The Festival of Colours
- Writers Pouch
- Mar 28, 2021
- 3 min read
Holi is referred to as the “Festival of Colours” or the “Festival of Love”. It is celebrated with the arrival of spring and is one of the ancient Hindu festivals with a lot of tales related to it stemming from various regions in India where it is celebrated.
One of the tales is that Holi is celebrated until Rang Panchami in commemoration of the divine and eternal love Radha had for Krishna. In his youth, it is believed that Krishna despaired whether the fair toned Radha would like his dark skin colour. Krishna’s mother got tired of his desperation and summoned Radha to colour Krishna’s face with any number of colours wanted. Ever since, this playful act of Radha colouring Krishna’s face is commemorated as Holi and this is one of the reasons why it is referred to as the “Festival of Love”.
Another tale from the Bhagavata Purana is about an Asura King or demon king named Hiranyakashipu who earned a boon which gave him five special powers. They were that he could be killed neither by a human nor an animal, neither indoor nor outdoor, neither by Astra i.e. a projectile weapon nor shastra i.e. handheld weapon, neither on land nor water or air, and neither in the morning nor at night. From then on, Hiranyakashipu grew more arrogant and considered himself as God and demanded everyone to worship him.
