Detailed Information about Holika Dahan Festival & Its Importance

The Vedas and the Upanishads of are a very rich source of the Indian mythological beliefs and the practices. There are many other religious books as the Narad Puran, the Vishnu Puran, the Bhagwat Gita the Ramayana, etc. that have been narrating the practices of the past. These practices have been carried through the ages and now can be seen in the number of the festivals celebrated across the country. Holi is known all over the world as the festival of the colors which gathers the international attention every year. On the night before the grand celebrations of Holi the Mini Holi or the Holika Dahan is performed.

The Holika Dahan is a burning of the ceremonial bonfire. A number of things are offered into the ceremonial bonfire as offerings as the new crops, the wheat, rice, etc. The bonfires are lit up after the sunset and there is a practice among the people in the north Indian rural areas of singing and beating of the drums as the bonfire continues to burn. The chanting of the Rakshoghna Mantras of the Rig Veda are usually done to ward off the evils and the anomalies of the past year. Usually a log of the wood is placed on the spot where the burning of the ceremonial bonfire takes place and the people and the ever eager children collect the dried leaves and the dried branches around the log. The muhurta or the most auspicious timing is calculated on the basis of the Indian calendar. According to it the Holika Dahan should be done when the Purnamashi is prevailing and the Bhadra Paksha is over. The muhurta is considered very much important and taken due care. In other festivals the muhurta does not matter much but as Holika Dahan also marks the beginning into the New Year. Hence it is believed that if the perfect muhurta is not taken into account, the sufferings and the misfortunes are again carried along into the New Year.

There are a number of legends behind the celebrations of the Holika Dahan Utsav in the Indian subcontinent. The most praised of them comes from the Narad Purana. It says that Prahald was the son of the Asura king Hiranyakashyap. Hiranyakashyap wanted all the people of his kingdom should stop worshipping the gods and start worshipping him. All but his sown son Prahald disobeyed him and he worshipped lord Vishnu instead. So to kill his son he conspired with his sister Holika to sit in the ceremonial fire with Prahalad as she was blessed with a boon that fire could not burn her. But ultimately just the opposite happened. Holika was charred to death and Prahald escaped the fire with the blessings of lord Vishnu. From that day onward the people in India have been celebrating every year the victory of the virtue over the evil.

At many place the people also make the effigies of Prahalad out of noncombustible material and the effigy of Holika out of combustible material and place it atop the bonfire. The ashes from the burnt bonfire are collected the next day and applied on the limbs and the forehead as a mark of purification.