HOLI-2

HAVE A NICE DAY!
                                 

 LORD RADHA KRISHNA   

    sri.s.v.varadarajan

                               HOLI FESTIVAL-2

    There is an interesting puranic story for this festival.We have heard about Hiranyakasibu, the demon who hated Lord Vishnu. He ordered that no body should offer prayers to that Lord.But his son,Prahalada was an ardent devotee of Lord Hari. Therefore Hiranya Kasibu got angry and ordered him to desist from doing this and began troubling him in various ways. He even tried to kill his son and was not successful.The demon had a sister named "Holika" and she had some extraordinary powers (super human); one such power was that fire would not burn or do any harm to her body.Therfore,taking advantage of this facility,Hiranya kasibu asked her to jump into fire taking with her Prahaladha. The idea was to  kill the boy.She also obeyed and entered the bed of burning fire along with Prahaladha.Immediatly , a strange and unexpected thing happened. Holika was burnt to ashes in the fire and Prahaladha came out wholly unscathed by the grace of Lord Vishnu. To celerbrate this miraculous event, it is said 'Holi' is being celrbrated. During Holi , the preveious night people pile up wooden sticks and wood pieces in the open ground and light fire. When flames come up,people sing and dance around the fire place merriliy and chit-chat.


   'Holi' is also associated with Lord Krishna and Radha and their pranks.In the city of Brindavan ,Holi is therefore celebrated in a slightly different manner .The festival is meant to bring back the memories of the divine love between Krishna and Radha.Based on this concept ,ladies merrily dance accompanied by pleasing songsand beating tune with painted sticks (kolattam)


To be continued