Happy Holi

March 5, 2004

HAPPY HOLI TO ALL OF YOU ( The festival of colours of Happiness)

Holi festival of India. The Holi Festival is known as the "Festival of Color" and is a celebration of Lord Krishna and God's Creations. The colorful festival of Holi, literally means 'burning', is celebrated on the full moon day in the month

The Indian sky is changing - the March winds are coming in and winter begins to bow out. Holi is the festival that carries the country into the bright days of summer. A feeling of plenty is in the air - the crops have been cut, threshed and stored or sold. The farmer is at rest and money is at hand. ‘Holi’ falls on the full moon, in the month of Phalgun, which spans the end of Februry and the beginning of March on the Gregorian calendar. A time when Spring is in the air.

The ‘Holi’ festival is a very fun-filled and popular occasion in the northern part of India and also now in the southern parts too. It is an occasion when people smear each other with bright colored powders, which are known as Gulal, and colored water. This festival is celebrated around early March each year. It can be said that ‘Holi’ festival is called a bright festival as a wide range of bright colors is used during it. The people believe that the bright colors represent energy, life, and joy.

The legend of King Hiranyakashipu is associated with the festival of Holi. This legend signifies the victory of good over evil, of devotion surpassing ambition. King Hiranyakashipu was an ambitious ruler, one who wanted absolute power so that he would be worshipped as God. When this wish was made known, the King's own son, Prahlad, refused to obey his father. Prahlad was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu, and it was only to his Lord that he gave allegiance.

The proud King was enraged by Prahlad's disobedience and decided to punish him severely. He asked his sister Holika for help. It was believed that Holika was immune to fire and would never be burnt, so the King asked Holika to sit in the centre of a bonfire with Prahlad on her lap, so that the fire could devour him.

The bonfire was lit, and young Prahlad sat in Holika's lap, in its centre, praying to Lord Vishnu. His devotion saved him, leaving him untouched by the flames, but Holika was burnt to ashes. To mark this legend, huge bonfires are lit on the eve of Holi, especially in Bihar and the North.

There is also another story behind the festival of ‘Holi’ and it is based on the everlasting love between Krishna and Radha. It seemed that in the Hindu mythology Lord Krishna was known to court Radha and the light-hearted mischievous courtship of his was linked to Holi.

Thus Holi is known to be the celebration of love between the two of them.

Vrindavan and Lord Krishna's legend of courting Radha and playing pranks on the Gopis are also the essence of Holi. In Hindu mythology, Lord Krishna in his youth has been idealised as a lover, and it is the spirit of his lighthearted, mischievous passion of courtship that enters the Spring festival of Holi.

Krishna and Radha are depicted celebrating Holi in the hamlets of Gokul, Barsana and Vrindavan, bringing them alive with mischief and youthful pranks. Holi was Krishna and Radha's celebration of love - a teasing, affectionate panorama of feeling and colour. These scenes have been captured and immortalised in the songs of Holi: the festival that is also the harbinger of the light, warm, beautiful days of Spring.

Holi at Mathura and Vrindavana is celebrated with great gusto for many days, as these were the places where Krishna spent most of his childhood. Each major temple celebrates Holi in a different day. People throng the temples to get drenched with colored water and consider it a blessing from the god. Of particular interest is the Holi festival in the village of Barsana, 42 km from Mathura.

Radha belonged to Barsana while Krishna hailed from Nandagaon. On Holi, men from Nandagaon come to Barsana to celebrate Holi with the women here, who are ready to beat them with sticks instead of playing with 'gulal'. This is called "lathamar Holi". This is very similar to the "Dhulendi Holi" played in Haryana, where the "bhabhi" (sister-in-law) beats her "devar" (younger brother-in-law) with her sari rolled up into a rope. All this is done in good humor and in the evening the devar brings sweetmeats for his bhabhi.

Holi though is not very popular in South India, but a similar festival in the honor of the god of love Kama, takes place there at the same time. While there does not seem to be a direct link between the two rituals, literary sources suggest that both occasions are examples of an age-old tradition of celebrating the arrival of spring.

In Maharashtra and Gujarat, a grand procession of men soaked with colored water walk through the streets shouting 'Govinda alha re alha, zara matki sambhal brijbala''. This refers to Krishna's habit of stealing butter and milk stored in terracotta pots from people's homes.

As a child, Krishna who was extremely fond of milk and milk products would prowl into any accessible house with his friends and steal pots of butter or break pots of milk. During Holi, a pot of buttermilk is hung high up in the street. Men forming a human staircase try to break this pot, and whoever succeeds is crowned the Holi king of the locality for that year.

In Bengal, Holi is called Dol Yatra, or the swing festival. Idols of Radha and Krishna are placed on swings and devotees take turns to swing them. Women dance around the swing and sing devotional songs, as men spray colored water at them. In Manipur too, Holi is extremely interesting.

It is a six-day festival here, commencing on the full moon day of Phalguna. The traditional and centuries-old Yaosang festival of Manipur amalgamated with Holi in the18th century with the introduction of Vaishnavism. The entire theme of the festival is woven into the worship of Krishna and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, also known as Lord Gauranga.

Thabal Chongba, a popular Manipuri folk dance, is associated with this festival. The literal meaning of Thabal is 'moonlight' and Chongba means 'dance', thus 'dancing in the moonlight'. Traditionally conservative Manipuri parents did not allow their daughters to go out and meet any young men without their consent.

Thabal Chongba therefore provided the only chance for girls to meet and talk to the boys. In earlier times, this dance was performed in the moonlight accompanied by folk songs. The only musical instrument used was a dholakor drum. It is performed in every locality on all the six days of the festival. Instead of a fire, a hut is built and then set ablaze. The next day, boys go in groups to play gulal with the girls. And in return for playing with them, the girls extract money from the boys.

Another significant feature of the festival in Manipur is the groups of devotees from different areas who gather at the Shree Govindaji Temple in Imphal. Dressed in the traditional white and yellow turbans, they sing songs in praise of Krishna and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, play gulal and dance in front of the temple.

On Halangkar, the last day of the festival, hundreds of devotees gather at the temple as usual and march together towards the Vijay Govindaji Temple about 3 km west of Imphal where various cultural activities are performed. This brings to an end the Yaosang festival.

Happy Holi!!

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