GUWAHATI: The diverse land of India is once again gearing up to celebrate the festival of colours i.e. Holi. And the known fact is that when the colours of Holi linger around the ambience of the country, it in a way breaks the monotonous lifestyle of the burgess and ameliorates their health from the negatives of the mechanized world. However, if we confabulate about the origin of celebration of Holi in India, we would find that this fiesta has both mythological and spiritual touch attached to it.
In fact, it is actually the amalgamation of the mythology and spirituality that make the festival of colours unique in its own way. Even nature embraces this festival in her own way by bringing into her ambit, the windy ‘Fhagun’ season. And when the gust of ‘Fhagun’ blows with it the colours of Holi and distributes it among the bevy, then this directly paints a picture of love, brotherhood and communal harmony, which actually remains the soul and spirit of India.
However, with the advancement of time and technology, the world has indeed become a global community, where one person is directly or indirectly linked with another, and thus with it followed the concept of globalization. Although the positive impact of globalization is worth mentioning, but the negative impact of globalization is also massive, especially when we bring into our ambit of discussion the negative impact of globalization upon certain festivals. And the reality is that even the festival of colours i.e. Holi, has also experienced the ill-effects of globalization upon it.
In this context, at the very beginning, we need to consider the legends associated with the festival of Holi. Indian Mythology has depicted in its accounts that the festival was actually celebrated to symbolize the victory of good over evil. Holika, sister of the wicked king Hiranyakashyap, who tortured Pralhad, was killed while she entered into a blazing fire with Pralhad in her lap. Actually Holika was blessed with a boon that no part of her body would be burnt, if she entered into fire, but that boon would only work, if she entered into the fire alone, but as she entered into the fire with Pralhad, the boon got nullified and she was killed then and there.
Another mythological account however stated that the festival originated from the activities of Lord Krishna, where he used to put colours to his beloved Radha and other gopis. So the mythological accounts thus reveal the fact that the festival of Holi actually originated in India, with no relevant evidence found of its origin in western countries. But the thing that actually disappoints the native and concerned bevy of the nation is the realization of the fact that the affects of globalization have somewhere down the line uprooted the basic facets or the natural characteristics of this festival.
In reality, the perspective of globalization has contrasting attributes when we compare globalization of food, clothes, lifestyle etc on one hand, and the globalization of festivals, customs, rituals etc on the other hand. Food, clothes and lifestyle are actually three elements that actually form the basis of any area where population resides. For example, although the dressing sense of people of India is quite different from that of people of America, but the item ‘cloth’ is common to both the places. But if we take into consideration festivals, customs, rituals etc, it cannot be exactly the same at every point between two different nations.
For instance, the ways of celebration of Holi in India, is completely different from the ways of celebration of the festival of La Tomatina of Spain. So, from these two scenarios, one thing that can be concluded is that the change in food habit, dressing sense, lifestyle due to globalization can be accepted to an extent however globalization leading to drastic change in the celebration of a festival, or in the maintenance of a custom, ritual etc unique to a nation cannot be accepted at any cost. And that is the point, where people should actually change their behavior or mindset in order to preserve the unique culture and tradition of their native festivals and customs.
In fact, the two facets that many believe have actually degraded the essence of the festival of holi are- the mindset of the people and the way of celebrating it. Talking of the way of celebration, over the years, the concerned citizens have noticed that the festival of Holi has just remained an Indian version of Spanish’s La Tomatina. And that is because the festival of Holi, that actually has its roots of origin in India, witnessed bizarre scenes like ‘Rain Dance’, where people openly dance and wet themselves up, some might even intoxicate themselves, thus putting forward their own unpalatable ways of celebration, and that actually contradict with the origin and the reason of celebration of Holi.
Further the shift from using colours made from natural items like a combination of turmeric, alum or lime etc to artificial colours, and also the fact that rather than embracing each other with love, by sharing with one another natural colours, the undesirable change in approach, comprising of throwing mud, rotten eggs, rotten tomatoes etc on one another have also degraded the very essence of the festival.
Furthermore, the mindset of a few people to not to rethink in a radical way, or find out rational solutions to stop the negative impact of globalization upon Holi, have also acted as a medium that has indeed shaken the basic purpose of celebrating the festival. And the alarming thing is that if this mindset doesn’t change for good, then the festival of Holi would simply remain a mixture of everything, resulting in the loss of its unique feature.
Therefore, the current scenario demands an immediate shift. And that shift can be a proper amalgamation of both natural and artificial ways of celebration of Holi, but without damaging the basic characteristic feature of the festival. And in order to achieve that, it’s the concerned citizens that have to take the apt steps at the earliest.
