Colours of Holi
(vero;2010-Feb-06)
We will be arriving in Kathmandu on February 28th, just in time to celebrate the Hindu festival of Holi…
We have experienced it already once and we know it is going to be a wild affair, so we will come prepared, wearing old clothes and ready to embrace a decidedly multi-coloured look.
Because Holi, also known as the festival of colours, is celebrated, principally by everyone exchanging colours and throwing and splashing (coloured) water to each other. As you can imagine, this can quickly degenerate in a well-humoured mayhem, where the young particularly can get very excited (to say the least).
The insanity of the occasion could be put down to the full moon, which is when it traditionally occurs. The legal sale of hashish on this day could also be a contributory factor;-)
The festival symbolises the victory of good over evil and heralds the end of winter and the beginning of spring. As nature blooms into the colours of spring, so do the people of Nepal!
There are also more serious aspects to the festival, such as the installation of a pillar in front of the old royal palace in Kathmandu and the lighting of huge bonfires to burn away the residue of winter.
After a bit of research, here is what we found out about the origins of this festival:
According to Hindu mythology, there once was a king named Hiranyakashipu whose desire was to be seen as a great man.
He set to do the required Tapas (penance) and Brahma, pleased by the devotion of Hiranyakashipu, decided to reward him by fulfilling his wish “that he will not be killed by human being or an animal, he will not die either in his home or outside the home, he will not die in the day or at night, he will not die either by astra (supernatural weapon only used by the Gods) or shastra (rules of God), and that he will not die either on land or in the sea or in the air”.
This made Hinayakashipu practically invincible and all this grew so much to his head that very soon he ordered people in his kingdom to worship him as a God. Everyone obeyed with the exception of his own son Prahlad, who refused to see him as a god and stayed devoted to Vishnu.
This made Hiranyakashipu very angry and he made various attempts to kill Prahlad which all failed miserably.
In a last attempt, he ordered young Prahlad to sit on a pyre on the lap of his sister Holika, Prahlad's aunt. Prahlad accepted his father's orders, and prayed to Vishnu to keep him safe. Holika, protected by a special magic shawl, given to her by Brahma, was to be spared death by fire, but when the fire started, everyone watched in amazement as the shawl flew from Holika, who then was burnt to death, to Prahlad who survived unharmed, after the shawl moved to cover him.
This was one attempt too much, and Lord Vishnu finally came in the form of a Narasimha (who is half-man and half-lion) and killed Hiranyakashipu at dusk (which was neither day nor night), on the steps of the porch of his house (which was neither inside the house nor outside) by restraining him on his lap (which is neither in the sky nor on the earth) and mauling him with his claws (which are neither astra nor shastra).
And it is the burning of Holika which is still today celebrated as Holi.
This explains the bonfires, but what about the splashing of colours and water?
Well, it all seems to be the fault of Lord Krishna himself. Holi was one of the god's favourite festivals and on one particular year he got a little carried away: while visiting a village in India during Holi, he unwittingly seduced all the local cow-girls with his dashing good looks. He proceeded to dance with them all and then after a while decided they were ripe for a tease, so doused them in coloured water and stole all their clothes while they were bathing.
Since then, Holi has become for everyone a time for fun and frolic. A day when one forgets the worldly anxieties and just enjoys the finer things in life.
$updated from: Background.htxt Wed 25 Apr 2012 18:04:58 trvl2 (By Vero and Thomas Lauer)$