Color of Joy

Aum Sairam

Spring Festival with a Difference
Hurray, the springs back! -- "H-O-L-I H-A-I". Now get set to paint each other in the colors of joy, for the festival of colors - Holi is just round the corner. It's an occasion that brings in unadulterated joy and mirth, fun and play, music and dance, and, of course, lots of bright colors to make a festive graffiti on every heart.

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 Mahautsav' and 'Kama Mahautsav'.

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 bhang 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.].

Holi 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 Progress 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 daughter 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 daughter 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
color 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.

The History behind Holi
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.

Birthday of Shri Chaitanya Maha Prabhu
Holi Poornima 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.

Allah Malik