Holi Festival

Colors have a special significance in the Hindu religion. Some are regarded as the favorite colors of deities, some auspicious, and some not so. One of many festivals that take place in a year in the Hindu religion that festival salutes the colors i.e Holi.

It is also sometimes called the “festival of love” as on this day people get to unite together forgetting all resentments and all types of bad feelings towards each other. Also known by the name Fagu Purnima around the world, a globe festival its indeed, at the end of the day festival-goers coated color as well as the powder of various colors that revelers throw on each other. Colors bring joy and refreshment to our lives. In the otherwise mundane life spent balancing career and home colors provide a pleasant stimulus, much like the spiritual awakening does to the soul. 

Holi starts on the evening of Fagu Purnima; the full moon day of the Month Phalguna according to the Hindu Calendar (in the middle of March). The festival of colors has two famous stories of how it started to be celebrated, i.e. the origin of Holi from the story of Holika & Hiranyakashipu as well as The Legend of Krishna.

However, colors and rich traditional cuisine isn’t all to the festival, it, in fact, has a deeply-rooted historical significance, the triumph of good over evil; the day officially marks the arrival of the much-awaited spring bringing the gloomy days of the winter to an end, and for farmers, they celebrate it as the thanksgiving for a good harvest.

Holika and Hiranyakashipu

The legend that some believe inspires this tradition centers around two demon siblings, Holika and Hiranyakashipu. He was a demon King and had been granted immortality… sort of. He had been granted a boon that earned him five special powers which meant he could not be killed under certain circumstances. Specifically, he could not be killed:

i)       by neither a human being nor an animal

ii)     neither indoors nor outdoors

iii)   neither at day nor at night

iv)   neither by Astra, projectile weapons nor by any Shastra, handheld weapons

v)      neither on land nor in water or air.

So, he was practically invincible. The Asura king had the ulterior motive of ruling heaven, the earth, and the underworld by defeating Vishnu. His vast power led him to believe he was a God and he forced his subjects to worship him. If they did not, they were brutally punished or killed. On his orders, his whole state started praying to him, dismissing the gods; he aimed to establish himself as the principal deity of all.

Despite this, Hiranyakashipu’s son Prahlad continued to worship the God Vishnu instead of his father. The demon King, not wanting to give his son special treatment, concocted a plan to kill his son with the help of Holika. Hiranyakashipu’s sister was immune to fire. A pyre was lit and Holika sat on it, clutching Prahalad. But astounded many, including the demon Lord, Prahlad emerged out of the fire unscathed, whereas Holika burned to ashes.

Meanwhile, Vishnu had seen all of this and decided it was time to get rid of the evil Hiranyakashipu once and for all. He was taking the avatar of Narashima. He circumnavigated Hiranyakashipu’s five powers by:

i)       arriving in the form of half-lion, half-human (so not animal or human)

ii)     arriving at dusk (not day or night)

iii)   appearing on a doorstep (not outdoors or indoors)

iv)   placing Hiranyakashipu on his lap (which isn’t land, water or air)

v)      and killing Hiranyakashipu with his claws (which aren’t projectiles or a hand-held weapon)

The Holi festival is thought to take its name from the demon sister Holika. This is the most famous event believed by the Hindus to be the key reason for the origin of Holi.

The legend of Krishna

The Hindu god Krishna was quite mischievous. As a baby, Krishna developed his characteristic dark blue skin color because the she-demon Putana poisoned him with her breast milk. The Hindu deity despaired by his dark-blue skin whined to his mother whether the fair-skinned Radha and other girls would like him despite him being so dark. He complained to his mother Yashoda that he didn’t like his dark blue skin and wanted to be fairer, like the love of his life Radha. Yashoda, who adored her son, suggested he paint Radha’s face any color he wanted, to make him feel better. This he does, and ever since, the playful coloring of Radha’s face has been commemorated as Holi.