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When it comes to the festival of Holi not many people are not familiar with the mythical stories associated with this beautiful festival of colours. There are majorly four popular stories related to Holi: The story of Krishna and Radha, Invincible Dhundhi, the Sacrifice of Kamadeva and the story of Holika and Prahalad.
Let us look at these stories related to Holi in detail!
Table of Contents
Radha and Krishna
The Holi of Braj is renowned throughout India for its close ties to the celestial goddesses and their live performances.
It is believed that when Krishna was a young child, he questioned why Radha was so fair and he was so dark. Yashoda, his mother, joked that he should paint Radha’s face as well and alter her complexion to any shade he desired. Inspired by the notion, Krishna carried it out and therefore established the Holi colour explosion.
P.S.- Holi is still one of the most significant Braj festivals today. Men from Nandgaon and ladies from Barsana play “latthmar Holi” in honour of Krishna’s throwing colours on Gopis as they resisted it.
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Invincible Dhundhi
During the reign of Prithu, there was a vicious ogre by the name of Dhundhi who enjoyed devouring hapless children.
She had performed abhorrent penances and been granted numerous divine favours that made her essentially unstoppable. She was resistant to weapons and arrows, but a Shiva-inspired curse made her weak when it came to young boys’ misbehaviour and maltreatment.
One day, the courageous boys of the village decided to permanently stay away from the village.
They followed Dhundi to the outside of the hamlet and played the drums, made loud noises, shouted obscenities at her, and continued to do so until she left. By this time they were intoxicated and high on bhaang. This is one of the major stories related to Holi festival.
Must Read: Holi Traditions Around the World
The Sacrifice of Kamadeva
The Trinity of Gods—Lord Brahma, the world’s creator; Lord Vishnu, the world’s nurturer; and Lord Shiva, the world’s destroyer—is said to watch over the planet, according to Hindu mythology.
The daughter of Daksha Prajapati, one of Lord Brahma’s original sons, Goddess Sati is said to have wedded Lord Shiva against the wishes of her father. As a result, Daksha declined to invite her and her husband to a lavish yagya he had planned. When Sati learned about the gathering at her father’s house, she assumed it was a mistake and went ahead to attend despite her husband’s cautions.
Upon there, though, she realised her mistake and was enraged listening to insults from her husband. She went into the flames as atonement for her disobedience. When Lord Shiva learned of her untimely death, he became enraged. Even after he learned to control his rage, he began a strict meditation practice and gave up all his work.
The balance of the world quickly fell apart without him, and Sati took another life as Goddess Parvati in an effort to earn Lord Shiva’s affection and awaken him from his sleep. She made every effort to catch Shiva’s eye.
After exhausting all of her feminine options, she enlisted the aid of Kamadava, the Hindu god of love, who decided to support her despite the dangers involved in it. He shot Shiva’s heart with his love arrow.
Upon getting his meditation disturbed, lord shiva incinerated Kamadeva and this way the god of love sacrificed his life for the benefit of the world. After realising the mistake lord Shiva granted Kamadeva immortality in invisible form.
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The Tale of Holika and Bhakt Prahalad
One of the stories related to Holi revolves around Holika and Bhakt Prahalad. Hirnakashyipu was a powerful demon king who was immensely proud of himself for having conquered all three of the worlds—heaven, earth, and hell. He believed that his bravery would enable him to beat even Lord Vishnu. He even went so far as to implement a rule requiring everyone to worship him rather than other gods and deities.
His young son Prahlad, however, disobeyed his orders and persisted in worshipping Lord Vishnu with unwavering devotion. He gave the order to his soldiers to hurl his son over a hill since he had disobeyed him, infuriating him. Prahlad did not act on his commands since he was praying intensely and had complete faith in Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu saved him at the last second because of his unwavering faith.
Hirnakashyipu was alarmed by this information and sought the assistance of his sister Holika to get rid of his son thanks to a blessing that allowed her to pass through fire unharmed. With her nephew Prahlad, the evil aunt entered the flames after caving into his brother’s evil demands.
The brother and sister, however, were unaware that Holika must only enter the flames by herself or else perish. As a result, Holika was burned to death while Prahlad survived uninjured thanks to the blessing of Lord Vishnu.
As a result, Holi is observed to remember the passing of the evil aunt, after whom the festival is called, and the new life bestowed upon Prahlad in appreciation of his dedication and faith. Cow excrement is still thrown into the fire, and in certain regions, people shout obscenities at the Holi fire to make fun of Holika.
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FAQs
Ans. One of the famous stories associated with Holi is that of Lord Shiva. It is said that when Lord Shiva was disturbed while he was meditating, he opened his third eye and incinerated the God of Love i.e Kamadeva to ashes. Therefore, at the time of Holi, many people offer a mixture of Sandalwood paste and Mango blossoms to Kamadeva.
Ans. The mythical story behind celebrating Holi is that Holika, the sister of the demon king Hiranyakashipu was killed in the fire. To mark this occasion people gather the night before Holi and perform various religious rituals in front of a bonfire called Holika Dahan.
Ans. The name of the festival ‘Holi’ has its roots in the name of Holika, who was the sister of the demon king Hiranyakashyap. Holika sat next to her nephew Prahlad in the fire and considered using her blessing—that fire cannot destroy her—to execute him. However, she herself burned, saving Prahlad.
Ans. One of the powerful messages that are sent by celebrating Holi is that of equality. When people colour each other with gulaals everybody’s skin colour becomes the same and there is no discrimination on the basis of someone’s pigmentation of the skin.
This is everything you need to know about the stories related to Holi. Make sure you follow Leverage Edu for more such interesting and informative articles.