Flowers Instead of Colors For Holi

By Super

Friday, March 2, 2012, 11:11

Holi is the festival of colors. But when the rest of the country celebrate holy with colors, the Krishna devotees in Rajasthan's Pushkar city celebrate the festival with flowers, on a different day.

Holi, considered as the harbinger of spring and new life, usually falls in the Hindu month of Phagun (February to March).

Local residents of Pushkar city have already celebrated the festival with flowers on February 20th. Their practices are saturated with the devotional songs in praise of Lord Krishna and dancing to the drumbeats. Performing the Raas Leela or the dance recital depicting Krishna's flirtatious interludes with village maidens had been consorting in Pushkar.

Troupes of singers from various parts of the country are gathered here every year to render folk songs for the festivities. Devotees dressed as Lord Krishna and his beloved, Radha, will dance and throw flowers on each other. This place, during the festival, is a favourite spot for the tourists.

"On this occasion, we play Holi with flowers. Artistes from various regions like Gwalior, Mumbai and Jaipur have gathered here to take part in the celebrations. They perform dances based on Lord Krishna''s leelas (deeds). We also welcome the idol of Lord Ganesha with colours and decorate it. Later, we will play the Holi Phag Mausam with everybody. We play this every year and everybody takes part in the celebrations," says Pawan Kumar, a local resident.

"I have been in Pushkar for the last two days and so far, my stay in this town has been great. The dances, songs, people dressed in Lord Krishna are really beautiful. The people are very welcoming here. I really like it over here. The way Krishna is dancing is very good to watch. I wish I had some colours to throw on everybody," says Sara, a United States tourist.