Every year Kerala celebrates Onam, the festival of King Mahabali’s return. In the story, Vishnu comes to Mahabali as Vamana, a young Brahmin, and asks for as much land as he can cover in three steps. Mahabali’s guru Shukracharya warns him, but “he decided to keep his promise.”
Vamana covers the earth and the heavens in two steps, and Mahabali offers his own head for the third. Vamana grants him a boon: “that he could return to his kingdom during the 10-day festival of Onam.”