Happy Holi. होली की शुभकामनाएं |
Holi marks the beginning of spring and Nature paints the world with a riot of colours. Flowers bloom, new green shoots are seen and the mood is festive ! This time its extra special because for two years the world has been “locked up” due to the Wuhan virus.
I learnt something new today – Holi was celebrated all over India. Somehow, I was under the impression that its predominantly a North Indian festival 😀. Read this short thread by Savitri Mumukshu on Holi –
Link to the Twitter Thread – History of Holi
Holi is mentioned as far back as the Atharva Veda & Kama Sutra (400 BCE) as celebrated in not just N. India, but all over India. The 11th c. Chennakeshava Mandir in Belur, Karnataka depicts a sculpture of a Madanika playing Holi as helpers fill her pichkari & bring more water.
The practice of drenching each other with fragrant colored water using Pichkaris was called Udakaksvedika in the Kamasutra & Sringakrida in the Jayamangala. Throwing colored powder (Yava or barley powder) was a pastime called Yavachaturthi.
Interestingly – in stark contrast to the falsified attempts by Hinduphobic groups to demonize Holi as an “upper caste festival of oppression”, the Mughal Abu Fazl, Akbar’s minister in 1579 CE himself noted it to be a festival of the lower classes where all mingled to play Holi.
References:
Festivals, Sports & Pastimes of India – by Dr. V. Raghavan
(Vacaspati Professor of Sanskrit, University of Madras) 1979
For the makers of The Kashmir Files, the movie has brought a bumper celebration with its box office collections ! Its a story that needs to be told and has been told with deep sensitivity.
The Silence of Holi Gyan (Pun intended)
Every year Holi would be preceded by lots of “Gyan” by the LeLi gang. We would be told to save water and use it for the birds. The colours are symbolic and not meant to be applied on people’s faces etc etc.
This year the silence is deafening … just a few voices telling us how to live our life, how to celebrate our festivals and basically finding fault with everything we do 😁
Enjoy the gyan –
The meltdown is epic. Just added a whole range of colours to the celebrations today. Well not too long ago, I was part of this brigade, not knowing the significance of our festivals and the deep meaning behind each ritual. Random Holi thoughts ..
Have fun. The season is changing, life is changing, you and I are changing and may the Universe shower blessings of every kind on all of us. Happy Holi.
#HinduFestivals
Happy Holi! I also wondered about the lack of gyaan-peddling from the celebrity junta 😆. I thought perhaps because Holi has been so venerated in Bollywood movies over the years. But then there was a clip from Kajol asking not to waste water !!! I wonder if these movie stars ever stop to think of how environmentally unfriendly the entire film making process is – right from set design, fashion, burning vehicles, carbon footprint travelling all over the world for locations, not to mention the “singing in the rain scenes” ! What hypocrisy !
Also the cultural damage by showing perfect love stories, perfect marriages, zero figure etc etc. The worst is wrong narratives even in real life stories ! A Christian who harassed a Dalit is shown as a Hindu 🤦♀️ in a recent Tamil movie. It has been done constantly. Ashoka being shown as a dancer while Akbar is shown as a liberal loving emperor.