The legend from which the tradition of playing colours started is full of colours in itself. The story goes that the very colourful Indian god, Lord Krishna was jealous of his soul mate Radha's fair complexion, since he himself was very dark.
Naughty young Krishna complained to his mother Yashoda about this injustice of nature. To placate the child, doting mother asked Krishna to apply colour on Radha's face and change her complexion according to his choice.
Playful and mischievous Krishna appreciated the idea and implemented it. The game of applying colours thus gained so much popularity that it became a tradition and later it turned out to be a full fledged festival.
Till date, lovers desired to colour and be coloured by their mates. The application of colours has in a way become an expression of love.
Originally, it was a festival that commemorated good harvests and the fertile land. Hindus believe it is a time of enjoying spring's abundant colors and saying farewell to winter.
To me Holi reminds me of a famous legend. The legend I remember by heart as my mother used to narrate every year.
The legend says there once lived a devil and powerful king, Hiranyakashipu. He considered himself a god and wanted everybody to worship him.
But his own son, Prahlada, was a devoted follower of Vishnu. For Hiranyakashipu, Vishnu was his mortal enemy.
And his son's devotion towards Vishnu made him so angry and upset that he decided to kill him. But all the attempts to kill the boy failed. Prahlada was protected by Vishnu's mystical power.
Hiranyakashipu asked his sister, Holika to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad in her lap. Holika had a special gift that prevented her from being harmed by fire.
Legend has it that because of Prahlada's extreme devotion, Holika was burnt down but nothing happened to Prahlad. The burning of Holika is celebrated as Holi festival in Hinduism.
Holi also celebrates the legend of Radha and Krishna. Which describes the extreme delight, Krishna took in applying color on Radha and other gopis. This prank of Krishna later, became a trend and a part of the Holi festivities.
While the main festival of colours is officially due in a couple of days, a lot of people in the country have already started indulging in merrymaking.
Most of us observe Holi every year, but do you know why we actually celebrate it?
An ancient Hindu festival, which later became popular among non-Hindu communities as well, Holi heralds the arrival of spring after winter. It signifies the victory of good over evil and is celebrated as a day of spreading happiness and love. The festival is also celebrated as thanksgiving for good harvest. It was the first time I managed to grow long running hairs and beard, with my sister as ally, as it is considered a crime in my surrounding. We like it clean!
So this evening, just before Holi, we all were leaving from office that I had joined recently. Some of the friends started spilling out water from their bottles on each other. Few kids hovering around the streets started shooting their water balloons and aiming pichkaris on us.
That made up the mood and blended our minds to play Holi, as everyone was under-played and drizzled in water. So we thought that if it has to be done, we gotta do it handsomely.
This was the time when action comes in. Two girls, out of the blue started to colour my face. They fabricated it so splendidly in a careful manner, I wondered what deodorant did I bathed in!
The legend
According to Bhagvata Purana, King Hiranyakashipu--the king of demonic Asuras, who could neither be killed by a man or an animal--grew arrogant and demanded that everybody should worship him as god. I'll add a personal take: a thoroughly awful "festival" during which drunk and stoned extroverts try to drag introverts into unwanted physical revelry. The festivities are occassions for bullying horseplay in kids, strongly sexualized melees among teenagers and twenty-somethings, especially in more hidebound traditional communities, and furtive extra-marital groping and frottage among many adults.
I thoroughly hated the festival. Still do. I didn't mind some of the lighter, not-too-physical horseplay with water balloons and pistols with a couple of my regular same-age playmates, but I detested being dragged into bigger, rougher melees with strangers, which were much more "hands on" gropey. I especially hated mixed-age ones with older kids (including many bullies) and adults. Fortunately, as a South Indian, I was spared the worst of it, since we didn't celebrate it at home. We'd just visit neighbors who observed it. It was the one time of year I used to wish we lived in the South (in most ways, I still prefer the North, not least because I am most fluent and only literate in Hindi). Not having to participate in Holi is one of the perks of living in the US for me now.
When I was a kid, I would try to hide to avoid it, but would usually be discovered and dragged into the so-called "fun." I still remember a Holi when I was about 7 or 8 and got drenched by a huge bucket of color by an adult neighbor. I loudly burst into tears and refused to come out for the rest of the day (at other times, the guy was actually one of my favorite adults). When I got older, I'd either reluctantly participate at the minimum socially acceptable level or stay indoors.
I am not alone in detesting Holi. I'd say at least half the population hates it and would be happy to see it either banned or confined to a specific place/time for those who want to participate.
Holi also has a very dark side for women. It is so associated with molestation and rape episodes that a "holi rape scene" has become an established Bollywood trope. I suspect child sexual abuse is also common.
Finally, despite all the color, it is visually the ugliest festival in the world. Nobody who "plays" holi comes out looking good. It's like forced participation in rugby-lite in mud and garish paints, while dressed in thin clothes designed to drape in thoroughly unflattering ways when wet. Even shapely young people don't look too good.
In a way, Holi is the dark side counterpart to Diwali, a visually stunning and thoroughly positive and serene (modulo fire injuries) festival that I totally loved, like most people. Holi is not visual at all, despite nominally being about color. It is entirely tactile. A once-a-year time for a very repressed and physically undemonstrative culture (India is not exactly the most hugs-and-kisses culture in the world -- even handshakes are a bit alien, the traditional greeting being the namaste) to cut loose in a rather extreme and alarming embrace of its collective Jungian shadow.
I'd much rather Indian culture shed its ridiculous prudery during the rest of the year and get comfortable with more Western-style PDA (which can get you lynched and/or arrested). This annual descent into a dark frenzy needs to be rendered unnecessary for the health of the collective psyche. It might have once been healthy in pre-industrial village India, but in a modern setting it is an excruciating time for half of us.
Note: this is clearly getting downvoted like crazy by people who are offended. To those who think this is just a personal opinion: this isn't physics, this is culture. There are only personal opinions. The question asked 'what is Holi?' and not 'what is the origin of Holi' or 'how is Holi observed?' where objective answers might conceivably be given. Finally, for those upset about the negative portrayal of Indian culture, this *is* a negative element of Indian culture for a significant number of people.
There are quite a few reasons I (and many others) dislike Holi.
- First of all, people take far too much liberty on the name of a festival. It turns out that Holi is a day to vent all the ill-will against someone you have had problems with. I have seen people get real rough on Holi. The situation is worse for the women. People will throw water balloons just to eve tease them, and somehow, it is not to be seen as an act of molestation, which it is.
- People get drunk and create a lot of nuisance. Now, I'm not against drinking at all, but there is hardly any excuse for doing what some people do, when inebriated.
- Originally, Holi was celebrated with natural colors, made from flower extracts. What we have now are synthetic colors which even contain hazardous chemicals ( Tests reveal heavy metal content in Holi colours). These colors cling on to the skin for as long as 15 days.
- It is a messy affair. Also, March is not yet summer time in most parts of India. All Holi reminds me of is constant shivering, back when i used to play. (Of course, you can play dry Holi).
- There is a stupid excuse for everything: Bura na mano, Holi hai. ( Don't mind, it's Holi).
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