Holi

Holi is a festival in India, which is religiously and socially significant. Falling around the month of February every year, corresponding to Hindu astronomical point of Phalgun Purnima, it has been a festival of tradition, implying driving away the bad elements of one’s life and acquiring the good elements in life.

Apart from raising a bonfire to burn Holika, the demon which needs to be warded off, the festival is celebrated by all sections of people joining together with joy and good spirit, playing together by intentionally teasing each other with color powders, which everyone accepts with an agreed feeling. This in theory and practice forms the basis of establishing relationship among all sections of society, without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, and economic status or sex differences.

Holi is a festival celebrated not only in India, but also in nearby countries like Nepal and it also carries different names such as Phagwah in Assam, Dolajatra in Odisha and DolJatra or Basantotsav in West Bengal.

Holi festival is of particular significance in the Braj region, traditional location where Lord Krishna had his fun filled activities, such as Mathura, Nandgaon, Vrindavan, and Barsana, in Uttar Pradesh, and these places are visited by large number of tourists around Holi season.

History and Origin of Holi

Holi is a festival celebrated in India from ancient times and its nomenclature was drawn from ‘Holika’ whose ‘dahan’ or burning in a bonfire was the principal ritual of the festival. Some of the literature describing the religious rituals of India, such as Jaimini's Purvamimamsa-Sutras ,  Kathaka-Grhya-Sutras etc have described about Holi function among Hindu rituals, while Historians  too have given their opinion that also  Holi was celebrated by those Aryans inhabited in the Eastern part of India.

It is also believed that Holi was observed many centuries before the present era, while the significance meaning of the festival has changed over a period of time. Initially it used to be a special rite performed by married women with prayers for the well-being and happiness of their families and this ritual was observed on the full moon day.

In mythology, Holika was the sister of Hiranyakashipu who was a demon king who detested Lord Vishnu and wanted his name to be chanted instead of the former by all his citizens. This was an intended ploy of Lord Vishnu Himself, as Hiranyakashipu and his counterpart Hiranyakshas, who were cursed to come to earth, had to be against the Lord, only to be destroyed by the Lord Himself during His Avatar. This time Narasimha Avatar occurred, as the Lord to come up as neither beast nor a human being, to destroy Hiranyakashipu who had obtained a boon from Brahma to be killed neither by a human being nor by a beast. Holika being Hiranyakashipu sister was also classified as a bad element and in significance to ward of bad elements people started burning her effigy on the Phalguna Purnima day.

Some Sanskrit texts refer to similar festivals, like ratnavali in which people throw coloured waters through bamboo syringes, which can be considered as the origin of the modern Holi festival emerging from Bengal region. This was part of a Gaudiya Vaishnav festival, on the basis of Vaishnaviya Tantra requiring people going to Krishna temples, applying red color to the temple idol and distributing the red-color powder or Abir with worshipped food to family members and friends. The ritual apparently signified that the human passion for material aspects should go off and all their attention should fall on Lord Krishna for the well being and goodness of society.

The Holi Celebrations

The day of Holi also falling along the birth of the Spring Season, it acquired lot of festivities, the prime of them being throwing colored powder by one on the other joining the festive group, ultimately creating a society which cannot be distinguished by color, which fact was separating the society on different counts.

When Holi arrives these days’ people do not hold them back, but enjoy the festival to the hilt by joining other members of the community with full enthusiasm without caring one’s status or creed, and participate in the fun packed ritualistic ceremonies.

Bonfires are formed on the previous day to the Holi main festival, which is also called Kacy Dahan. Some call it Little Holi too. Holi is also referred as Dhuli, Dhulheti, Dhulndi and few other names depending on the region it is celebrating.

Rangapanchami is another function that comes on the following Panchami that is fifth day of the full moon’s phase, on which day the festivities involving colors end.

Photo Gallery