A-AS Level (CIE) Hinduism: Specimen Questions with Answers 51 - 51 of 51

Question 51

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How much accurate that Mahabali got cheated by lord Vishnu? Give a note on this.

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Explanation

As we all know that a lot of speculations have already taken place around the history of lord Vishnu and Mahabali. But it is wrong to say that the king Mahabali got cheated by the Vamana incarnation (avatar) of lord Vishnu.

King Mahabali was an efficient, great ruler, who holds the feeling of kindness and compassion. And moreover, he was an ardent devotee of lord Vishnu. But due to the over charity, Mahabali followed the habit of giving (mahadana) beyond the need and then, citizens started to get everything free of cost. This made citizens lazy and greedy. Hence, everybody hesitated to perform their own prescribed duty and as the result of this, people tend to become adharmic (unrighteousness) and started to follow the path of adharma.

To put an end to all these atrocities and for re storing the Dharma as well, king Indra requested lord Mahavishnu to do what is appropriate.

Then lord Vishna took the Vamana avatar to ask the donation while performing Yajna (sacrifice) . Despite to know that Vamana as Vishnu, Mahabali bowed down and requested to ask anything in the form of charity. What he asked was nothing but, only three foot of soil. After placing both feet, the king showed his own head. Then, Vamana blessed him with his holy feet and moved him to the one among other layers, that which is known as “Sutala” and made him an immortal (chiranjeevi) one. Other layers are- Patala, vitala, talatala, atala, rasatala, mahatala.

Infect it is said that luckiest are those who get blessings by the touching of holy feet of god. If it so, Ahalya and Mahabali are considered as luckiest devotees for getting such a golden chance.

So, we can surely conclude that Mahabali never got cheated but, blessed by the lord Vishnu himself.