The Interesting history behind Holi Festival

 The Interesting history behind Holi Festival

Compiled by:

Vijay Sardana

Happy Holi to all of you.

It is important to know and learn from our history, our culture and our value systems. Without roots and value systems no civilization and institution can survive.

On the occasion of the Holi festival, this is an attempt to understand the characters behind the Holi festival.

According to a story from Bhagavata Purana, Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha are Vishnu's gatekeepers Jaya and Vijaya, born on earth as the result of a curse from the Four Kumara.

According to Sources, the birthplace of Hiranyakashipu is Moolsthan (Present Day Multan in Pakistan).

Who were the Four Kumaras? 

The Kumaras are four sages (rishis) who roam the universe as children, from the Puranic texts of Hinduism, generally named Sanaka, Sanatana, Sanandana and Sanat kumara. They are described as the first mind-born creations and sons of the creator-god Brahma. Brahma, who had received the knowledge of the Puranas from the Universal Being (God Himself) Narayana, imbibed this to his Four Kumaras (Sanat Kumaras).

SanatKumaras then taught the Puranas to Narada. Narada transmitted it to Krishna Dwaipayana who in turn scripted them in monumental epic documents of 18 Puranas.

The Vishnu Purana is recorded in two parts, the Vishnu Purana and Naradiya Purana. The teachings of Sankara of the Kumara brothers are contained in the Naradiya Purana which is also divided into two parts, the first part containing the teachings of Sanaka and others.

Born from Brahma's mind, the four Kumaras undertook lifelong vows of celibacy (brahmacharya) against the wishes of their father. They are said to wander throughout the materialistic and spiritualistic universe without any desire but with the purpose to teach. All four brothers have studied Vedas from their childhood and always travelled together.

The Bhagavata Purana lists the Kumaras among the twelve Mahajanas (great devotees or bhaktas) who, although being eternally liberated souls from birth, still became attracted to the devotional service of Vishnu from their already enlightened state. It also mentions them as being an avatar of Vishnu. They play a significant role in many Hindu spiritual traditions; especially those associated with the worship of Vishnu and his avatar Krishna, sometimes even in traditions related to the god Shiva.

Birth and mission of Kumaras

The four Kumaras are the eldest sons of the creator-god Brahma. When Brahma undertook the task of creating the universe, he first created some beings from different parts of his body to aid him. The Kumaras were the first such beings. They were created from his mind and appeared as infants. Brahma orders to aid creation. Manifestations of Sattva (purity) and uninterested in worldly life, they refused and instead devoted themselves to God and celibacy, against the wishes of their father. The Bhagavata Purana narrates further that their refusal made Brahma angry and his wrath manifested into the god Rudra, an aspect of Shiva.

As per a variant, Brahma practised austerities (tapas) and pleased the god Vishnu, so he appeared in the form of the four infant Kumaras as Brahma's sons. Some texts like the Devi Bhagavata Purana and the Bhavishya Purana narrate how the four Kumaras appeared even before the Brahma of the present age. (In a cycle of time, some texts say that a Brahma dies and is reborn.)

The four Kumaras learnt the Vedas at the age of four or five. They thus became great gyanis (learned beings), yogis and Siddhas (the perfect enlightened ones). The Kumaras remained in the form of children due to their spiritual virtues. The age of the sages varies in various sacred texts. While five is the most popular, they are also mentioned as being fifteen or sixteen-year-old youths. They practised the vow of renunciation (Sannyasa) and celibacy (brahmacharya) and remained naked. They wander together throughout the materialistic and spiritualistic universe without any desire but with the purpose to teach. They are sometimes included in the list of Siddhars (Tamil equivalent for Siddha).

The four Kumaras are said to reside in Jana Loka or Janar Loka (Loka or world of the intellectuals in the present parlance) or in Vishnu's abode Vaikuntha. They constantly recite the mantra "Hari sharanam" (Vishnu – "God the Redeemer our Refuge") or sing Vishnu's praises. These hymns and glories of Vishnu serve as their only food. Another son of Brahma, the sage Narada, who is described as their disciple, extols their virtues in the Padma Purana. Narada says though they appear as five-year-old children, they are the great ancestors of the world.

Discourses

The discourses of the four Kumaras are found in the Hindu epic Mahabharata as well as the Bhagavata Purana.

The four Kumaras roamed around at their free will with their cosmic powers all over the universe. During one of their sojourns, they arrived at Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu. The city, with the residence of Vishnu located at the centre of seven circular walls, is considered a place of bliss and purity. It has seven gates of entry. The four Kumaras passed through the first six gates without any hindrance. The seventh gate was guarded by Jaya and Vijaya, the two dwarapala (door-guards) of Vishnu's palace, who looked like Vishnu with his blue skin and four arms adorned with huge garlands and mace.

The angry guardians stopped the four Kumaras and laughed at them since they looked like children and were also naked, and did not permit them to enter through the seventh gate. The four Kumaras were perplexed by the behaviour of the gatekeepers as they had not faced such a situation and ridicule anywhere else. They expected Jaya and Vijaya to be like their master Vishnu, who has all beings in his abdomen and who dwells in all beings as the soul and thus does not differentiate among beings. Angry with the behaviour of the gatekeepers, the Kumaras cursed them to be born on earth, thrice three villains with characteristics of "lust, anger and greed". The gatekeepers accept the curse and bow to the Kumaras and beg for their forgiveness. They request the Kumaras that they should be devoid of 'moha' (“infatuation”) lest they forget their Lord, Vishnu.

Vishnu who learnt of the incident appeared before the Kumaras in all his glory with his routine. The four Kumaras, who were on their first visit to Vaikuntha, took in by the sight and the glittering divine figure of Vishnu. With deep devotion, they appealed to him to accept them as his devotees and allow them to offer worship at his feet for all time to come and let his feet be their final emancipation. Vishnu complied with their request and also assured Jaya and Vijaya that they will be born as demons on earth but will be released from all births (killed) by an avatar of Vishnu (which later appeared as Narasimha).

The two guards were dismissed by the lord to go and suffer the curse of the Kumaras on earth and then only return to his abode, after the end of the curse. The two banished guards were then born on earth, at an inauspicious hour, to the sage Kashyapa and his wife Diti as asuras who were named Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha.

Who was Diti (mother of Hiranyakashipu)?

In Hinduism, Diti (Sanskrit: दिति) is an earth goddess and mother of the Maruts with Rudra. She is also the mother of the Daityas with the sage Kashyapa. She wanted to have a son who would be more powerful than Indra (who had killed her previous children) and so she practised magic and kept herself pregnant for one year. Indra used a thunderbolt to splinter the foetus into many pieces, the Maruts.

Diti is the daughter of Daksha-Prajapati, one of the grandfathers of creation, a son of Brahma, the god of ritual skill and a king. Her mother was Veerni. She is one of the sixty daughters of Daksha. She is one of the thirteen wives of Kashyapa, another Prajapati and a great sage. She is also Aditi's sister.

Birth of Diti's children including Hiranyakashipu

Seeing Aditi's cowives being blessed with children; Diti too was eager to have a son. So, she had asked Kashyapa for company. Though Kashyapa had acceded to her request, He had asked her to wait for an hour as it was then the time when Shiva and his retinue of ghosts and spirits moved about; which was considered inauspicious and unsuited. However; Diti, shaken by the passion of love and lust, couldn't wait and she seized Kashyap by his garments, which was a sign of immodesty. Since Diti's mind was impure; tainted by lust, she would give birth to two unworthy sons who would violate all the ethics (Dharma) and follow the path of Adharma. When Diti felt sorry, Kashyapa consoled her by saying that they would be slain by Lord Vishnu himself and thus be blessed by the Lord's contact in the end. Also; one of her four grandsons by her first son, would be a great devotee of Vishnu and also the noblest man (He is Prahlada).

In this way, Jaya and Vijaya were born on this earth to Diti as Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha. In Section 67, Adi Parava of Mahabharata, it is stated that king Shishupala, the powerful ruler of Chedis, was also an incarnation of Hiranyakasipu, the son of Diti.

She has many demon sons and daughters. Her two most famous sons were the rebirths of Vishnu's gatekeepers Jaya and Vijaya who failed to keep their dharma. They were Hiranyaksha who was slain by Vishnu's varaha avatara and Hiranyakashipu who was slain by Vishnu's man-lion, narasimha avatara.

She also had a daughter named Holika who was killed by her own powers. Diti is usually mean and cruel to Kashyapa and Aditi. She is always obsessed with trying to raise the power of demons to its peak. She also hates Aditi's sons who are the gods.

Penance

After his brother Hiranyaksha died at the hands of the Varaha avatar of Vishnu, Hiranyakashipu started to abhor Vishnu. To this end, he decides to attempt to kill Vishnu by gaining mystical powers, which he believes Brahma, the chief among the devas will award to him if he undergoes many years of great austerity and penance just as Brahma has awarded to other Rakshasas. This initially seems to work as planned with Brahma becoming pleased by Hiranyakashipu's austerities. Brahma thus appears before Hiranyakashipu and offers him a boon of his choice. Upon Hiranyakashipu's asking for immortality, however, Brahma refuses. Hiranyakashipu then requests the following:

“O my lord, O best of the givers of benediction, if you will kindly grant me the benediction I desire, please let me not meet death from any of the living entities created by you. Grant me that I do not die within any residence or outside any residence, during the daytime or at night, nor on the ground or in the sky. Grant me that my death will not be brought by any being other than those created by you, nor by any weapon, nor by any human being or animal. Grant me that I do not meet death from any entity, living or nonliving. Grant me, further, that I not be killed by any demigod or demon or by any great snake from the lower planets. Since no one can kill you on the battlefield, you have no competitor. Therefore, grant me the benediction that I too may have no rival. Give me sole lordship over all the living entities and presiding deities, and give me all the glories obtained by that position. Furthermore, give me all the mystic powers attained by long austerities and the practice of yoga, for these cannot be lost at any time.”

Birth of Prahalad

Whilst Hiranyakashipu had been performing the penance to be granted this boon, his home had been attacked by Indra and the other devas, seizing the opportunity in his absence. At this point, the divine sage Narada intervened to protect Hiranyakashipu's wife, Kayadhu, who he describes as 'sinless'. Following this event, Narada takes Kayadhu into his care and while under the guidance of Narada, her unborn child (Hiranyakashipu's son) Prahlada, became affected by the transcendental instructions of the sage even at such a young stage of development. Thus, Prahlada when later growing as a child began to show symptoms of this earlier training by Narada, gradually becoming recognised as a devoted follower of Vishnu, much to his father's disappointment.

The Legend of Prahalad and Holika

After the boon and blessings of Brahma, Hiranyakashyap considered himself ruler of the Universe, and higher than all the gods. This is the main Holi legend. Holika was a female demon, and the sister of Hiranyakashipu, the demon king. Prahalad was the king's son. His father hated him because Prahalad was a faithful devotee of the god Vishnu.

One day the king asked him “Who is the greatest, God or I?"

"God is," said the son, "you are only a king."

The king was furious and decided to murder his son.

But the king's attempts at murder didn't work too well. Prahalad survived being thrown over a cliff, being trampled by elephants, bitten by snakes, and attacked by soldiers.

So the king asked his sister, Holika, to kill the boy.

Holika seized Prahalad and sat in the middle of a fire with the boy on her lap.

Holika had been given a magic power by the gods that made her immune to fire, so she thought this was a pretty good plan, and Prahalad would burn to death while she remained cool.

But it's never wise to take gods' gifts for granted! Because Holika was using her gift to do something evil, her power vanished and she was burned to ashes. Prahalad stayed true to his God, Vishnu, and sat praying in the lap of his demon aunt. Vishnu protected him, and Prahalad survived.

Hiranyakashipu eventually becomes so angry and upset at his son's devotion to Vishnu (who he sees as his mortal enemy) that he decides he must kill him, but each time he attempts to kill the boy, Prahlada is protected by Vishnu's mystical power. When asked, Prahlada refuses to acknowledge his father as the supreme lord of the universe and claims that Vishnu is all-pervading and omnipresent. To which Hiranyakashipu points to a nearby pillar and asks if 'his Vishnu' is in it:

"O most unfortunate Prahlada, you have always described a supreme being other than me, a supreme being who is above everything, who is the controller of everyone, and who is all-pervading. But where is He? If He is everywhere, then why is He not present before me in this pillar?”

Prahlada then answers He was, He is and He will be. In an alternate version of the story, Prahlada answers He is in pillars, and he is in the least twig. Hiranyakashipu, unable to control his anger, smashes the pillar with his mace, and then following a tumultuous sound, Vishnu in the form of Narasimha appears from it and in defence of Prahlada moves to attack his father.

To kill Hiranyakashipu and not upset the boon given by Brahma, the form of Narasimha was chosen. Hiranyakashipu could not be killed by humans, deva or animals, Narasimha is neither one of these, as he is a form of Vishnu incarnate as a part-human, part-animal. He comes upon Hiranyakashipu at twilight (when it is neither day nor night) on the threshold of a courtyard (neither indoors nor out) and puts the demon on his lap (neither earth nor space). Using his nails (neither animate nor inanimate) as weapons, he disembowels and kills the demon.

Even after killing Hiranyakashipu none of the present demigods was able to calm Narasimha's fury, not even Shiva. So all the gods and goddesses called His consort, the goddess Lakshmi, but she was also unable to do so. Then, at the request of Brahma, Prahlada was presented to Narasimha, and finally, he was calmed by the prayers of his devotee. Shortly afterwards, Vishnu killed King Hiranyakashyap and Prahad ruled as a wise king in his father's place.

Moral

The moral of the story is that good always wins over evil, and those who seek to torment the faithful will be destroyed.

To celebrate the story, large bonfires are burned during Holi. In many parts of India, a dummy of Holika is burned on the fire.

HAPPY HOLI TO YOU and YOUR FAMILY.

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