Holi

Holi, a festival that is celebrated in Fagun Purnima in the month of March according to English calender, is an important celebration, in which, all section of the society, irrespective of caste, creed, sex and age actively and enthusiastically take part. Therefore, to say that this festival helps in ushearing National Integration would not be impertinent and inappropriate. In vedic period Baishwadeo yagya used to be performed for about four months, starting from this day of Fagun Purnima, in which cereals like wheat and millet used to be consigned to flames in the name of God and Goddess and the remains of the same used to be distributed as tilak and prasad in the community.

The name Holi has been derived from a Sanskrit word "Holka", which means cereal roasted on a pan over the fire. That is why this festival can be considered as vedic festival, and in reality, many rituals of Holi are similar to that of Baishwadeo yagya of vedic period such as, the custom of fastening stalks of wheat and millet to a stick and roasting it in the fire of holi is in the line of vedic ritual of consigning wheat and millet in the yagya, and the custom of smearing ash of the fire of holi on the body tantamounts to that of vedic custom of distributing the residue of yagya as tilak and prasad in the community

With the passage of time other myghological elements began to be attached with this festival and many myths cropped up. Such as, according to Narad Puran Holi is a festival celebrated in memory of the destruction of Holik a, the sister of Harinyankashipuki.

Holika was blessed with immunity from the destruction of fire by some God. Her brother Harinyankashipuki, an avid infidel, when failed in all his endeavours to destroy his pious son Pralad, the devotee of Lord Bishnu, as last resort ordered his sister Holika to take Pralad into the fire along with her and bring about his destruction, but no harm came upon Pralad, instead, Holika died of severe burn. Holi, therefore, is celebrated to glorify this truth and justice.

According to Vabisha Puran the origin of the festival of Holi has been described as thus;

During the reign of King Raghu a she monster called Dunda panicked and created havoc in the entire society. In order to drive her away the children of the society united together under the leadership of a guru called Basista. The children armed themselves with spears, shields and burning faggots, provided by their guru and drove her away from their village shouting and screaming at her. Thus the children and their• guru succeeded in restoring peace and happiness in their trouble torn society once again. The festival of Holi, therefore, started from the day onwards when the inhabitants of that society started celebrating that day as a happy occasion. That is why even today boisterous children, Shout and create nuisance during Holi.

The author of Kamsastra, Maharshi, in his book entitled Kamasutra has described Holi with the name of Holika. He has called it the festival of colours and has said that different colours extracted from flowers, sandal wood and Keshar were used to smear and sprinkle on others.

The stone inscription of BC 300 excavated in Ramgarh in Bindhya Pradesh contains the description of this festival. King Harsha in the seventh century drama entitled Ratnawali and the famous Muslim traveller Albarauni of eleventh century have described about the popularity of this festival during their times thereby giving this festival a solid historical foundation. The members of royal family of Emperor Akbar and Jahangir also celebrated the festival of Holi very fervently and enthusiastically. Now what can be deduced from these historical accounts is that both the Hindus and the Muslims celebrated Holi in India at that time, which was a clear gesture of unity and peaceful co-existence then.

Even the Indians residing outside India have kept the spirit of Holi alive among them by celebrating it in their own way, like, by making merry go round the Holi fire singing and shouting.

In Italy the festival of Holi is celebrated in the month of February every years. They call this festival as Radyca. At a place called Narmandi in France, status dry grass is made and than burnt it from all sides scolding and cursing it by all. During Easter in Germany, twigs and sticks are collected round a wooden pillar and set on fire. Children make fun by smearing and rubbing coloured powder on each other.

On the birth anniversary of St. John in Sweden Norway, people gather at a common place and make a fire around which they sing and dance wishing each other a healthy and prosperous life. The Siberians make a merry go round holding each other's hand round a similar fire before the advent of summer season. Similarly the festival of Haloine celebrated in America on 31st October, every year is an example of the festival of Holi, but, with, a difference. Therefore, Holi can be rightly termed as an International Festival, although now it does not possess the vedic ferves with which it used to be celebrated in that period.

Fagun Sukla Purnima is the last day of the last month of the year and from the next day the first month of the year, chaitra, starts. That is why the festival of Holi is also called Sambad Jalaunu meaning to burn the bygone year.

The main intention of this festival is to welcome the new year with fun and laughter and in order to forget and forgive the wrongs done upon each other in the year gone by, they smear and sprinkle coloured Water and powder on each other and exchange New Year's Greetings.

This festival is also called Madan Mahatsov in the South. The spring season which starts from the first month of the year is considered as an agent favourable to  Kamadeo. They are considered as friends, that is why kamadeo is worshipped on the day of Holi.

Shri Krishna has associated himself with Kam and has said, in Gita, that he is the kam that has been executed without violating the religious norms attached to it. He has further said that the Kam executed righteously is duty and not lust. Only through lusty kam a man desecrates religion and himself turns amorous. That is why the marriage solominised by Lord Rama, Lord Krishna and other Gods are examples of marriages solominised for begetting off springs and not for quenching ones lust for sex. Kam puja, which at present, has been destorted with absence explanations and fifthly meanings, was once considered a sacred and important puja by the Hindus.

Like other festivals, the festival of colour is also based upon scientific truth, because, the contribution of this festival of the well being on the people is not meagre and negligible

This festival has direct bearing upon a man's mind and body, which helps him to keep himself disinfected from the germs of diseases like mykhatera and jwaro ruga which assume epidemic proportion during this time of the year. While basking and circling round the fire of Holi his body absorbs intense heat which in turn acts as disinfectant. The cold weather of winter season causes diseases like cold, cough and fever so customary activities of Holi like screaming, singing loudly, running about and inhaling strong snuff are very beneficial for such diseases.

On the other hand the new vigour, vitality and intoxication that the spring season showers upon the animal, human and plant kingdom is known to all. Not only the plants bloom with colourful flowers during this season, in human beings too the vitality seems to increase steadily during the season which is evidently manifested during the festival of Holi by the way they make fun, frolic and commotion.

The social value of this festival is also not meagre. After having enjoyed the game of colour till noon the revellers put on their best apparel after a good bath and go out in the neighbourhood exchanging abirs with everybody they meet on the way, weather the man they exchange with is old or young, acquainted or a stranger. This custom, no doubt, is helpful enough to cultivate a sense of fellow feeling and fraternity in the community. The other names for this festival are Phagun Jatra, Phagun Purnima etc. Finally, with the exchange of delicacies with friends and relatives this colourful festival comes to an end.

But it is to be borne in mind that Holi is not a festival for playing with soggy soil nor is it a festival of making personal remark as one wished. It is a festival of colour and water played for the sake of good health. The colourful water when flinted on the body with a force reaches the' inner cell wall through the pores and causes incitement of the cell wall which is helpful in preventing infectious diseases. The fun and amusements one receives in such entertaining festivals help him in curtailing his lusty sexual urges which is very beneficial for him.

Finally, Holi is a communal festival celebrated international, and it is our utmost duty to preserve it curtailing all the vices that have been added to it with the passage of time and imbibing only the virtue and the scientific elements it stands for.