H for Holi

Like Diwali, Holi is celebrated across India and is one of the most important festivals, when a national level holiday is maintained throughout the country.

Holi is a Hindu spring festival & is also fondly called festival of colours. It is a two-day festival which starts on the Purnima (Full Moon night) falling of Falgun month of Hindu Calendar (February -March in the Gregorian). The first day is known as Holika Dahan or Chhoti Holi or Agaza and the second as Rangwali Holi, Dhuleti, Dhulandi or Dhulivandan, Phagua.

Childhood Reference:

HOLI meant fun, a day to play with colours visit houses especially which had girls of the same age and enjoy colouring to full extent. Lots of food especially Pua, Ras pua, Maal Pua , dahi bara & mutton. It was a full day fun, in the morning with wet colours & in the evening in new outfits with abeer & gulal. One such Holi memories is shared in my blog: Sweet Memories of Holi

Ras Pua

Celebration:

Holi celebrations start on the night before Holi with a Holika bonfire where people gather, do religious rituals in front of the bonfire, and pray that their internal evil should be destroyed as the bonfire starts.

The next morning is celebrated as Rangwali Holi - a free-for-all carnival of colours, where participants play, chase and colour each other with dry powder and coloured water, with some carrying water guns (Pichkari) and coloured water-filled balloons for their water fight. Anyone and everyone is fair game, friend or stranger, rich or poor, man or woman, children and elders. Traditionally, washable natural plant-derived colours such as turmeric, neem, dhak, and kumkum were used, but water-based commercial pigments are increasingly used. The frolic and fight with colours occurs in the open streets, open parks, outside temples and buildings. Groups carry drums and other musical instruments, go from place to place, sing and dance. People visit family, friends and foes to throw coloured powders on each other, laugh and gossip, then share Holi delicacies, food and drinks. Some drinks are intoxicating. Festive foods are gujiya, mathri, malpuas, Dahi bara and other regional delicacies.

For example, bhang, an intoxicating ingredient made from cannabis leaves, is mixed into drinks and sweets and consumed by many. In the evening, after sobering up, people dress up in new outfits and visit friends and family.

Holi Celebration

Symbolic & Mythological Reference:

The word "Holi" originates from "Holika". As per mythology Holika was the evil sister of the demon king Hiranyakashyap. Hiranyakashyap was the King of Multan and had earned a boon that he cannot be killed by a human or an animal, neither on earth nor in water that virtually made him indestructible. He grew arrogant, thought he was God, and demanded that everyone worship only him.

Hiranyakashyap's own son, Prahlada, however, disagreed. He remained devoted to Lord Vishnu. This infuriated Hiranyakashyap. He subjected Prahlada to cruel punishments, none of which affected the boy or his resolve to do what he thought was right. Finally, Holika, Prahlada's evil aunt, tricked him into sitting on a pyre with her. Holika was wearing a cloak that made her immune to injury from fire, while Prahlada was not. As the fire roared, the cloak flew from Holika and encased Prahlada, who survived while Holika burned. Seeing this, Hiranyakashyap, unable to control his anger, smashed a pillar with his mace. There was a tumultuous sound, and Lord Vishnu appeared as Lord Narasimha (half man half lion) and killed Hiranyakashyap put him on his lap.

Holika Dahan

The bonfire is a reminder of the symbolic victory of good over evil, of Prahlada over Hiranyakashyap, and of the fire that burned Holika and thus is called Holika Dahan. The next day, when the fire had cooled down, people applied ash to their foreheads, a practice still observed by some people. Eventually, coloured powder came to be used in place of ash to celebrate Holi.

Regional Importance

In the Braj region of India, where the Hindu deity Krishna grew up, the festival is celebrated for 16 days (until Rangpanchmi) in commemoration of the divine love of Radha for Krishna. The festivities officially usher in spring, with Holi celebrated as a festival of love. There is a symbolic myth behind commemorating Krishna as well. As a baby, Krishna developed his characteristic dark blue skin colour because the she-demon Putana poisoned him with her breast milk. In his youth, Krishna despaired whether the fair-skinned Radha and other girls would like him because of his skin colour. His mother, tired of the desperation, asks him to approach Radha and colour her face in any colour he wanted. This he does, and Radha and Krishna became a couple. Since then, the playful colouring of Radha's face has been commemorated as Holi.

Cultural Message

Holi spreads the message to end and rid oneself of past errors, to end conflicts by meeting others, a day to forget and forgive. People pay or forgive debts, as well as deal anew with those in their lives. Holi also marks the start of spring, and for many the start of the new year.

Some Regional Variation

In the Braj region of North India, women have the option to playfully hit men who save themselves with shields; for the day, men are culturally expected to accept whatever women dish out to them. This ritual is called Lath Mar Holi.

In Ahmedabad / Gujarat, in western India, a pot of buttermilk is hung high over the streets and young boys try to reach it and break it by making human pyramids. The girls try to stop them by throwing coloured water on them to commemorate the pranks of Krishna and the cowherd boys to steal butter and "gopis" while trying to stop the girls. The boy who finally manages to break the pot is crowned the Holi King. Afterwards, the men, who are now very colourful, go out in a large procession to "alert" people of Krishna's possible appearance to steal butter from their homes.

Outside Braj, in the Kanpur area, Holi lasts seven days with colour. On the last day, a grand fair called Ganga Mela or the Holi Mela is celebrated along the banks of River Ganga in Kanpur, to celebrate the Hindus and Muslims who together resisted the British forces in the city in 1857.

In some places there is a custom in undivided Hindu families that the woman beats her brother-in-law with a sari rolled up into a rope in a mock rage and tries to drench him with colours, and in turn, the brother-in-law brings sweets (Indian desserts) to her in the evening.

Goa Shigmo:

Holi is a part of the Goan or Konkani spring festival known as Śigmo in Koṅkaṇī or Śiśirotsava, which lasts for about a month. The colour festival or Holi is a part of longer, more extensive spring festival celebrations.

Outside India, the festival is celebrated in Nepal & entire South Asia, parts of Africa, Europe, & America.

Aditya Sinha

09.04.2016

That’s for today with F. Tomorrow it would be another festival with “G”
List of Other Festivals : Anant Chaturdashi, Akshay Tritiya ,Buddha Purnima, Basant Panchmi, Baisakhi,  Chhatha, Diwali/Deepawali, Easter, Festival of Breaking Fast - Eid ul Fitr, Ganesh Chaturthi

For my parallel second Challenge blog with A pls visit : Let the Soul Pour

For other A to Z challenge blogs visit : A to Z Challenge 2016

H for Hidamba Temple and all about Manali.

This post is written as a part of A to Z Challenge

H for Hidamba Temple and all about Manali.

Ever thought India would have a temple in the name of a Rakshashi (Monster). Right Hidamba as per mythology and Mahabharata citation was the sister of Hidimb a fearless monster during Mahabharta Era. She had vowed that she would marry the person who would defeat his brother. While in exile, Bhima the second eldest of the Pandavas killed Hidimb and thus married Hidimba. She later gave birth to a son famous as Ghatotkacha in Mahabharata.

Hidamba Temple

Thus, in the land of Sage Manu (Sage who gave Law to India) from where Manali got its name, this Rakshashi is worshipped as a God and there is a temple built around the rock symbolic to Hidamba.

Built in the 16^th century Hidamba Temple is a cave temple covered surrounded by intricately carved wood and structured with a four layered pyramidal top. In the cave is a brass idol of Hidamba Devi. The area is surrounded by tall Cedars and has a magnificent view and gives serene and peaceful hours. Across the road there is another similar temple called the Ghatotkacha temple and is devoted to her son Ghatotkacha, with a feet carved on a monolithic rock symbolic to Hidamba.

The area, aside from the temple visit offers lifetime experience of Yak ride.

The temple is situated around 2km from main Manali Mall Road and can be trekked or by a car which can be driven up to its main entrance.

Aside from the Hidamba temple, Manali as one of the most sought hill station is the center to reach to other tourist spots. In itself Manali has a very short Mall which is thronged by the tourist and has life throughout. The city gets over crowded during the winters especially after a snow fall as it is easily accessible from Delhi, Chandigarh and Pathankot. The area stays covered with snow for most part of winter but can be reached easily.

The snow covered mountains after a snow fall in Manali

The nearest Airport is Bhunter about 50 kms south from where you can take a cab. Otherwise one can easily drive from Delhi (592km), Chandigarh (327 km) and Pathanlkot (325 km). The city is 44 km north of main Kullu city and is on the main NH21. The route is worth a drive and offers magnificent view of the valleys and the mountains.

Manali in Winter

Places you can reach from here are:

Rohtang Pass (56km) - a high mountain pass that connects Manali to the Lahaul Spiti and further to Ladakh region in J&K.

Solang Valley – about 14 km from Manali, on the way to Rohtang gets covered with snow in the winter and offers excellent opportunity for skiing. The giant lawn slopes of Solang Valley further provides great opportunities for other summer and winter sports like parachuting, paragliding, skating, zorbing and skiing.

Bhrigu Lake: name dafter Bhrigu Muni is a picturesque mountain lake located at an elevation of around 4,300 metres and can be reached by trekking from the Vashisht Temple.

Vashishta Temple – About 4 kms from Manali  is named after Vashishta Muni and is famous for hot water springs.

Bijli Mahadev: This is a sacred temple in Himachali culture located at an altitude of 2,460m across the Beas River and provides a panoramic view of Kullu and Paravati valleys. More about this temple when I talk about Q.

Manali Sanctuary is located 2 km from main Mall and is a dense vegetation which offers excellent opportunities for a nature walk, bird watching and observing hordes of the  Ibex migrate to glacial regions during summer.

(On the way to Manali you would come across the Pandoh Dam and The Aut Tunnel – both worth some time. From Aut, you can also go to the Pin Valley National Park (Also called Great Himalayan National Park. You can also enjoy river rafting in Beas at Kullu)

That’s all from H. Tomorrow it would be I.

For other posts on Himachal written as part of Ato Z Challenge : List of post on Himachal Pradesh written as part of A to Z challenge.

Aditya Sinha

For other participants in the challenge visit : A to Z Challenge