India is a multicultural, multi-religious, multi-caste and multi-linguistic society. Most of the countries in the world have homogeneous societies. It is a wonder for a citizen of any other country visiting India to see how these heterogeneous groups are living as one nation. Diversity in unity has come to stay as the basic feature of the Indian society. It is the driving force behind the progress of nation which we call India. Owing to the multicultural nature of our society and each of the members of different cultural and religious groups having their own traditions to celebrate their festivals, India has been rightly considered to be the land of festivals. Not even a month passes, when we celebrate either our local or national festivals. Being a very large geographical entity and having different climatic conditions, there are many local festivals which are either connected to the harvesting of crops or religious myths. Besides, there are national festivals which are celebrated by one and all throughout the length and breadth of the country. Some days are celebrated to commemorate the birth or the death of religious and political leaders. Some festivals in India are similar in nature but are celebrated with different names in the different parts of the country. Holi is the Hindu festival based on legends and is celebrated on the national level in India and the Central government and many state governments declare a holiday on this day.
Origin of the Holi Festival
Holi is one of the important national festivals of India which has a legendary background. Holi is a very ancient Hindu festival. It is said that this festival started even before the Christ and reference to its celebrations are found in the religious works of Jaimini`s Purvamimamsa-Sutras and Kathaka-Grhya-Sutra. We find the depiction of the scenes of Holi in the sculptures and painting of ancient Hindu temples at various places in India. A prince and princess along with many maids with syringes in hands are seen drenching the royal couple in a sculpture found in a temple at Hampi, the capital of the Vijayanagar kings in south India. In Bengal and Odisha, Holi Purnima is celebrated to commemorate the birthday of Shri Chaitanya Mahabrabhu who lived between AD 1486 -1533. The celebration of the Holi festival is based on a few legends. The three legends are the legend of the Holika, the legend of the killing of Kamadev by Lord Shiva and the legend related to the story of the female monster Dhundi. Another legend pertains to immortal love of Lord Krishna and Radha.
Legend of Holika
Most important of the legends on which the Holi festival is based, is the legend dealing with how Holika, the sister of King Hiranyakashyap who wanted himself to be worshipped rather than any other god or goddess. He had a son named Prahlad who became staunch devotee of Lord Vishnu. Angered by his son`s behaviour, he wanted to kill his son and perhaps wanted to test the powers of Lord Vishnu if he could save his devotee.
Hiranyakashyap took the help of his sister Holika to accomplish his wicked desire. It is said that Holika had a blessing from Lord Brahma that she will not be affected by the burning fire. So, in order to kill Prahalad on instructions from her brother Hiranyakashyap, she took the child in her lap and walked through the burning fire. However, Prahalad was not harmed by the grace of Lord Vishnu but Holika was burnt to death in the fire. She did not know that Lord Brahma`s blessing would be effective only when she walked in the fire alone. So the Holi festival became symbolic by making a bonfire of wood and dry cow dung and burning in it the effigy of Holika representing evil. A practice of throwing cow dung on the burning effigy of Holika by shouting curses on her by the people around became a tradition.
The legends of Kamadeva and Dhundi
The legend which goes about Kamadeva is most popular in the south. Kamadeva is referred to as the god of love. It is believed that Kamadeva shot his love arrow at Lord Shiva to disrupt his meditation. Lord Shiva got angry and opened his third eye and burnt the body of Kamadeva into ashes. Later on the pleas of Kamadeva`s wife, Shiva restored the mental image of Kamadeva. To commemorate this event, Holi is celebrated in many parts of the south India. Many people worship Kamadeva on this day with mixture of mango flowers and sandalwood paste.
The legend of Dhundi says that Dhundi was female monster who troubled children in the kingdom of Prthu. She had secured several boons for gods to become invincible but was also cursed by Lord Shiva. She was chased away on the Holi day by the village youngsters with their shouts and abuses which could not save her due to the curse of Lord Shiva.
The legend of Radha-Krishna
Holi, especially in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh is celebrated to commemorate the immortal love Radha and Krishna. Mathura happens to be the birth place of Lord Krishna where he spent many days of his childhood. It is said that during his childhood days, Lord Krishna used to complain to his mother Yashoda about the fair complexion of Radha against his own black complexion. Yashoda used to advise her young son to apply colour on Radha`s face to change her fair complexion and turn her complexion like him. So the custom of throwing colours on each other started. As such colourful Holi is associated with the childhood pranks of throwing colours on one another from the childhood days of Lord Krishna. Thus Holi is associated with the Divine Dance of Lord Krishna which is more popularly known as Raaslila.