Bali Raja the Sacrificed King

– May 27, 2011Posted in: Caste System/Human Rights, Stories

Don Richardson in his book Eternity in their Hearts (Regal Books, Ventura, CA: May 1984) poses the theory that God has been 

Vishnu stepping on King Bali's head
Vishnu stepping on King Bali's head
at work across the world, planting “seeds” in every culture that point to Christ. Richardson calls these culturally embedded seeds redemptive analogies. These redemptive analogies may be in the form of a story that closely parallels a story of the Bible (such as Noah and the flood), or they may be found as symbols within the context of a local religious practice that point toward a Messiah figure. The “seeds” might even be simply a culture’s teaching of the hereafter, a place where there will be no tears or sorrow. The point is, God has been at work in cultures around the world planting these redemptive analogies, and as workers who are laboring for His Kingdom, we can search for these redemptive analogies and use them to connect people to Christ. The cultures of India are full of such redemptive analogies.

 
For instance, there’s an ancient story about a king. The strain of this story runs throughout the subcontinent, across many languages, cultures and castes. It goes like this…
 
Long ago, there was a king who reigned in south India. His name was Bali. He was generous, kind, and just (In the brahminical version of the story, Bali is called a “demon” king, but even in that version, he is described as “generous” and respected and loved by his people). Under Bali’s reign, there was no caste or class, sickness or suffering.
 
King Bali became so beloved, and therefore, powerful because of his popularity, that the upper-gods of the Hindu pantheon decided they needed to check Bali’s power and reputation. To do so, they chose Vishnu, a god of the Hindu trinity, to incarnate in the form of a dwarf priest and come to Bali with a request. King Bali had sworn to never refuse anyone a request, so the gods knew that if a dwarf priest made a simple request for land the length of three strides, King Bali would grant that small appeal. 
 
However, after Bali granted the dwarf’s wish, Vishnu changed from a dwarf back into a god, and then began to take his steps. His first step encompassed the whole earth. His second step covered the heavens. Now what would he do? There was only one place left to step. King Bali said, “Step on me.” Vishnu did so, banishing King Bali to the netherworld. However, because of King Bali’s virtue, he was granted an annual visit to check on his people’s welfare.
 
Even today, many of the peoples of India celebrate King Bali. In the south, the festival of Onam celebrates the annual return of Bali. Another festival is more well known. It is called Diwali, and is celebrated by the whole subcontinent. Two competing traditions persist during Diwali. The first is the tradition of India’s low caste peoples. Every year, they light lamps during Diwali, and chant the mantra “Let the misery be gone and let the kingdom of Bali come!” However, India’s brahmin households make a pastry figure representing King Bali, and take it to the doorstep where they smash it, cursing him and his kingdom.  
 
We at Truthseekers believe King Bali is a redemptive analogy planted by God Himself among the low-caste of India. It is clear that India’s low caste are longing for a messiah figure to come and rescue them from the misery of this life, and India’s upper caste who follow the upper caste gods, are not interested in any messiah coming to save the low-caste slaves. Interestingly enough, low castes in India are called shudra, which literally means “slave.”
 
Slavery Book by Phule
Slavery Book by Phule
We at Truthseekers were not the ones who discovered this “seed.”  Rather, a social reformer who lived in the second half of the 1800’s, Mahatma Jotirao Phule, made the connection. Phule fought ardently against the caste system, and ardently for the rights of women and low-caste peoples in central India. In his monumental book Slavery, Phule mentioned Baliraja (raja means king). He wrote, “…missionaries, followers of Baliraja in the West, that is Jesus Christ, came to this country…preached the true teachings of Jesus among the shudras (low-caste) and freed them from the deceit and slavery of [caste]…” Today, we at Truthseekers use Phule’s words to present Jesus as the Ultimate Baliraja for whom the low-caste peoples, the majority population of this land, are waiting.
 
You may feel a little skeptical, or this may seem a little abstract, so let me put this in practical terms. However, Truthseekers has been connecting with a group of stone carvers from the state of Bihar (northeast India). We connected to them through their community leader. After many meetings, and much conversation, the leader embraced the message of Jesus as presented in the context of Baliraja, and now is giving the message to his people. Two of our staff spent a week with the people of these remote communities in order to test the spiritual climate, and to speak Truth. They shared with hundreds of people about Jesus, the Baliraja of the west. They talked about the True Baliraja as presented in the Bible, and discussed the King Bali folklore. They heard this response more than once:
 
“We’ve heard of Baliraja, but we’ve known him as a “demon king” because that’s what the religious pundits (leaders) tell us. The problem is that our parents and grandparents always talked about Bali being a good king. We were confused and didn’t know what to believe. Now we know you are telling us the truth and the pundits have been lying to us. We want to know more about Jesus/Baliraja.” 
 
When our staff investigated further, they found that many among these stone carvers were raised as monotheists, and have only recently been persuaded to practice polytheism and worship the upper castes’ gods. 
 
This story is just one example of how India’s low-caste are embracing the Message when it’s presented in the context of Baliraja. The redemptive analogy, planted like a seed thousands of years ago by the Sower, is bursting into harvest!
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