Vamana or Trivikrama Avatara of Lord Vishnu was the first wholly Human Avatar and it as the first Avatar in Treta Yuga.
The Chief of the Devas, Indra felt threatened by Mahabali who conquered the three worlds.
Lord Vishnu took the Avatar of a Brahmin midget and requested Mahabali for the grant of land measured by his three feet, when Mahabali conducted a Yaga.
Despite his Guru’s advice that the midget was none other than Lord Vishnu, Mahabali, to keep up his word granted the boy’s wish.
Chuthuvilakku at Thrikkakkara Vamana Temple.
The midget grew huge measured the earth with one step, the Heavens with another and asked for a place for the third step.
Mahabali bowed His head and Lord Vishnu kept His foot on his head.
Vamana as He measured the world is called Trivikrama, One who Has won the three worlds.
He blessed Mahabali and granted his desire to visit his Kingdom once in a year.
This day is celebrated as Onam festival in Kerala.
The exact place where Lord Vamana took His first step is in Kerala.at Thirikakara.
The celebration of the Onam festival is the main religious event in the temple. The festival is celebrated over a period of ten days in the Malayalam month of Chingam. The temple is considered to be the centre of Onam celebrations over the world, as Thrikkakara is considered to have been the abode of the King Mahabali. The temple houses the main deity Lord Vamana.During the Onam celebration period, a pyramidal statue symbolizing Lord Vamana is installed as a symbol of honour at all other sites of the celebration, and named Onathappan or Thrikkakara-appan. The temple is the site at which the king Mahabali is said to have been sent to the underworld Patala by Lord Vamana with his foot, hence marking the genesis of the Onam festival. The etymology of the name Thrikkakara (‘place of the holy foot’) is also derived this way.
During the period of 10 days, the temple showcases performances in several cultural arts such as Chakyar Koothu, Ottamthullal, Kathakali and Patakam[9] as well as dance and musical performances such as Panchavadyam and Thayambaka. Each day also has its own ceremonial significance, and the temple authorities perform several ceremonial rites which involve the main deity and the other deities housed at the temple (namely Lord Ayyapa, Devi, Lord Krishna and Rakshassu). The Shiva temple located beside the main temple is also involved in these rites.
Matsya, the fish-avatar who saved Manu – the progenitor of mankind from the great deluge and rescued the Vedic scriptures by killing a demon. Story can be found in the Matsya Purana.
Varaha, the boar-avatar, who rescued the earth from the ocean, by killing her kidnapper-demon Hiranyaksha. Story can be found in the Varaha Purana.
Narasimha, the half man-half lion avatar, who killed the tyrant demon-king Hiranyakashipu, to rescue the demon’s son Prahlada, who was a Vishnu-devotee
Vamana Avatar was in Kerala and the place where Bali had his kingdom was on the banks of Narmada, where the capital of Bali was situuated.
The place Varaha killed Hiranyakasipu is in Nepal, V(B0araha Kshetra), yet there is legend that Varaha is from Tirupati which is Adivaraha Kshetra.
Narasimha is from Ahobilam ,Andhra Pradesh.
Parashurama Avatar is from the South, Kerala.
Kalki is expected t manifest in the South.
So, of the Ten Avatars of Vishnu,
One is in the Ocean,
Three from the North of Vindhyas(Rama, Krishna and Balarama) and
Six are from the South, Dravida.
It is also worth noting that the Avatars of Vishnu in the North starts from Rama and as on date has manifested upto Krishna/Balarama
This is an agreement with the. Bhagavatham Sloka which states that the ancestor of Lord Rama, Satyavrata Manu migrated with his two sons to Ayodhya because of floods in the Dravida.
The Flood in question relates to the this Floods in Hindu scriptures and Tamil Literature.
Hence it seems that the Sanatana Dharma flourished in the south and moved to North because of floods and Satyavrta Manu established the Sanatana Dharma in the North.
As Time is Cyclic in Indian Thought, I am researching about the earlier floods to find more clues.
There is this issue of the movement of Tectonic plates, shift of North and South Poles which need an examination with the help of Indian Scriptures and Literature.
Kavatapuram was the second capital of early Pandyas whose first capital South Madurai was devoured by sea. ‘Kavatapuram’ means the doorway (of South India). Valmiki Ramayana has a few references to South India. One of them goes like this:–
The Tolkappiyam also formulates the captivating division of the Tamil land into five regions (tinai�), each associated with one particular aspect of love, one poetical expression, and also one deity�: thus the hills (kuri�ji�) with union and with Cheyon (Murugan)�; the desert (palai�) with separation and Korravai (Durga)�; the forests (mullai�) with awaiting and Mayon (Vishnu-Krishna)�; the seashore (neytal�) with wailing and Varuna�; and the cultivated lands (marutam) with quarrel and Ventan (Indra). Thus from the beginning we have a fusion of non-Vedic deities (Murugan or Korravai), Vedic gods (Indra, Varuna) and later Puranic deities such as Vishnu (Mal or Tirumal). Such a synthesis is quite typical of the Hindu temperament and cannot be the result of an overnight or superficial influence�; it is also as remote as possible from the separateness we are told is at the root of so-called �Dravidian culture.�
Expectedly, this fusion grows by leaps and bounds in classical Sangam poetry whose composers were Brahmins, princes, merchants, farmers, including a number of women. The �Eight Anthologies� of poetry (orettuttokai�) abound in references to many gods�: Shiva, Uma, Murugan, Vishnu, Lakshmi (named Tiru, which corresponds to Sri) and several other Saktis.[37] The Paripadal, one of those anthologies, consists almost entirely of devotional poetry to Vishnu. One poem[38] begins with a homage to him and Lakshmi, and goes on to praise Garuda, Shiva on his �majestic bull,� the four-faced Brahma, the twelve Adityas, the Ashwins, the Rudras, the Saptarishis, Indra with his �dreaded thunderbolt,� the devas and asuras, etc., and makes glowing references to the Vedas and Vedic scholars.[39] So does the Purananuru,[40] another of the eight anthologies, which in addition sees Lord Shiva as the source of the four Vedas (166) and describes Lord Vishnu as �blue-hued� (174) and �Garuda-bannered� (56).[41] Similarly, a poem (360) of a third anthology, the Akananuru, declares that Shiva and Vishnu are the greatest of gods[42]
Not only deities or scriptures, landmarks sacred in the North, such as the Himalayas or Ganga, also become objects of great veneration in Tamil poetry. North Indian cities are referred to, such as Ujjain, or Mathura after which Madurai was named. Court poets proudly claim that the Chera kings conquered North Indian kingdoms and carved their emblem onto the Himalayas. They clearly saw the subcontinent as one entity�; thus the Purananuru says they ruled over �the whole land / With regions of hills, mountains, / Forests and inhabited lands / Having the Southern Kumari / And the great Northern Mount / And the Eastern and Western seas / As their borders….�[43]”
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