The time when Travancore said no to longer Onam holidays in Keralam

Nowadays, it is taken for granted that the Onam holidays would run into several days. But it was not always so, reveal old records from the time before the modern-day State of Keralam was formed in 1956.

Questions were raised and answers given in the Travancore Sri Mulam Assembly (a precursor to the current State Legislative Assembly) in the 1930s over a demand that the number of public holidays for Onam be raised to 10 as was the case with the Christmas-New Year break. Back then, the government took the stand that the number of holidays cannot be increased as there were already a “sufficiently large number of holidays in the year.”

Assembly records preserved from those days show that a number of members, notably T.P. Velayudhan Pillai representing Tiruvalla, had persistently raised the issue in the Sri Mulam Assembly. The replies were given by the then Chief Secretary to government Rao Sahib, Dr. N. Kunjan Pillai, who defended the government’s stand. What seems to have irked some members was that the Christmas-New Year holidays in December lasted 9 to 11 days, while it was not so for Onam although Thiruvonam day was a public holiday.

In May 1935, Velayudhan Pillai wanted to know whether the government was aware of the representations made in both Houses of the Legislature – Sri Chitra State Council and Sri Mulam Assembly – that the number of public holidays for the Onam festival be raised to 10. Kunjan Pillai replied in the affirmative. When Pacode A. Narayana Pillai, representing the Vilavankode constituency (now in Tamil Nadu), asked whether the government was aware that Onam was an important ‘national festival’ for the whole State, the Chief Secretary replied: “That is a matter of opinion. This subject was discussed in one of the sessions in the Assembly last year and since then it has been under consideration.”

In the July session the same year, when Velayudhan Pillai brought up the matter again, Chief Secretary N. Kunjan Pillai replied that “Such holidays cannot be increased.” When the former stubbornly stuck to his guns, the Chief Secretary replied that “there are already a sufficiently large number of holidays in the year and government dooes not therefore think it necessary to increase the number any more.” Back then, there were approximately 108 holidays in a year, counting Sundays.

The Chief Secretary also had a justification for the longer year-end break. “As the honourable members may know, Christmas is only on one day, though the holidays are called Christmas holidays. They are not intended for Christmas. That is the best season when the officers can go for a change. So government thought it would be better to increase the number of holidays during Christmas so as to allow the officers to have the chance of going out for a change [sic].”

The records show that the government reaffirmed its stand in January 1938 as well.

Some years before the above exchange in the Sri Mulam Assembly, A.R. Menon (who later became the first Health Minister of Kerala) raised a question in the Cochin Legislative Council in November 1926 regarding the Onam leave permitted – “wholly or partly” – that year to medical officers of the General Hospital, Ernakulam. The indication from the records is that the query was meant to ascertain whether the hospital was left without a civil surgeon.

Diwan Bahadur Dr. V. Verghese replied: “Wholly – nil. Partly – seven. Dr. T. Verghese did duty for Capt. A.R. Puduval for 2 days. The Chief Medical and Sanitary Officer was looking after the work of both the Civil Surgeon during their absence [sic].”

Cut to the 21st century Keralam. While school holidays last for around 10 days, the holidays for public offices are not that many still. In 2026, the holidays for public offices during the Onam week last from August 25 to August 28, as per the official list published by the Keralam government’s General Administration Department. August 26 is First Onam and Milad-i-Sherif (birthday of Prophet Mohammed), August 26 is Thiruvonam, August 27 is Third Onam, and August 28, Fourth Onam as well as the birth anniversaries of the social reformers Sree Narayana Guru and Ayyankali. These holidays are followed by the weekend.