While I am personally not very fond of Holi (I am in good company), it is no doubt one of the most popular (and certainly most colourful) festivals in northern India.

“Holi” is a two-day (or strictly speaking a night, followed by day) festival.

On the first day, bonfires are lit at night to signify burning the demoness Holika, Hiranyakashipu’s sister.

On the second day, known as Dhulhendi, people spend the day throwing coloured powder and water at each other. The spring season, during which the weather changes, is believed to cause viral fever and cold.

Thus, the playful throwing of the coloured powders has a medicinal significance: the colours are traditionally made of Neem, Kumkum, Haldi, Bilva, and other medicinal herbs prescribed by ?yurvedic doctors.

As many of you know, the sacred story* around Holi revolves around Bhakta Prahlad who incurred the wrath of his father, Hiranyakashyap for worshipping Vishnu. Hiranyakashypu’s brother had been slain by Vishnu and because of this he wanted to destroy Bhagwan Vishnu and kill all his followers.

As a result of his earlier “tapasya”, Hiranyakashyap had a boon from Brahma which meant that his death could not be caused “by man or beast, with a weapon or without a weapon, during day or night, indoors or outdoors, on earth or in the sky.”

After failing in many attempts to kill Prahlad, Hiranyakashyap asked his sister “Holika” to sit on a pyre with Prahlad so that he would be burnt to death (Holika is believed to have a special “shawl” which saved her from any harm from fire). It is believed that Holika covered herself with the “shawl” and sat on the pyre with Prahlad. As divine intervention would have it, a strong gust of wind blew away the shawl from her body and instead it landed on Prahlad who was thus saved.

The “Holi” bonfire symbolises this act. At a deeper level, the “bonfire” symbolises the impurities which should be discarded from the body such that only the purity and divinity remains within us.

Holi is also celebrated as Vasant-Utsav

It is said that it was on this day that Bhagwaan Shiv opened his third eye and reduced Kamadeva (the god of love, Cupid or Eros) to ashes. It is interesting that this appears to be purely a festival of “fun” as there are no associated fasts or observances for this day.

In some parts, it is customary for people to “take a little fire from the “Holi” bonfire to their homes. It is believed that by following this custom their homes will be rendered pure and their bodies will be free from disease.  In other parts, there is a tradition of cleaning homes, removing all dirty articles from around the house and burning them. Disease-breeding bacteria are thereby destroyed and the sanitary condition of the locality is improved.  Holi is of course not limited to the north. In Bengal, it is celebrated as Dol Jatra and it is equally popular in Gujarat and Maharashtra too.

Increasingly though Holi has come to be associated with hooliganism and general rowdy-ism which is taking away the spirit of the festival…

And of late, the “colours” used during Holi are becoming increasingly harmful. Some cheap “colours” can actually cause skin problems, temporary blindness and aggravate asthma, allergy and eczema. For safe Holi “colours”, have a look at this site: http://www.kalpavriksh.org/f1/f1.4/GAholi1

To all of you who are set for a riot of colours tomorrow, have fun…but please don’t waste water, please use safe colours and please do not drag out those who prefer to remain dry indoors (some people do have work/other things to do…and yes, some actually do not like “Holi”!)

* To understand why I prefer using the words “Sacred Stories” instead of “Myths” or “Legends”, read this.

Those of you who may have not heard of the famous “lathmaar Holi” of Barsana, will enjoy reading this.

Related Posts:

Happy Makar Sankranti

Om Namah Shivaya – UPDATED

UPDATE: Here is a link to a site (in Hindi) with lots of background information and stories about the festival: http://hindimedia.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10363&Itemid=32

Image of the Radha Krishna 19th century painting: Courtesy Wikipedia