I generally don’t write about a festival after it is over. But the other day I came across a series of articles written by a well-known, self-appointed teacher of Indian spirituality and heritage. Those articles were full of ridiculous ideas that I had to set the record straight.
Myth 1 - The festival of Holi was popular among the courtesans. Apparently since Brahmins hated courtesans a story was concocted of them being burned.
Myth 2 - Kamadeva was burnt by Shiva and the very next day Kamadeva was born as Krishna. Therefore, people celebrate Holi.
Myth 3 - Since people have bhang on Holi hence it is a festival dedicated to Shiva.
It is not clear from where all these ideas are being manufactured.
One objection to the celebration of Holi is that it is not mentioned in the Vedas. However, that is not valid. To trace the ‘why’ of our traditional festivals and rituals, we have to go to the source books about these, which are the Puranas, Bhagavatam, Vishnu Purana etc. The Purana makes it very clear that the asura King Hiranyakashipu wanted to either change, control or eventually destroy his own son, Prahlada. Prahlada was a devotee of Vishnu. So, he asked his sister Holika, who had a boon that fire will not burn her, to sit on a fire with Prahlada on her lap. They overlooked the fact that this boon was applicable only if Holika sat alone. By Lord Vishnu’s grace Prahlada was saved and Holika got burnt. The next day, of course, is the celebration of spring, which happens to be at the same time as the celebration of Prahlada being saved from death giving rise to the Festival of Colours. A lot of local customs also were included.
It is very important that authors, spiritual teachers or so-called interpreters of our heritage do not cook up their own meanings for festivals, but go to the source books and base their writing on it. Cultural variations that must have crept in, in different areas and practices, can be accounted for.
The writer is the founder of Aarsha Vidya Foundation. You can write to him at aarshavidyaf@gmail.com
