Onam Pookalam Why Kerala Uses Flowers To Welcome Mahabali

Introduction

Onam is Kerala’s largest annual festival, observed across communities as a cultural, social and religious occasion. Central to its visible expression is the pookalam — the elaborate floor design made of flowers. Why do Hindus, especially in Kerala, celebrate Onam with flowers? The short answer combines myth, ritual symbolism, seasonal availability and community practice. Below I unpack those layers and acknowledge the variety of meanings different people bring to the same act.

When and where

Onam falls in the month of Chingam (Malayalam calendar), usually in August–September; the principal day is the star Thiruvonam (the nakshatra Thiruvonam). While Onam is rooted in Kerala’s cultural landscape, diasporic Malayali communities celebrate it worldwide. The pookalam appears in homes, temples and public spaces for several days leading up to Thiruvonam.

The mythic backdrop: Vamana and Mahabali

The festival’s classical story appears in the Purāṇas — notably the Bhagavata Purāṇa and other Purāṇic accounts — about Vamana, the dwarf incarnation of Vishnu, and the Asura king Mahabali. Mahabali is remembered as a generous, just ruler who, though an Asura, embodied virtues respected by many traditions. According to the story, Vishnu in his Vamana form grants Mahabali’s wish to visit his people once a year. Onam commemorates that homecoming.

Why flowers? Religious and symbolic reasons

• Welcome and hospitality: In Indian ritual aesthetics, flowers are a prime medium of greeting and honor. A fresh carpet of flowers on the threshold is a traditional way to welcome an honoured guest — in this case, Mahabali and, by extension, the divine presence associated with him.
• Offerings (puja): Flowers function as a devotional offering (puja) in many Hindu practices. Their freshness, colour and fragrance are seen as suitable for pleasing deities and ancestors.
• Ephemeral beauty and impermanence: The short-lived nature of fresh flowers can be read as a reminder of transience (anicca-like sense), the seasonal cycle of life and the humility of human celebrations.
• Symbolic colours: Traditional pookalams use bright seasonal colours — yellows and oranges (often associated with prosperity and auspiciousness), whites (purity), reds (energy) — composing a visual theology that resonates across households.
• Purity and cleanliness: Making a pookalam is also a ritual of domestic purification: cleaning the courtyard, laying out patterns and decorating the home are acts that prepare the space for sacred visitors and communal feasting.

Why flowers? Social and seasonal reasons

• Harvest and availability: Onam coincides with a post-monsoon, harvest-rich season when many flowers are in bloom and available locally; this practical abundance shapes the festival’s sensory character.
• Community-making: Creating a pookalam is typically a collaborative act. Neighbours, family groups and women’s associations often work together — a shared ritual that reinforces social bonds.
• Creativity and status: Over time the pookalam became a canvas for increasingly complex designs and friendly competitions at schools and neighbourhoods, turning floral making into a public art form.

Pookalam: technique and motifs

Pookalam can be simple concentric rings of petals or highly intricate patterns incorporating geometric motifs, mythic figures and even portraits. Techniques vary: petals may be laid flat, arranged as layered motifs, or used to form three-dimensional effects. Traditional rules — who begins the design, the centre motif, the days of addition — differ from place to place and family to family. In many households, each day leading to Thiruvonam adds a new ring, which symbolizes accumulation of hospitality and devotion.

Interpretive diversity

Different lenses emphasise different meanings. Some see Onam primarily as a harvest festival that honours seasonal abundance. Others foreground the Vamana–Mahabali narrative and the ethical virtues it commemorates, such as generosity and humility. Socially oriented interpretations highlight communal harmony and secular identity, particularly in Kerala’s multicultural context. Scholars and religious commentators note that festivals often host multiple, overlapping meanings; Onam is no exception.

Modern adaptations and ecological notes

Contemporary practice shows innovation: use of coloured rice or eco-friendly dyes, recycled materials and even synthetic petals in large public displays. At the same time, many cultural and environmental advocates encourage the use of local, seasonal flowers to support biodiversity and reduce carbon footprint from transported blooms. If synthetic colours or non-native plants are used, they may affect local waste management and ecology.

Practical and health caution

Flowers are generally safe, but people with severe pollen allergies should take care when standing close to large floral displays. Also take basic precautions about cleanliness and waste disposal when pookalams use dyes or non-biodegradable materials.

Conclusion

Celebrating Onam with flowers is a practice that interweaves mythic memory, ritual hospitality, seasonal abundance and communal creativity. The pookalam is at once an offering, a welcoming mat for a revered ancestor-king, a harvest-era celebration and a public art project. How a family or community explains the practice depends on theological leanings, local custom and contemporary sensibilities — which is, in itself, part of Onam’s continuing vitality.