Holi – The festival of colours.

 

Yet another festival brings its glory and this time it was Holi…

Holi is the festival of colours; colours that symbolize love, gratitude and a sigh of forgiveness. I feel utmost lucky to be born in India and experience the rich and diverse festive and cultural celebrations. In today’s era of connectivity via disconnections, these festivals bind the family and friends together. It brings a mild break from the daily routine to cherish the time with our loved ones.

Holi is the most fun festival for everyone. Kids love this time of the year where they can play with all the colours and become as dirty and muddy as possible yet not get scolded by their moms, cause “Bura na mano holi hai” i.e. Don’t feel bad it’s holi. No one can get bashed for spraying colours that’s the spirit of Holi.

And the most interesting part is that each festival has a unique story lining and believe attached to it.

Holi signifies the victory of good over evil. It is a two day festival, the first day is called Holika Dahan, and the second day is Rangwali holi. The story of holi goes as:

Hiranyakashyap, the king of evils wanted to be the most powerful and invincible force on earth. He meditated and prayed until one day the lord got impressed and decided to give him a boon.  He aspired to be immortal and so wished for  “none of god’s creations should be able to kill him”.  Since God can not break his promise, Hiranyakashyap got the blessings as

“He could be killed by neither a human being nor an animal, neither indoors nor outdoors, neither at day nor at night, neither by astra  nor by any shastra, and neither on land nor in water or air”.

The powerful and evil Hiranyakashyap was now unstoppable; he wanted everyone to worship him. And everyone did oblige to his will, but Prahlada his own son had his very different opinions and views. Prahlada a small kid of 5 years, was a great follower of the lord.  And he said that God is the one and only force to be worshiped.

This infuriated Hiranyakashyap and he decided to punish this little rebel. Hiranyakashyap made multiple cruel attempts to hurt the little pious soul, but as the saying goes,

”No power can harm the one who is shielded by the hands of the lord.”

So all the attempts were in vain. Finally, Hiranyakashyap’s sister Holika lured the little boy to sit on a pyre with her. Holika protected herself with a fire proof cloak and Prahlad was left unguarded to die. But God has his own plans, when the fire started burning the cloak encased Prahlada and Holika got exposed to fire.  Thus, Prahlada survived the mighty fire and the evil got burnt to death.

 

Thus the event of Holika Dahan became a traditional festive, where the evils within us gets burned in the fire and the true pious soul is shielded by God.

These stories and events inspire us to have faith and always do the rightful without fear or insecurity cause God has always got our back.

I hope you enjoyed reading this. Let me know by your comments.

Take care.:)