Holi - Hindu Festival of Colors

[Praveen]

Holi - the festival of colors - is undoubtedly the most fun-filled and
boisterous of Hindu festival. It's an occasion that brings in
unadulterated joy and mirth, fun and play, music and dance, and, of
course, lots of bright colors!

Happy Days Are Here Again!
With winter neatly tucked up in the attic, it's time to come out of
our cocoons and enjoy this spring festival. Every year it is
celebrated on the day after the full moon in early March and glorifies
good harvest and fertility of the land. It is also time for spring
harvest. The new crop refills the stores in every household and
perhaps such abundance accounts for the riotous merriment during Holi.
This also explains the other names of this celebration - 'Vasant
Mahotsava' and 'Kama Mahotsava'.

"Don't Mind, It's Holi!"
During Holi, practices, which at other times could be offensive, are
allowed. Squirting colored water on passers-by, dunking friends in mud
pool amidst teasing and laughter, getting intoxicated on bhaang and
reveling with companions is perfectly acceptable. In fact, on the days
of Holi, you can get away with almost anything by saying, "Don't mind,
it's Holi!" (Hindi = Bura na mano, Holi hai.)

The Festive License!
Women, especially, enjoy the freedom of relaxed rules and sometimes
join in the merriment rather aggressively. There is also much vulgar
behavior connected with phallic themes. It is a time when pollution is
not important, a time for license and obscenity in place of the usual
societal and caste restrictions.

Legends & Myths

Like all Indian and Hindu festivals, Holi is inextricably linked to
mythical tales. There are at least three legends that are directly
associated with the festival of colors: the Holika-Hiranyakashipu-
Prahlad episode, Lord Shiva's killing of Kamadeva, and the story of
the ogress Dhundhi.

The Holika-Prahlad Episode
The evolution of the term Holi makes an interesting study in itself.
Legend has it that it derives its name from Holika, the sister of the
mythical megalomaniac king Hiranyakashipu who commanded everyone to
worship him. But his little son Prahlad refused to do so. Instead he
became a devotee of Vishnu, the Hindu God.

Hiranyakashipu ordered his sister Holika to kill Prahlad and she,
possessing the power to walk through fire unharmed, picked up the
child and walked into a fire with him. Prahlad, however, chanted the
names of God and was saved from the fire. Holika perished because she
did not know that her powers were only effective if she entered the
fire alone.

This myth has a strong association with the festival of Holi, and even
today there is a practice of hurling cow dung into the fire and
shouting obscenities at it, as if at Holika.

The Story of Dhundhi
It was also on this day that an ogress called Dhundhi, who was
troubling the children in the kingdom of Prthu was chased away by the
shouts and pranks of village youngsters. Although this female monster
had secured several boons that made her almost invincible, shouts,
abuses and pranks of boys was a chink in the armor for Dhundi, owing
to a curse from Lord Shiva.

The Kamadeva Myth
It is often believed that it was on this day that Lord Shiva opened
his third eye and incinerated Kamadeva, the god of love, to death. So,
many people worship Kamadeva on Holi-day, with the simple offering of
a mixture of mango blossoms and sandalwood paste.

Radha-Krishna Legend
Holi is also celebrated in memory of the immortal love of Lord Krishna
and Radha. The young Krishna would complain to his mother Yashoda
about why Radha was so fair and he so dark. Yashoda advised him to
apply colour on Radha's face and see how her complexion would change.
In the legends of Krishna as a youth he is depicted playing all sorts
of pranks with the gopis or cowgirls. One prank was to throw colored
powder all over them. So at Holi, images of Krishna and his consort
Radha are often carried through the streets. Holi is celebrated with
eclat in the villages around Mathura, the birth-place of Krishna.

History

Holi as a festival seems to have started several centuries before
Christ as can be inferred from its mentions in the religious works of
Jaimini's Purvamimamsa-Sutras and Kathaka-Grhya-Sutra.

Holi in Temple Sculptures
Holi is one of the oldest among Hindu festivals, there is no doubt.
Various references are found in the sculptures on walls of old
temples. A 16th century panel sculpted in a temple at Hampi, capital
of Vijayanagar, shows a joyous scene depicting Holi where a prince and
his princess are standing amidst maids waiting with syringes to drench
the royal couple in colored water.

Holi in Medieval Paintings
A 16th century Ahmednagar painting is on the theme of Vasanta Ragini -
spring song or music. It shows a royal couple sitting on a grand
swing, while maidens are playing music and spraying colors with
pichkaris (hand-pumps). A Mewar painting (circa 1755) shows the
Maharana with his courtiers. While the ruler is bestowing gifts on
some people, a merry dance is on, and in the center is a tank filled
with colored water. A Bundi miniature shows a king seated on a tusker,
and from a balcony above some damsels are showering gulal (colored
powders) on him.

Birthday of Shri Chaitanya MahaPrabhu
Holi Purnima is also celebrated as the birthday of Shri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu (A.D. 1486-1533), mostly in Bengal, and also in the coastal
city of Puri, Orissa, and the holy cities of Mathura and Vrindavan, in
the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Making the Colors of Holi
The colors of Holi, called 'gulal', in the medieval times were made at
home, from the flowers of the 'tesu' or 'palash' tree, also called
'the flame of the forest'. These flowers, bright red or deep orange in
color, were collected from the forest and spread out on mats, to dry
in the sun, and then ground to fine dust. The powder when mixed with
water made a beautiful saffron-red dye. This pigment and also 'aabir',
made from natural colored talc, which were extensively used as Holi
colors, are good for the skin, unlike the chemical colors of our days.

How to Celebrate

Colorful days, solemn rituals, joyous celebrations - Holi is a
boisterous occasion! Draped in white, people throng the streets in
large numbers and smear each other with bright hued powders and squirt
coloured water on one another through pichkaris (big syringe-like hand-
pumps), irrespective of caste, color, race, sex, or social status; all
these petty differences are temporarily relegated to the background
and people give into an unalloyed colorful rebellion. There is
exchange of greetings, the elders distribute sweets and money, and all
join in frenzied dance to the rhythm of the drums. But if you wanna
know how to celebrate the festival of colors to the fullest through
the whole length of three days, here's a primer.

Holi-Day 1
The day of the full moon (Holi Purnima) is the first day of Holi. A
platter ('thali') is arranged with colored powders, and colored water
is placed in a small brass pot ('lota'). The eldest male member of the
family begins the festivities by sprinkling colors on each member of
the family, and the youngsters follow.

Holi-Day 2
On the second day of the festival called 'Puno', images of Holika are
burnt in keeping with the legend of Prahlad and his devotion to lord
Vishnu. In rural India, the evening is celebrated by lighting huge
bonfires as part of the community celebration when people gather near
the fire to fill the air with folk songs and dances. Mothers often
carry their babies five times in a clockwise direction around the
fire, so that her children are blessed by Agni, the god of fire.

Holi-Day 3
The most boisterous and the final day of the festival is called
'Parva', when children, youth, men and women visit each other's homes
and colored powders called 'aabir' and 'gulal' are thrown into the air
and smeared on each other's faces and bodies. 'Pichkaris' and water
balloons are filled with colors and spurted onto people - while young
people pay their respects to elders by sprinkling some colors on their
feet, some powder is also smeared on the faces of the deities,
especially Krishna and Radha.