It is an ancient festival of colours. It is celebrated at the end of the winter

season on the last full moon day of the Phalgun month.

It celebrates victory of the ‘good’ over ‘evil’.

It teaches us to forget enmity and spread love in the community.

In ancient india, there once lived a demon king named Hiranyakashipu. He wanted to avenge the death of his younger brother by Lord Vishnu. He practiced severe penance and prayer for many years to obtain boons and gain enough power to kill all the Gods. Finally, Lord Brahma was pleased and granted the demon his wish that neither at day or night, any man, beast, demon or God could kill him with any weapon or instrument on earth or sky, indoors or outdoors. Hiranyakshipu thought he had now become invincible and the Supreme God. He ordered all idols of the Gods to be destroyed in his kingdom and asked everyone to worship him. The demon king, however, had a young son, named Prahlad. Prahlad was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. Despite his father's order, Prahalad continued to pray to Vishnu. Annoyed, the king sent him to an ashram meant for demon’s children to be taught to worship Hiranyakashipu. But Prahlad continued worshipping Lord vishnu. So the demon king got very angry and wanted to kill his son. He ordered Prahlad to be thrown down from a mountain top but Prahlad did not even get a scratch. Frustrated, the king tortured Prahlad in many ways but Lord Vishnu saved him every time. At last he asked a favour from his sister Holika who, because of a boon, was immune to fire. They planned to burn Prahlad to death. A pyre was lit up and Holika sat on it with Prahlad in her lap. Yet, at the end Prahlad emerged safe and Holika was burned to ashes. Thus there was a triumph of Prahlad, the representative of good and defeat of Holika, the representative of evil.Since then the night before Holi a bonfire is lit to celebrate the victory of good over evil and is called Holika dahan.

It is believed that Lord Krishna, the king of the ancient city of Dwarka, popularised the tradition of Holi. The origin of the colour and fun of Holi is associated with the boyhood of Krishna. Krishna as a boy along with his friends of Gokul and Vrindavan used to play pranks on the village girls. During this time of the year, he used to drench the village girls with water and colors. At first it offended the girls, but their anger soon melted away as they were very fond of Krishna. Later everyone in the community joined in to play with colours and to have fun on this day. The same tradition has been carried on through the ages, turning it into a community festival of the masses spreading love and affection.

Lord Krishna celebrating Holi

Dashavatar tales by Galgotias children books.

www.theholidayspot.com/holi/history.htm

www.backgrounds.net www.hindu-blog.com www.theholidayindia.blogspot.com www.ibtimes.com