Fagu in Nepal – A Festive of Colors

This Post Originally Compiled for Tikijhya

The Festival

Fagu Purnima or Holi – The Festival of Colors, is one of the most colorful and playful festivals of Nepal. It is celebrated with great pomp and gaiety. The celebration is marked for a special day in which the entire country gets involved in Abir (special color) and get drenched in the colored water. Celebrations are of marked importance at Terai, the low lying plains in Nepal, where families and friends get together and celebrate the occasion with a lot of merry making. Normally this festival is celebrated around February-March on the day of Full Moon Night, and hence the name Fagu Purnima (Full Moon night of the month of Falgun as per the Nepali calendar). One interesting fact in Nepal is that Holi is celebrated ranging in 2 days, the first day celebrated in the hills and mid Nepal, and the next day celebrated in Terai region. The reason for this will be dealt in the legends section of this write up.

The Legends

There are lot many legend associated to this festival. Two of the many have marked association in the way the Fagu is celebrated in Nepal. Other legends will also be talked about briefly.

Legend-Krishna

Though play of colors takes place on the last day (Fagu Purnima), a ceremonial pole called, 'Chir' is installed a week prior. Chir is a bamboo pole fringed with strips of clothes representing good luck charms. The pole is put up in the street at Basantapur Durbar Square, Kathmandu, the festivities and worship commences for the week. At the end of the festivities Chir is taken to a bonfire.

There is a popular legend behind the installation of Chir. The story is about the mischievous nature of Krishna who just loved to pray pranks with the milkmaids (gopis). Playful as he was, it is said that once he seduced all the local girls with his dashing good looks. He then danced with them all and when they fully engrossed in him, and then he thought they were ripe for a tease. He doused them in colored water and stole all their clothes while they were bathing in the water of river Yamuna. Naughty Krishna then hung their clothes on a tree to bug them. Chir symbolizes that very tree.

Legend-Prahlad

The other popular legend associated to this festival goes like this. The demon king Hiranyakashipu (also called Hirankashyapa) who lived in earth prayed to Lord Brahma and got a boon. Because of the power of that boon, humans or animals cannot kill him, nobody can kill him in his house or outside of his house, he cannot be killed in day or night, he cannot be killed in earth or sky. Because of this boon, it has become virtually impossible to kill Hiranyakashipu.

Because of this Hiranyakashipu, become so cruel and arrogant. He ordered that he is the god and everybody should worship him. His entire kingdom agreed in fear except his son Prahlad, who insisted that Hiranyakashipu is a man and Lord Vishnu is the only true god to be worshipped. Hiranyakashipu tried changing his son, but in vain. Angry Hiranyakashipu then tried lot of ways to kill his son, and once, ordered his sister Holika to take Prahlad into the fire. Holika was having a boon that fire cannot burn her. However, fire burned Holika, because this boon could be used only for good deeds. Prahlad, who was chanting Vishnu sutra, came out of fire intact, as fire did not burn even his hair. People started celebrating this day as Holi for the victory of god over evil.

The legend continues; that after some time when Hiranyakashipu was about to kill Prahlad, Lord Vishnu appeared in Narasimham avatar (half man and half animal) and saved Prahlad and the world from Hiranyakashipu. He has taken Hiranyakashipu to the door of his house (not in house or outside of house), kept him in his lap (not in earth or not in sky), and killed him at sunset (Not at day or not at night) with his Strong palm and Lion nails (not by weapons or Mantras).

The legend is taken as good triumphs over evil and people in Terai burn effigy representing that of Holika in a big mesh of firewood stack on the day of Purnima. This ritual is also called as Holika Dahan (Burning of Holika), and hence the name Holi for the festival. People in Terai, play their colors the next day of Holika Dahan, representing the end of the cruel Holika.

Other Legends

The Story of Dhundhi

It was also on this day that an ogress called Dhundhi, who was troubling the children in the kingdom of Prthu was chased away by the shouts and pranks of village youngsters. Although this female monster had secured several boons that made her almost invincible, shouts, abuses and pranks of boys was a loophole in the armor for Dhundi, owing to a curse from Lord Shiva.

Radha-Krishna Legend

Holi is also celebrated in memory of the immortal love of Lord Krishna and Radha. The young Krishna would complain to his mother Yashoda about why Radha was so fair and he so dark. Yashoda advised him to apply color on Radha's face and see how her complexion would change. In the legends of Krishna as a youth he is depicted playing all sorts of pranks with the gopis or cowgirls. One prank was to throw colored powder all over them.

Unholy Holi

You are in a jolly mood, spring is in the air and you are walking with the sun on your back, a song in your heart and ….splat!!! What was that? Sure sign that Holi is here again: that a wrong practice of the festival when Lolas start raining down from nowhere. Worse, some fill lolas with engine oil, paint and dirty water. How and why did this abominable trend seep into our culture? Why do we import the worst forms of behaviour from the neighboring country, the big whale?

Holi has traditionally been the only time girls and boys were allowed to flirt blatantly, douse each other in water and colors, symbolizing passion. But some have turned the color and water festival into a war of the sexes. Over the years the harmless fun of Nepali Holi has been invaded by the sinister culture of taking this festival as for granted as a license to flirt stretched to sexual harassment. People hardly play Holi with family and friends anymore; they gang up instead to bombard female passers-by, giggling at their own cowardly audacity.

The local administration maintains that spraying colors on unwilling persons even on the very day of Holi that falls on March 10 this year, is punishable under the law. But people go scot-free even after flouting the law right under the nose of the police. "No one can spray colors on others without their consent and the offenders can be tried under the Public Offense Act and slapped a fine of up to Rs 10,000," says Chief District Officer of Kathmandu Bhola Shivakoti. (As reported on 7th March 2009, in http://www.myrepublica.com/)

Let's boycott harassment and save what remains good of the festival. Play Holi with your family and friends, not unwilling strangers. Let it be a celebration of spring and a joyful occasion and not to harass someone. Happy Holi to you all.

Compiled By: Roshan Upadhyay  Also posted in Tikijhya.com