Holi

Prafulla Kumar  Mohanty

Holi is an official declaration of the end of winter. The indoor life of the people is over in the villages. The rising temperature compels the people to spend the nights outside in the mango groves or in the familiar forest areas. This was the reality of India in those days when the joys of electricity were not available. Life moved along the agrarian cycle; the poor farmers, artisans and the illiterate god-fearing people choicelessly followed the adjustments called for by seasonal changes. Myths and scriptural accounts of Creation priestly enunciations and religious practices, rituals were the entire cultural matrix within which the people had to live. There was no light of civilization for living, and life was confined to needs of the body - food, shelter and some clothes to hide shame. In this reality sickness and other infirmities the flesh is heir to, had to be mitigated by divine mercy. But the ancients never ignored the body and related pleasures. If winter brought discontent spring brought mirth; the body beautiful indulged in orgies of pleasure too. 

Holi as a festival celebrates joy,  the joy of life stolen from the pain of human condition. Two myths inspired this festival. One is Vaishnabite Rasa stemming from the Radha-Krishna union and consecration of love celebrated with dance, music and sexual frenzy. Spring awakens the libido, men and women instinctually react to the feast of flowers, song of the nightingale and the greenery slowly replacing the dull baldness of the earth. Gratitude to the Maker, for relieving them from bone chilling winter and shrinking sensibilities, is expressed through song and dance. Colours of love are strewn over the lovers in cacophonous glee. Pastes are smeared on the faces of the Radhas and Radhas to drench the Krishna's with their pichkaris spraying riotous colours. Poets compose songs of love on the theme of R-K and assume their persona. The sky gets technicoloured, the jealous sun glares much to the indifference of the revellers. Mridanga, khol, kartal, cymbals and conch shells create sexual ecstasy. Sweets are distributed, bhang and madira flow, drowning men and women in the ocean of hallucinatory creativity. Feet falter but not the dance steps. Fancy and fantasy  go reinless to absurdity: but who cares! A day of amorous physicality releases all tensions of living.

The other myth is woven around evil. The demoness Holika is thrown into fire by the redeemer of man, the divine agency saves the humans from evil. Hence Holi is celebrated with a sense of release and relief. Evil burns. Humans light up symbolic pyres and beat the demoness, and then follows the dance- song-sex  in ritualistic freedom.

Holi also means the death of winter.The pyre is set to burn winter and welcome spring with creative energy. If fire burns evil and the agency of death water is welcomed with open arms. After spraying colours and the song-dance display of energy, men and women go for a ceremonial clensing of the body and mind. In ancient days R-K must have gone to the yamuna, elsewhere people must have gone to the rivers and ponds. This bath purifies them. Thereafter men will find other sources to survive. The agricultural season is over. Food is inside the homes. The womenfolk normally mind the home, housekeeping and the other  chores. Men go to the forest for  wood. But at night they rehearse the stage plays and get busy in practising musical instruments etc.

Now a days the rigours of the season are not felt by the people. Even the poor  villages enjoy  electricity. The outdoor is no more a compulsion. But today Holi is celebrated in a crude manner. The rich dissolve their conscience in alchol and the not so rich in country liquor and other less expensive beverages. But chemicals are added to the colours and make them almost indelible. Processions on bikes move causing traffic jam. The divinity and purity associated with Holi are now absent.  But the ostentation is mind boggling which, however, is natural in the upper classes. Yet ,Holi hooliganism by the misguided revellers is going on. I condemn it with all the vehemence at my command.

Holi is a festival of fire and water. It is a celebration of Spring that rejuvenates life to meet the challenges of another cycle of seasons. It relaxes and releases tension. Above all it celebrates love. May this Holi spread the message of love and friendship. May the colours spray off the differences. May we emerge as true lovers of life in all its nuances.