“HOLI HAIIIIII”….. Yes!
It’s the most vibrant phrase uttered by the electrifying crowd of our
country INDIA every year. Holi is known
as the festival of colours. It is celebrated with ebullience and mirth on full moon
day. In spite of being a joyous festival, celebrating HOLI, hammers us to
remember our demean history about Holika side by side in a commemoration of the
divine love of Radha for Krishna. This festive officially occurs in spring with
Holi celebrated as a Festival of love. Holi gets
us close to our religion and inextricably linked with our mythology as it is
essentially the celebration of various legends associated with the festival. Though there are numerous legends describing
the holi celebration, the foremost of all are Prahlad and Hiranyakashyap.
Hiranyakashyap-the king of that time, full of haughtiness, wants everybody’s
devotion towards him. To his great wrath, Prahlad began to worship lord Vishnu.
To get rid of his son, the king asked Holika, his sister to enter into a
blazing fire, with his son in her lap, as she had a boon to enter fire intact and reduced to ashes.
Additionally, Mythology also states that
Holi is the celebration of death of Giantess
Pootana who tried to kill
infant, Krishna by feeding death-dealing milk to him.
Also, another path led to celebrate Holi, is
the legend of Ogress Dhundhi who used to trouble children in the realm of Raghu,
and was eventually chased away by the pranks of the children on the day of
Holi. Showing their belief in the legend, children till now play pranks and
catapult misemploy at the time of Holika Dahan. Celebration of these various myths
associated with Holi, reassuring the people about the power of the truth, as the
moral of all these legends manifests the ultimate victory of good over evil.
Apart from all these parables, holi is celebrated at a time of the year when
the fields are in full bloom and people are expecting a good harvest. This
gives a people a good reason to rejoice, merry go round and immerse themselves
in the spirit of Holi.
There are innumerable ways of memorializing
holi in different states of our country. In some parts, it’s a belief that playing with colours help
to promote good health as
colours are said to have great impact on our body and our health. To further enhance the festive spirit of
Holi celebrations we have a social sanction to get a kick with the tradition of bhang, dancing,
playing with water etc.
The purpose
of Holi is not to celebrate only the positive emotions but in some cases it
serves as a legitimate way of expressing negative emotions might also be called
for.
Naturally
this should not be used as an excuse for malicious behavior and should be done
with a spirit of good humor as; Holi is after all a festival of triumph and
euphoria, with the express purpose of healing society, preventing negative
tendencies from overwhelming us. Another aspect of Holi is to help us break the
barriers we have built around ourselves and our ego.
Also, looking at gloomy side of the festival, some loses
their constraints stepping out the limit line! Though the myths are celebrated
traditionally, the unexpected inhumanity by the mentally ill devils turns the
jovial ambience Blue…! Keeping aside all joy, Centuries past, behind the joyful
festival, there’s still a dubious situation for girls or women, “Are they
sheltered?” The Question is that- Will perilous attitude last long? Will the
sick mind turn optimistic??
It’s a huge question to answer, and yet contradictory!!
By Stuti Holkar
