Holi Hai!

I just spent over an hour in my beloved, thankfully well equipped bathroom scrubbing off some tough colour and smiling to myself about how ridiculously fun some strange things can be!

Quite recently, a couple of friends and I were asked about the significance of the festival of Holi. 

I'm not afraid to be honest here. We hadn't the slightest idea!

All we could say for sure, was that we ran after each other caking ourselves with layers of different colours, all the while splashing water around the place until we looked satisfactorily unfamiliar- and had a bloody good time doing it.

As I pondered over this senseless fun we love so much, what made it all the more interesting is that we didn't even know the history behind our bizarre actions!

It is almost like we didn't really need a good reason to act crazy, just as long as we're all in it together!

This is so true! (with everything!)

So, what IS Holi?

There are a number of legends that talk about how Holi originated and came to be part of the Indian culture.One of the more famous explanations of the festival comes from Vaishnava Theology (or Vaishnavism- a tradition of Hinduism, distinguished from other schools by its worship of Vishnu.) In this legend, Hiranyakashipu, the king of demons was granted a boon by Brahma (the Hindu God of creation), for his long penance which made it impossible for him to be killed. In time he grew more arrogant about his invincibility and insisted that he be worshiped instead of other Gods. However, Hiranyakaship's son, Prahlada, was a devotee of Lord Vishnu (the supreme God in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism). This angered the demon king and he made many attempts to kill his own son. Lord Vishnu protected Prahlada and did not let him die. Then, in a final attempt, Hiranyakaship ordered his sister, the demon Holika who was immune to fire, to enter a furnace with Prahlada where he would burn to death. 

Once again Vishnu came to Prahlada's rescue and Holika succumbed to the flames. There are two ends that I've read about, to this particular story. One is that before she died, Holika begged for forgiveness and Prahlada promised that she would be remember once a year, thus creating the festival of Holi. The other explanation is that Holi is the festival which celebrates the fall of Holika and thus good triumphing over evil.

A different version...

In Vrindavan (where Lord Krishna, a deity worshiped across many traditions in Hinduism in a variety of perspectives, spent most of his childhood) and Mathura (his birthplace), the festival is celebrated for a whole of 16days culminating in the celebration of Rangapanchmi which they say is to commemorate the divine love of Radha for Krishna. Radha was one of the Gopis (cow herding girls famous for their unconditional devotion to Krishna) who held a place of particularly high reverence and importance in a number of religious traditions. Legend has it that Krishna complained to his mother about his dark skin complexion in contrast to Radha's fair skin. His mother decided to apply colour to Radha's face. These celebrations took place to usher in spring, the celebrated season of love.

Those are some of the stories about how this colourful festival, loved by so many, really began. It is believed to be the festival of radiance (Teja) in the universe. Different waves of radiance traverse the universe creating colours that nourish and complement the function of respective elements in the atmosphere. 

Holi, the way we see it, leaving aside all the philosophical stuff, like a friend of mine said, is about camaraderie, colour and some riotous fun!

Be it orginally a celebration of good over evil,  love or forgiveness; It is a mad, raw celebration of this technicoloured, beautiful life!

Happy Holi!