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14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS
knew that he was innocent, and that Visnu had deceitfully 'begged' for a piece of land. In fact even the heaven and the earth had lamented Bali's fate; Brahma also said that "Vali did not deserve this humiliation (of being consigned to Patala) and as a compensation Bali is confined to Sutala which is free from suffering, calamities and diseases with the promise that he would later become Indra. The narration of the story in the purana leaves no doubt that Visnu had deceived Bali to achieve his partisan objective of restoring Indra to his throne. In fact Visnu takes the form of Vamana "to bring about the highest welfare of the gods (devas)" Encyclopaedia of Hinduism By Nagendra Kumar Singh
"In the present Manwantara, Vishnu was again born as Vámana, the son of Kaśyapa by Adití. With three paces he subdued the worlds, and gave them, freed from all embarrassment, to Purandara" VISHNU PURANA. BOOK III. CHAP. I.
Vamana was the King of Kerala and they still celebrate the memory of this great and noble Asura King. His empire probably extended far beyond South India upto major portions of North India. He did a 100 Viswajit yagnas and the 100th one was at the banks of Narmada. It was here he met Vamana in his deceptive dwarf form.
Konkana was a southern kingdom populated by Brahmins during and after the period of Puranas. This kingdom is identified to be the Konkan region (coastal region) of Maharashtra. Other such Brahmin populated kingdoms includes Dravida, Andhra and Karnata. They have migrated in the later periods to the south as far as Kerala.
The name Konkana probably have originated from the older name Kanwa-gana (meaning the clan of Kanwa) a clan of Bhrahmins. Kanwas were a sub-clan of the Kasyapa-clan of Brahmins. They arrived at the western shores of Indian peninsula, which were the stronghold of the Bhargava clan of Bhrahmins. This history is hidden in the myth of Vamana who arrived at the sacrifice of king Mahabali, conducted in the land of the Bhrigus (Bhrigu-kaksha (Brauch in Gujarat), on the banks of river Narmada. This sacrifice was officiated by king Mahabali's priest named Sukra, who belonged to the Bhagava clan. In spite of the protest of priest Sukra, king Mahabali gave some land for Vamana. Starting with Vamana, many Kasyapas, in large numbers, settled in the kingdom of Mahabali. Their settlements outumbered those of Bhargavas and of the ruling clan of Asuras. Thus Mahabali lost his kingdom and was forgotten into the underworld of memories..
The Narmada River and Saivism
The Narmada River is one of the most important sacred rivers, believed to have descended from the sky by the order of Lord Shiva. It is said that the mere sight of the river will make a pilgrim pure
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