The celebration of
Holi is very ancient in its origin. And by its very origin, it
celebrates an ultimate triumph of the 'good' over the 'evil'.
Literally "Holi" signifies "burning" in Indian language. The
night before the full moon, crowds of people gather together and
light huge bonfires to burn the residual dried leaves and twigs
of the winter. Metaphorically though, the fire is meant to
signify the destruction of evil - the burning of the 'Holika' -
a mythological character. The heat from the fire is also a
reminder that winter is behind and that the hot summer days are
ahead. 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.
Way back in the pre-Christian era, thousands of years back,
there lived a demon king named Hiranyakashipu in ancient India.
He wanted to avenge the death of his younger brother. The
brother, also a demon, had been killed by Lord Vishnu, one of
the supreme trio, monitoring the life and death in the universe,
according to the Hindu belief. To take on Vishnu, the tyrant
king wanted to become the king of the heaven, earth and the
underworld. He performed severe penance and prayer for many
years to gain enough power. Finally he was granted a boon.
Powered by the boon, Hiranyakashipu thought he had become
invincible. Arrogant, he ordered all in his kingdom to worship
him, instead of God. The demon king, however, had a very young
son, named Prahlad. He was an ardent devotee of Vishnu. Despite
his father's order, Prahlad continued to pray to Lord Vishnu. So
the demon king wanted to kill his son. He asked the favor of his
sister Holika who, because of a boon, was immune to fire. They
planned that Prahlad would be burned to death.
A pyre
was lit up and Holika sat on it, clutching Prahlad. Yet, at the end
Prahlad emerged unscathed by the fire. Holika had the boon from God
that, she would only be safe from fire, when she wants to defend her own
life from fire. The demoness wanted to misuse her this power to cause
harm to the life of a sacred naive devotee, and not to save her own
life, and because of this, she was burned to ashes. The earnest devotion
and complete submission to Lord Vishnu saved young Prahlad. Thus was the
triumph of Prahlad, the representative of good spirits. And the defeat
of Holika, the representative of evil. Later, even the demon king
Hiranyakashipu was killed by Lord Vishnu's incarnation Lord Narasimha or
Nrisimha (four-armed human form, with the head and the instincts of a
lion). But that is quite a different story. It is from Holika, that the
Holi originated. This legend is relived even today on the Holi-eve when
the pyre is re-lit in the form of bonfires. Even today, people celebrate
this occasion. Huge bonfires are lit up every year on the eve of the
full moon night of the Holi to burn the spirit of the evils. Hence the
story associated with the soul of the celebration.
It is often believed that it was on this day Kamadeva, the god of love,
was incinerated by Lord Shiva. While meditating, the formidable Shiva,
angered at being disturbed opened his famous third eye and reduced Kama
to ashes. But he was brought to life again when his wife, Goddess Rati,
implored Shiva for mercy. After the death of his consort Sati, Lord
Shiva was so shocked and hurt that he went into a deep meditation and
stopped looking after his worldly responsibilities. This led to many
complications in the world's affairs. Thus, the other gods conspired to
bring him out of his trance with the help of Goddess Parvati, who wished
to marry the great Lord.
Kamadeva, the God of love, passion and lust, though mindful of the
consequences, undertook the task for the world's good, and shot one of
his love-arrows on the great Lord who had mastered all the worldly
temptations. As Shiva's eyes opened, he was furious by the trick of
Kamdeva and directed the wrath of his third eye on him and burned him on
the spot. However, later he did give him an immortal life. It is
believed that Lord Shiva burned Kamadeva on the day of Holi. Thus, many
people worship Kamadeva with the simple offering of a mixture of mango
blossoms and sandalwood paste for his sacrifice. People offer him mango
blossoms, that he loved, and sandalwood paste, to cool off the pain of
his fatal burns.
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.
Holi is also associated with the immortal love of Krishna and Radha, the
day begins with worshipping Krishna by lovingly smearing his idol with 'gulal'
- the colours used to play Holi. This is a festival that is as much a
gateway to celebrate the arrival of spring as much as it is a way to
celebrate the season of love. According to the Hindu belief, Krishna was
a reincarnation of lord Vishnu himself. It was Krishna, or, Krishn, the
king of the ancient city of Dwarka, who popularised the tradition of
Holi. The origin of the colorful and frolicking tone of Holi lies in the
boyhood of Krishna. It all came up as part of his pranks, he used to
play with his boyhood mates of Gokul and Vrindavan. Situated in north
India, these are the places where he spent his childhood. It was at this
time of year, Krishna used to play pranks by drenching the village
girls, with water and colors. At first it offended the girls. But they
were so fond of this mischievous boy that soon their anger melted away.
And, it did not take long for other boys to join in, making it a popular
sport in the village.
Later, as Krishna grew up, the play assumed a new dimension. It added
more colors to Krishna's legendary love life. The legend of Krishna's
courtship with Radha, and playing pranks with the Gopis (Gopinis). The
girls in the 'dairy' village of Gokul were mostly milkmaids, and, hence
locally known as the Gopis. The same tradition has transpired through
the ages, turning it into a community festival of the masses. As time
kept flowing, the culture spread roots to other regions of the country.
The Holi play of Krishna is documented in hundreds of ancient paintings,
murals, sculptures and scriptures found across the subcontinent.
