1000 Words Essay on Holi - LEARN WITH FUN

Here is 1000 words Essay on Holi is for students and children for classes 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 and competitive exams(junior and senior classes) | Stories of Holi Festival | Complete information and facts about Holi.

Holi is the most celebrated festival in India. It is a popular Hindu festival. But other communities also celebrate Holi with great pomp and show. It is also known as the “festival of colors”, “festival of love” and the “festival of spring”.

Holi marks the arrival of spring and the end of the winter season. Holi festival also celebrates the starting of the spring harvest season and is also known as “The Festival of Spring”.

According to the Hindu calendar, it falls in the month of Phalguna on the full moon (Purnima). It is celebrated annually in the month of March.

Holi is known as the “festival of love”, as it celebrates the eternal and divine love of Radha and Krishna.

There is a legend as per Hindu mythology behind the celebration of the Holi festival. It is said that Lord Krishna was dark in color. He smeared the dark color on the face of Radha to match her skin color to him. So Holi festival was first celebrated by Radha and Krishna.

Holi is celebrated with great joy and enthusiasm in the villages around Mathura, which is the birthplace of Krishna. Lord Krishna also played Holi with gopis. So the divine dance of India known as Raslila is also associated with Holi.

There is one more famous legend about the Holi festival. Holi word is drived from ‘Holika’ who was the sister of Hiranyakashipu. Prahlada was the son of Hiranyakashipu, an evil Asura king.

Hiranyakashipu had been granted a boon that he could not be killed off by anything born from a living womb. Apart from this, he neither be killed by a man nor an animal, neither during the day nor at night, neither on land nor in the air nor in water, neither indoors nor outdoors, and not with of man-made weapon.

Prahlada was devoted to God Vishnu since his childhood. Prahlada’s father didn’t like his spiritual inclination towards lord Vishnu and warned him several times not to chant Vishnu.

Despite several warnings given by Hiranyakashipu, Prahlada did not stop worshipping Vishnu. His father in a fit of rage decided to kill Prahlada. He tried several methods to kill him.

First, he poisoned him, but it didn’t work. Then he tried to trample him with elephants. But the devotion of Prahlada to God Vishnu again saved him. After that, he put Prahlada in a room among venomous snakes. It is said due to the grace of god Vishnu, the snakes didn’t bite the boy, and instead, they made a bed for Prahlada with their bodies. He was again saved by Vishnu when his father threw him from a valley into a river.

After trying all these wicked tricks, he could not kill Prahlada. He again thought of an idea to kill Prahlada with the help of her sister Holika who was blessed in that she could not be hurt by fire. Holika sat on a pyre, putting Prahlada on the lap. But again god Vishnu helped Prahlada. Holika burned to death whereas Prahlada remained unharmed and safe.

After this event burning of Holika in a bonfire became the symbol of the setting of all evils, ego, negativity, and jealousy in the fire. The survival of Prahlada symbolizes the victory of good over evil.

God Vishnu then saved Prahlada from the abuse from Hiranyakahipu, Vishnu in the form of Narasimha (man-lion) godhead who emerges from within a stone pillar and places the king on his thigh and kills him with his sharp nails at the entrance to his home at dusk, the god Vishnu nullified all of his boon of virtual immorality.

One another story of Holi is about the reunion of God Shiva and Mata Parvati.

As per Hindu mythology, Holi is celebrated in India as a mark of the reunion of Sati or Goddess Parvati.

God Shiva’s wife committed herself to fire due to disrespect shown by her father Daksha to Shiva. After this incident, God Shiva gave up all his worldly duties and went into deep meditation. Meanwhile, during this period, the reincarnation of Sati as Parvati started meditating to have Shiva again as her husband.

But god Shiva was in deep meditation and not interested in the matters of the world. Complications started to continue in the world that made all the other gods concerned and afraid. Then a group of gods went to seek the help of Kamadeva, the god of love and passion. This was the last effort to bring back to god Shiva to his original self.

God Kamdev knew that he might have to suffer the consequences of doing this, but to save the world, he accepted to shoot his arrow on Shiva to break his deep meditation. Kamadeva shot his love arrow on god Shiva. He got extremely angry and opened his third eye and Kamadeva was reduced to the ashes.

But the love arrow of Kamadeva made the desired effect and god Shiva married Parvati.

After this, Kamdev’s wife, Rati pleaded god Shiva that this plan was to bring him back for the sake of the world and was planned by other gods and asked him to revive Kamdev. God, Shiva accepted the plea of Rati and revived Kamadeva.

The burning of Kamadeva became a symbol of burning all the desires. After that Holi is being celebrated the victory over worldly desires. The devotes of the southern part of India worship god Kamadeva for his extreme sacrifice for the sake of the world on the occasion of Holi.

One more story about giantess Dhundhi.

The Giantess Dhundhi from the Raghu kingdom used to trouble innocent people and little children were also part of her troublesome activities. At last small children who got fed-up with her.

She was boon by God Shiva that she would not be killed by gods, men nor suffers from armories neither from heat, cold, or rain. This boon made her invincible but on the other hand, she was also cursed by Bhagwan Shiva that she would be in danger from playful boys who would annoy her.

The king of Raghu was worried by the troublesome activities of the giantess and wanted to get rid of her. He consulted his priest and ministers of his state. They suggested that in the month of Phalguna when weather is neither too cold nor hot, the season of cold ends, and summer starts. This will be an appropriate time to chase away the giantess.

The courageous and playful boys came together to get rid of her from their state forever. They collected dry wood and grass and made a heap and set it on fire. They started chanting mantras and went around the fire.

They drank bhang, got intoxicated, beat the drums and made loud noises, and started insulting Dhundhi and chased her away. They continued doing this activity until she left the village forever. The loud noise, hurling abuses ruined her state of mind. She became powerless, frail and weak & fled from the village.

Chhoti Holi or Holika Dahan is observed one day before Holi or Dhulandi.

On Chhoti Holi, people make bonfires with dry woods and perform religious rituals. People also keep fast on Chhoti Holi and pray to god for long life, prosperity and good health for their family members and children.

Holi is the festival of colors. On this occasion, people enjoy very much throwing colors, abeer, gulal and even water balloons on friends, family members, relatives, and neighbors. Children also celebrate Holi with great joy and enthusiasm by playing with balloons filled with water, pichkari, water guns and colors. They start making their team days before to play Holi.

On Holi, people eat delicious food like Gunjiyas, Dahibade, Thandai and pakode together with friends and family. People play drums, sing and dance together and enjoy it very much. They visit each other.

Holi festival symbolizes the triumph of good over evil by burning Holika in the fire in spite of being blessed with a boon. It brings people together and spreads brotherhood, unity and harmony. People forget all negativity and celebrate this festival with great joy and enthusiasm with family, friends, neighbors, relatives and their well-wishers.

In Mathura and Vrindavan, the Holi celebration starts before one week and also attracts a lot of visitors and foreigners to be a part of this magical festival of India. In Mathura, people play Latthmar Holi in which women beat men with wooden lattah and men protect themselves.

On Holi, People forget their troubles and enmities and celebrate it with great joy and enthusiasm.