When you Play Colours with the Ashes from the Funeral Pyre

From Mystic India Series :

In Kashi, the cultural capital of India, it is the ashes right from the funeral pyres that serve as the colours to smear one another, as the Holi festival kicked off on Friday!

Devotees, the Aghori babas and the people came together to celebrate what is known here as the Masan Holi (Holi at the Funeral Pyres) at the cremation ground, Harishchandra Ghat, formally kicking off the festival of colours.

People applied pyre ashes on one another. Many dressed up as Gana (loyal attendants, companions and troop leaders) of Lord of Shiva, the God of Destruction, and participated in this unique annual celebration. They painted one another from toes to head with pyre ashes. They danced to the tune of Holi numbers as Holi celebration progressed.

This play symbolized the cycle of birth, life and death and rebirth.

Just as war kicks off elsewhere, in India through this tradition, people celebrate death, reflecting the mystical culture of Kashi.

This year, a large number of devotees participated in this special Holi celebration. Local artists added to the colorful atmosphere with their performances. This occasion witnessed a wonderful confluence of Kashi's passion and detachment. Devotees performed devotional songs and traditional dances, infusing the atmosphere with a wonderful energy.

Rangbhari Ekadashi with hues of colours of Gulal-Abir

Amidst the beats of Damaru (the drum of Lord Shiva), gulal in air and Har Har Mahadev chanting echoing the ambience, Rangbhari Ekadashi was celebrated with devotional and colourful fervour in Kashi on Friday.

Belief has it, that this day, Lord Shiva brings Goddess Maa Parvati to his abode, Baba Kashi Vishwanath Temple. The people of Kashi celebrate it with colourful devotion laced with Gulal and Abir.

The celebration of the festival began at the former Mahant's residence in Tedhinam of Kashi where devotees offered and applied abir and gulal to Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati and Lord Ganesha as a mark of celebration of this day.

The movable idols of Lord Shiva, Goddess Maa Parvarti and Lord Ganesha were placed on a palanquin.

As priests, ex-mahant's family members lifted the palanquins, abir and rose petals flew from all sides. The sound of conch shells, pellet drums reverberated throughout the lane, making the entire atmosphere devotional.

Holi has just begun in India. When the festival ends after about a week, most people will be unrecognizable due to the smearing of colours of all kinds upon one another.

Gallery

Beginning by playing Holi with the ashes of the dead, burnt at the holy city of Kashi, the Mystic India smears itself with colours as the week of the Festival of Colours kicks off