Holi will begin on March 28, a Sunday, and end on Monday, March 29. The day is also celebrated, the season of spring and the feeling of love. It is a day when people forgive mistakes of the past and start anew.
It begins on the night of Holika Dahan — wherein the evil king Hiranyakashipu’s sister Holika was charred to death when she had sat with the young Prahlad on a pyre. The latter, devoted to Lord Vishnu, was saved from the fire by His mercy, but Holika had been engulfed. Later, the reign of Hiranyakashipu, too, was brought to an end when he was killed at the claws of Lord Narasimha, an avatar of Lord Vishnu.
Holi celebrates the victory of good over evil.
Another legend associated with the festival is Lord Krishna’s avatar — another avatar of Lord Vishnu — and his consort Radha. In India’s Braj region — where Krishna is believed to have grown up — the festival is celebrated until Rang Panchmi, in commemoration of the divine love between Radha and Krishna.
While Krishna, a dark-skinned lad, once playfully complained to his mother about his complexion, she told him that Radha would like him as he is and that he can even ask her to paint his face and hers in any color of her choice. While Radha agreed to this, the color that was on her face reflected on his and vice-versa. Thus, this was the occasion wherein RadhaKrishna became one and came to be understood as a part of one another.
