The king comes home
The king comes home
The king comes home
Kochi
23 - 26 August 2026
23 - 26 August 2026
optional night to 27 August
Kerala's harvest festival is built around a homecoming. Mahabali ruled so well that the gods grew nervous and sent him beneath the earth, granting him one wish: to rise once a year and see his people happy.
Kerala's harvest festival is built around a homecoming. Mahabali ruled so well that the gods grew nervous and sent him beneath the earth, granting him one wish: to rise once a year and see his people happy.
The Visits
What You Will Experience
What You Will Experience
01
The Onam story, in Kathakali
Watch artists build their faces into gods over half an hour. Then see the story of Mahabali unfold in movement, percussion, and silence.
01
The Onam story, in Kathakali
Watch artists build their faces into gods over half an hour. Then see the story of Mahabali unfold in movement, percussion, and silence.
01
The Onam story, in Kathakali
Watch artists build their faces into gods over half an hour. Then see the story of Mahabali unfold in movement, percussion, and silence.
02
The Aranmula snake-boat race
On the Pamba, a 500-year-old offering to the Parthasarathi temple. Snake boats up to 120 feet, a hundred oarsmen each, racing to the boat-songs, watched from reserved seats on the bank.
02
The Aranmula snake-boat race
On the Pamba, a 500-year-old offering to the Parthasarathi temple. Snake boats up to 120 feet, a hundred oarsmen each, racing to the boat-songs, watched from reserved seats on the bank.
02
The Aranmula snake-boat race
On the Pamba, a 500-year-old offering to the Parthasarathi temple. Snake boats up to 120 feet, a hundred oarsmen each, racing to the boat-songs, watched from reserved seats on the bank.
03
The royal parade at Tripunithura
On Uthradam, the eve of the feast (25 August), the old Kochi royal seat comes alive: caparisoned elephants to panchavadyam, flower-carpets thirty feet wide, women dancing the Thiruvathirakali in white and gold.
03
The royal parade at Tripunithura
On Uthradam, the eve of the feast (25 August), the old Kochi royal seat comes alive: caparisoned elephants to panchavadyam, flower-carpets thirty feet wide, women dancing the Thiruvathirakali in white and gold.
03
The royal parade at Tripunithura
On Uthradam, the eve of the feast (25 August), the old Kochi royal seat comes alive: caparisoned elephants to panchavadyam, flower-carpets thirty feet wide, women dancing the Thiruvathirakali in white and gold.
04
The 500 painted tigers of Thrissur
The image you take home. At Swaraj Round, more than 500 men painted as tigers dance through the maidan before crowds in the tens of thousands, drums you feel in your chest. From a reserved, shaded vantage.
04
The 500 painted tigers of Thrissur
The image you take home. At Swaraj Round, more than 500 men painted as tigers dance through the maidan before crowds in the tens of thousands, drums you feel in your chest. From a reserved, shaded vantage.
04
The 500 painted tigers of Thrissur
The image you take home. At Swaraj Round, more than 500 men painted as tigers dance through the maidan before crowds in the tens of thousands, drums you feel in your chest. From a reserved, shaded vantage.
05
The Thiruvonam Onasadya
The feast at the centre of it all: twenty-six dishes on a banana leaf, eaten by hand - what all of Kerala sits down to on the same day.
05
The Thiruvonam Onasadya
The feast at the centre of it all: twenty-six dishes on a banana leaf, eaten by hand - what all of Kerala sits down to on the same day.
05
The Thiruvonam Onasadya
The feast at the centre of it all: twenty-six dishes on a banana leaf, eaten by hand - what all of Kerala sits down to on the same day.
FAQ’s
Questions
What you need to know before you cross the threshold.
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