Bura Na Mano Holi Hai

Holi is an ancient festival of India and was originally known as 'Holika'. Historians believe that Holi was celebrated by all Aryans but more so in the Eastern part of India.

It is said that Holi existed several centuries before Christ. However, the meaning of the festival is believed to have changed over the years. Earlier it was a special rite performed by married women for the happiness and well-being of their families and the full moon (Raka) was worshiped. However, the literal meaning of the word 'Holi' is 'burning'. There are various legends to explain the meaning of this word, most prominent of all is the legend associated with demon king Hiranyakashyap.

Hiranyakashyap wanted everybody in his kingdom to worship only him but to his great disappointment, his son, Prahlad became an ardent devotee of Lord Naarayana. Hiaranyakashyap commanded his sister, Holika to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad in her lap. Holika had a boon whereby she could enter fire without any damage on herself. However, she was not aware that the boon worked only when she enters the fire alone. As a result she paid a price for her sinister desires, while Prahlad was saved by the grace of the god for his extreme devotion. The festival, therefore, celebrates the victory of good over evil and also the triumph of devotion. 

Legend of Lord Krishna is also associated with play with colors as the Lord started the tradition of play with colours by applying colour on his beloved Radha and other gopis. Gradually, the play gained popularity with the people and became a tradition.

Holika Dahan:

Then on the eve of Holi, Holika Dahan takes place. Effigy of Holika, the devil minded sister of demon King Hiranyakashyap is placed in the wood and burnt. For, Holika tried to kill Hiranyakashyap's son Prahlad, an ardent devotee of Lord Naarayana. The ritual symbolises the victory of good over evil and also the triumph of a true devotee. 

Play of Colors
Next day, is of course the main day of Holi celebrations. The day is called Dhuleti and it is on this day that the actual play of colours take place. There is no tradition of holding puja and is meant for pure enjoyment.

The tradition of playing colours is particularly rampant in north India and even in that region, there can be no comparison to the Holi of Mathura and Vrindavan. In Maharashtra and Gujarat too Holi is celebrated with lot of enthusiasm and fun.

People take extreme delight in spraying colour water on each other with pichkaris or pouring buckets and buckets of it. But now with the changing tradition the color playing festival has gradually changed itself. Singing Bollywood Holi numbers and dancing on the beat of dholak is also a part of the tradition Drinks, especially thandai laced with bhang is also an intrinsic part of the Holi festivity. According to people, they believe Bhang helps to further enhance the spirit of the occasion and hence has become a important part of the celebration.

Previously, people use to make colours from the flower extract as holi is also the start of season spring and was celebrated to show the colours of spring as well a the season of love. But now the tradition has changed to toxic colours which are harmful for your skin, hair and eyes and still to get long lasting colour stay, people forcefully use this kind of colours. Not only does the colour do the harm, but nowadays with the changing tradition of holi celebration, people and specially the young boys are taking holi as chance to tease girls and a chance to get to touch them and abuse them. Due to this reason, many reputed families have stopped their girls from going out and playing the holi, whereas some of the girls themselves have taken a back step from the tradition of playing holi. They are not even so safe that they can enjoy the festival in the neighbourhood around the street with their own friends. Many incidents do occur blaming the tradition of holi and encouraging youth towards crime on the festival.

If none of us or our law are going to take the strict actions against the toxic colours being used in holi and the abuse being done to the female, the day is not far when the traditional holi festival would be vanished and the criminalist side of the festival would be visible to the world.