Holi Katha in English, Story of Holi in English
Holi is being celebrated since Satyug, 39 lakh years ago, that is, even before the era of Ram-Krishna. Holi is an era, with which almost everything ends, Holi, crossing it, entering other eras, is not only the reason for our happiness in Kaliyug, but is also capable of giving the message that the end of every evil is certain.
The oldest and most popular Holi story is of Satyug.
There are many stories about when and how Holi started. But, the oldest and most popular story is Satyug. In such a situation, it can be said that Holi has been celebrated since Satya Yuga. He further says, there are four Yugas - Satya Yuga, Treta, Dwapar and Kali Yuga. In our scriptures, 1 Yuga is said to be of millions of years. Satya Yuga is about 17 lakh 28 thousand years, Treta Yuga is 12 lakh 96 thousand years, Dwapar Yuga is 8 lakh 64 thousand years, so Kali Yuga is 4 lakh 32 thousand years. According to this, the calculation says that Holi is being celebrated since Satya Yuga, 39 lakh years ago. Then, God took the form of Narasimha and killed Hiranyakashyap.
The Tridev governs this universe. Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the nurturer, and Shiva is the destroyer. Along with this, Vishnu also takes incarnation from time to time to maintain balance. Garuda Purana mentions 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu. In Satyayug he took the form of Matsya, Hayagriva, Kurma, Varaha and Narasimha, and in Treta he took the form of Vaman, Parashurama and Shri Ram. In Dwapar he came among devotees in the form of Shri Krishna. In Kaliyug he will take the form of Kalki. That time will be the transition period between Kaliyug and Satyayug. Kaliyug has just begun. In all his incarnations the Lord kills the wicked and also teaches the way of living through his leelas. The festival of Holi is also something similar which started during the time of Lord Narasimha incarnation in Satyayug.
Story of Hiranyakashipu, Holika and Prahlad - The Main Story
In ancient times, sage Kashyap and Diti had two sons and two daughters - Hiranyaksha, Hiranyakashipu, Singhika and Holika. Lord Vishnu's Varaha avatar killed Hiranyaksha because he had submerged the earth in water. For this reason, Hiranyakashyap considered him an enemy. Singhika was killed by Hanumanji on the way to Lanka. Hiranyakashyap married Kayadhu, from whom he had a son named Prahlad. Hiranyakashyap started meditating Brahma to get the boon he wanted. When Hiranyakashyap was engrossed in meditation, the gods attacked and defeated the demons and Devraj Indra took Hiranyakashyap's pregnant wife 'Kayadhu' captive, but on the way he met Devrishi Narad. Naradji preached to Indra that you are committing a sin. After listening to the sermon, Indra left Hiranyakashipu's wife Kayadhu at the sage's ashram and went to Devlok himself. At that time, sage Narad protected Kayadhu and gave her a place in his ashram. Narad made pregnant Kayadhu aware of Vishnu Bhakti and Bhagwat Tatva. This knowledge was also received by Prahlad, the son growing in her womb. Hiranyakashyap's son Prahlad was born there. Prahlad became a devotee of Lord Vishnu due to staying in the company of sage Narad. On the other hand, after many years of penance, Brahma appeared before Hiranyakashyap. When Brahma asked Hiranyakashyap to ask for a boon, he asked for the boon of immortality. However, it was not possible to give such a boon, so Brahma asked him to ask for some other boon. After this, Hiranyakashyap asked for a boon from Brahma - I should not be killed by any creature created by you, human, god-demons, animal, snake etc. I should rule over all creatures. No one can kill me during the day or at night. Neither can I die inside the house nor outside. Neither can anyone kill me with a weapon nor with a weapon. Neither can anyone kill me on the ground nor in the sky, netherworld or heaven. Overall, in his understanding, he asked for the boon of immortality. Brahmaji granted this boon to Hiranyakashyap but, after this, he became autocratic. He started killing sages and saints, started making gods slaves. Started creating obstacles in worship, yagna etc. He did not stop here, instead of worshiping the gods, he ordered to worship himself. Meanwhile, Prahlad was born in his house. After some time, he was sent to Gurukul. Here Prahlad started worshipping Vishnu, his son Prahlad remained engrossed in Vishnu devotion. When Hiranyakashyap came to know about this, he became angry. He made many attempts to make Prahlad stop worshipping Vishnu, but failed. After this, an attempt was made to kill Prahlad. He was poisoned by the soldiers, he was attacked with a sword, he was left in front of poisonous snakes, they tried to crush him under the feet of elephants, he was thrown down from the mountain, apart from this many other attempts were made but by the grace of Shri Hari Vishnu, not a single hair of Prahlad was harmed. On Falgun Shukla Saptami, Prahlad was held captive and tortured for eight days. Every attempt was made to kill him. But nothing happened to Prahlad.
Hiranyakashyap had a sister named Holika. Holika too had received a boon from Lord Brahma. That fire cannot burn her. Hiranyakashyap told Holika to sit in the fire with Prahlad in her lap, so that Prahlad cannot escape and he burns to ashes in the same fire. On the day of Falgun Purnima, Holika sat with Prahlad in her lap, but Holika got burnt but nothing happened to Prahlad. Actually Holika had become arrogant that she would not burn in fire, whereas she had a boon that she would not be harmed by fire until she thought of harming a virtuous person. It is said that one of Holika's clothes contained the power of not burning, but due to a strong storm by the grace of Lord Vishnu, that cloth got separated from Holika and got wrapped around Prahlad's body. When Holika got burnt and Prahlad was saved, the people of the city celebrated, which is also known as Chhoti Holi. After this, when this news spread, Vishnu devotees celebrated the festival in an even more grand manner the next day. Due to being associated with Holika, this festival was later named Holi. On the other hand, Hiranyakashyap tied Prahlad to a pillar to kill him. He angrily asked Prahlad that because of whom he is not obeying me. On this, Prahlad prayed to his father to give up his demonic nature and adopt the spirit of equality. This made Hiranyakashyap furious. He said, you consider someone else as the lord of the world except me, where is he? Is he in this pillar? And saying this, he punched the pillar. Meanwhile, the pillar burst with a roar and a dangerous form emerged from it. Head of a lion, torso of a human, big nails, dangerous face, yellow eyes and tongue like a sword. This was the Narasimha incarnation of God. He kept Hiranyakashyap on his thighs on the threshold of the assembly in the evening and tore his heart with his nails. Lord Narasimha did not kill Hiranyakashyap in the day nor in the night, neither outside nor inside, neither on the ground nor in the sky, neither with a weapon nor with a weapon. In this way, the boon of Brahmaji was also fulfilled. After this, Prahlad prayed to Lord Narasimha, then his anger calmed down. God made devotee Prahlad his successor.
Holi Story of Shiva and Kamadeva
The most popular story is of Holika Dahan in Satyug, but in later ages also this festival was celebrated at different times and other stories also got attached to it. One story of Holi is also of Kamadeva. Parvati was engrossed in her penance to marry Shiva but Shiva himself was engrossed in meditation and did not pay attention for a long time. Indra ordered Kamadeva to disturb Lord Shiva's penance. Kamadeva remembered spring at that time and spread the effect of spring with his Maya, due to which the creatures of the whole world became fascinated with lust. This effort of Kamadeva to fascinate Shiva continued till Holi. Lord Shiva's penance was disturbed on the day of Holi. He got angry and burnt Kamadeva and gave the message that on Holi, do not let Kaam (attachment, desire, greed, wealth, pride) dominate you. From then on, the tradition of Vasant Utsav and burning Holi on Holi started. When Kamadeva was burnt, his wife Rati started crying and pleaded to bring Kamadeva back to life. The next day, when his anger subsided, Shiva revived Kamadeva. It is believed that when Holika is burnt after Kamadeva is burnt, the festival of colors, Holi, is celebrated in the joy of his revival. After this incident, Shiva agreed to marry Mother Parvati. Due to which all the gods and goddesses, Shivganas, humans were filled with joy. They celebrated with great enthusiasm by throwing color gulal on each other, which is celebrated in every house today as Holi.
Holi Story of Mahabharata period
In the Mahabharata period, i.e. Dwapar, Lord Krishna told a story to Yudhishthira. Once there was an Asura woman under the rule of Raghu, the ancestor of Shri Ram. No one could kill her, because she had a boon. One day, Guru Vashishtha told that she could be killed, if the children go near the outskirts of the city with small pieces of wood in their hands and burn them by making a pile with dry grass. Then, do parikrama around it, dance, clap, sing songs and play drums. Then the same was done and the demon was killed. It is said that since then Holi is celebrated as a symbol of victory over evil.
Holi became most famous in the Dwapar era, i.e. the era of Shri Krishna. According to the legend, Kansa came to know that Shri Krishna was in Gokul, but did not know where. After this, he asked a demoness named Putana to kill all the children born in Gokul. Putana used to disguise herself and make the babies drink poison on the pretext of breastfeeding. But, Krishna took Putana's life while breastfeeding. Happiness was celebrated on the killing of Putana, and this story also got associated with Holi.
All the festivals of Hinduism are happy, but there is a serious message behind it. Just as Diwali is a symbol of victory of Dharma over Adharma, Holi is also like that. The clear message of this festival is that pride is not good. There is no one greater than God. Whoever does not follow the rules of nature, no one can save him, like Holika or Hiranyakashyap who were killed despite having a boon.
