Holi
is an ancient and popular Hindu religious festival celebrated throughout India.
The colourful Holi
festival is not only an obsession for the Hindus; it has attracted many people
from various nations of the world. It is a spring festival, celebrated on
Phalgun Purnima which occurs around the month of March. It is the second most
widely celebrated festival of India after Diwali.
This festival has an
ancient origin and celebrates the victory of good over bad. There are several
mythological stories behind the origin of the festival. According to one
belief, the festival celebrates the killing Holika, the sister of
Hrinyakashyapu. Holi festival is also widely associated with the immortal love
of Krishna and Radha. The festival also holds significance with respect to end
of winter season and the onset of summer season.
Here are four most famous
places in India to watch or play the Holi festival.
Mathura & Vrindavan
The Holi of Mathura and Vrindavan is extremely famous throughout the country. It attracts tourists and pilgrims from all over the world.
Mathura is the birth-place
of Lord Krishna and Vrindavan is the place where he spent his childhood. Drenched
in traditions and in the love of Lord Krishna, Mathura is definitely one of the
top places to celebrate Holi in India. According to legend, the tradition of
playing colors on Holi originated from the leela of Radha and Krishna. Mathura
holds a renowned show in the week before Holi. A colourful and musical
procession takes place from the temples to river then to the Holi Gate, where
the festival is marked. The best place in Holi to catch the throwing of colors
in Mathura is Dwarkadheesh Temple.
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| Dwarkadheesh Temple |
The Banke-Bihari Temple in Vrindavan is hosts a week long Holi
celebrations. The event here takes place just a day before the main Holi
festival. The temple opens up its doors to all visitors to come and play Holi. The
town echoes with tales of Radha-Krishna and celebrates the festival with
traditions, devotion and serenity.
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| Banke-Bihari Temple |
The Holi customs in the temple are unique,
as there is not play of conventional dry or wet colors, but flowers, and hence
the name Phoolon wali holi (Flowers’ Holi). The temple priests’ shower the
pilgrims with flowers in a way showering the blessings of the Lord. Arrive
quite before the gate opens to get a close up position.
Barsana
Barsana
in Uttar Pradesh is famous for ‘Lath mar’ Holi. Barsana was the home of Radha
where Krishna went to tease her and her friends. On the first day of Holi, men
from Krishna’s village Nandgaon, travel to Barsana to tease the women there.
The women chase men and hitting them with sticks, hence the name Lathmar Holi. The
main celebrations at Barsana, take place at the Ladliji temple, dedicated to
Sri Radha Rani. Sweets, Thandai, spiritual songs related to Radha and Krishna
and play of color make it a fun place to enjoy the festival.
Shantiniketan
Santiniketan has the distinct identity of culture
and heritage, which gives the place a unique soft touch. Santineketan was
previously called Bhubandanga (named after Bhuban Dakat, a local dacoit).
Tagore family came to be owned this place. Rabindranath
Tagore's father Maharshi
Debendranath Tagore attracted by the beauty of this place and
established Saantiniketan in 1863.
The Holi festival in
Shantiniketan has a unique flavor. The Holi is celebrated as Basanta Utsav or
Spring Festival here. Rabindranath Tagore started Dol utsav or Basanta Utsav in
his institution with colorful cultural programs. The students of Visva-Bharoti
celebrate Basanta utsav in very special way. They make the festival more
colorful and attractive with their magnificent live performance.
Students dress
up in yellow color and present some wonderful folk dances and cultural programs
followed by the throwing of colours. The celebrations start a day earlier than
Holi and are now considered an important part of the Bengali heritage. A huge
number of tourists arrive every year at Shantiniketan to witness and
participate in these celebrations.
Jaipur
Holi is one of the major
festivals celebrated in Rajasthan and Jaipur celebrates the festival in royal
style with great patron from royal families of Rajasthan. The celebrations
stretch for two days. The first day of Holika Dahan is observed at the City
Palace in Udaipur. The customs of lighting the Holika Dahan is
traditionally performed by the current custodian of the Mewar dynasty. The
following morning, the celebrations of Holi are all out on the streets.
The
Pink City, Jaipur used to celebrate the festival of colors extravagantly with
the elephant festival. Every year the Holi festival begins with a massive
parade including elaborately decorated elephants, camels, horses, and folk
dancing through the streets. There are also elephant polo, elephant races and
tug-of-war between elephants.
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😀 Happy Holi 😀 |
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