Kerala in India to welcome back King Mahabali . It also commemorates the fifth avatar of Lord Vishnu, the Vamana avatar.
As per mythology, Indra dev and other deities sought Lord Vishnu's help after they got defeated by Mahabali, the king of the asuras. To do this, lord Vishnu took Vamana avatar. During a puja, Vamana requests for three steps of land to build a fire altar to which Mahabali agrees. Vamana grows in size and covers the entire universe and beyond in just three steps. Hence, Mahabali was asked to leave and because he was very fond of his kingdom, he was granted a wish to visit his kingdom once every year. This celebration is called Onam.
