Holi Let the colour shower joy.

Holi is an important Indian and Nepalese  festival celebrated ihn the spring. According to the Hindu calender, the festival is celebrated on the full moon day of the month of phalgun.

Holi is an ancient festival of India and was originally known as 'Holika'. The festivals finds a detailed description in early religious works such as Jaimini's Purvamimamsa-Sutras and Kathaka-Grhya-Sutras. Historians also believe that Holi was celebrated by all Aryans but more so in the Eastern part of India.

It is said that Holi existed several centuries before Christ. However, the meaning of the festival is believed to have changed over the years. Earlier it was a special rite performed by married women for the happiness and well-being of their families and the full moon (Raka) was worshiped.

✦HISTORY AND REFERENCE OF HOLI 

The festival of Holi also finds a reference in the sculptures on walls of old temples. A 16th century panel sculpted in a temple at Hampi, capital of Vijayanagar, shows a joyous scene of Holi. The painting depicts a Prince and his Princess standing amidst maids waiting with syringes or pichkaris to drench the Royal couple in coloured water.

A 16th century Ahmednagar painting is on the theme of Vasanta Ragini - spring song or music. It shows a royal couple sitting on a grand swing, while maidens are playing music and spraying colors with pichkaris.

There are a lot of other paintings and murals in the temples of medieval India which provide a pictoral description of Holi. For instance, a Mewar painting (circa 1755) shows the Maharana with his courtiers. While the ruler is bestowing gifts on some people, a merry dance is on, and in the center is a tank filled with colored water. Also, a Bundi miniature shows a king seated on a tusker and from a balcony above some damsels are showering gulal (colored powders) on him.

✦HOLI STORIES HOLIKA DAHAN IS THE MAIN STORY

A number of stories are associated with the festival of Holi. The most famous of these is the story of Prahlada. It is believed that in ancient times there was a very powerful asura named Hiranyakashipu . In the arrogance of his force, he started considering himself as God. He banned the name of God in his kingdom. Prahlad , the son of Hiranyakashipu, was a god devotee. Enraged by Prahlada's devotion to God, Hiranyakashipu gave him many harsh punishments, but he did not leave the path of devotion to God. Hiranyakashipu's sister Holika had a boon that she could not be consumed in the fire. Hiranyakashipu ordered Holika to sit in the fire with Prahlad on his lap. Holika got burnt while sitting in the fire, but Prahlad survived. Holi is lit on this day in memory of the devotee Prahlada. Symbolically it is also believed that Prahlada means joy. The Holika (burning wood) symbol of hatred and oppression burns and Prahlad (bliss), the symbol of love and joy, remains intact.

✦HOLIKA DAHAN IS THE MAIN STORY 

According to the main story related to Holi, there lived a demon king named Hiranyakashyap in a city. He used to ask everyone to perform his puja, but his son Prahlada was a devotee worshiper of Lord Vishnu . When Hiranyakashyap called the devotee Prahlada and asked him not to chant Rama's name, Prahlada clearly said, Father! Only God is capable. Only God can save everyone from suffering. Human is not capable. If a devotee does some spiritual practice and gets some power from God, then he becomes better than ordinary people, but cannot be better than God .

Hearing this, the haughty Hiranyakashyap turned red with anger and the servants said to the soldiers, take it away from my eyes and bring it in snakes in the forest. It will die due to the bite of the snake. This is how it was done. But Prahlada was not dead, because the snakes did not bite. 

Apart from the legend of Prahlada, this festival is also associated with the rebirth of the demonic Dhundhi , Radha Krishna 's Ras and Kamadeva .  Some people believe that by wearing colors and dancing in Holi, people disguise Shiva 's ganas and make the scene of Shiva's procession. Some people also believe that Lord Krishna killed a demon named Pootana on this day . It was in this happiness that the Gopis and the Gwals played the Raslila and played the color.

✦TRADIATIONS

Holi has special significance in the traditions of Indian classical, ecclesiastical, folk and film music. In classical music, Dhamar has a deep connection with Holi, although Dhrupad , Dhamar, small and big Khyal and Thumri also make beauty of Holi songs. Many beautiful bands presented on Holi, Dhamar and Thumri along with Kathak dance like Chalo Guanyan aaj khel hoari hori kanhaiya ghar are still very popular today. A popular bandh sung in Dhrupad is the gross, color filled hoary sakhi with khelat hari . There are some ragas in Indian classical music in which the songs of Holi are specially sung. Spring ,Bahar , Hindol and very similar ragas are there. Playing the songs on Holi automatically creates an atmosphere and its color is felt on the people. 

In ecclesiastical music , there are many famous Holies in Chaiti , Dadra and Thumri. The popularity of music on the occasion of Holi can be gauged from the fact that the name of a particular genre of music is Holi, in which different descriptions of Holi are heard in different provinces, in which the history and religious significance of that place is hidden. it happens. While there is a description of Radha and Krishna playing Holi in Brajdham, in Ravveera Awadh play Holi like Rama and Sita in Awadh. In Ajmer city ​​of RajasthanKhwaja is the special color of Holi sung at Moinuddin Chishti 's Dargah. He has a famous Holi, today is Rang Hai Ri Mana Rang, it is his Mehboob's house Rang Hai.

Similarly, in a Holi related to Shankar Ji, there is a description of playing Holi in the crematorium by saying Shiva in the Digambara Khele Masane . Holi songs based on different ragas have also been presented in Indian films, which have become quite popular. "Continuation song ' that lashed color wet Chunar, color lashed and' NAVRANG ' came Holi festival, shower flew the colors , the people are still unable to forget.

✦HOLI CELEBRATED IN INDIA 

Holi is famous as Basant Utsav in rural India. It is one of the major festivals in India and is celebrated with extreme enthusiasm and joy. Gulal, abeer and pichkaris are synonymous with the festival. Elaborate plans are made to color the loved ones. Everybody wants to be the first one to color the other. In the ensuing battle of colors, everybody is drowned not just in colors of gulal but also in love and mirth. People love to drench others and themselves in colored water. Gujiyas and other sweets are offered to everyone who comes across to color.

Temples are beautifully decorated at the time of Holi. Idol of Radha is placed on swings and devotees turn the swings singing devotional Holi songs. Now-a-days small plays are organized reflecting the spirit of the festival.

What is remarkably same across the country is the spirit of Holi. Fun, frolic, boisterousness to the extent of buffoonery marks this festival of colors. What more can be expected- when the people get a social sanction to get intoxicated on the bhang, open not just their hearts' out but also their lungs. And viola, nobody is expected to take offense too, as the norm of the day is, 'Bura na mano Holi hai'.

✦LITERATURE 

There is a detailed description of many forms of Holi in Sanskrit literature of ancient times . Shrimad group juices in Ras describe. Other compositions describe the festival called 'Rang'whichincludes Harsha 's Priyadarshika and Ratnavali and Kalidasa 's Kumarasambhavaam and Malavikagnimitram . Only one canto is devoted to 'Vasantotsav' in the Kalidasa poem . Vasanti , Bharvi , Magha and many other Sanskrit poets have discussed Vasanta a lot. Holi is described in the first Hindi epic, Prithviraj Raso , composed by Chand Bardai .Holi and Phalgun month have special significance in the Hindi literature of Bhaktikal and Reetikal . From the adorable poet Vidyapati to the devotees Surdas , Rahim , Rasakhan , Padmakar ^[b] , Jayasi , Mirabai , Kabir and Ritikalin Bihari , Keshav , Ghananand, etc., this subject has been loved by many poets. Mahakavi Surdas has written 78 posts on Vasant and Holi. Padmakar has also done a lot of compositions related to Holi. Through this theme, while the poets describe Anurag and Preity's Holi played between the eternal cosmic heroine heroine, the love and tampering Holi played between Radha Krishna, through the virtuous realization of devotional love and nirguna Has executed the formless devotional love. Poets who follow Muslim sects like Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya , Amir Khusro and Bahadur Shah Zafar have also written beautiful compositions on Holi which are still popular among the masses today. Modern Hindi stories Premchand 's Raja Hardol , Prabhu Joshi's different matchsticks , Tejendra Sharma 's Holi once again, Om Prakash Awasthi of the Holy nice and the home Rana has become evident as separate Holly aside. Indian films also portray Holi scenes and songs beautifully. From this point of view, Shashi Kapoor 's Utsav , Yash Chopra 's series , V Shantaram 's Jhanka Jhanka Payal Baje and Navrang are notable. 

✦HEALTH CONCERNS

In ancient times, people used to play Holi only with Chandan and Gulal. But today the trend of Gulal, natural colors as well as chemical dyes has increased. These colors are very harmful for health which affect the skin as well as the eyes.