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Festivals Photos

A Holi Close to Our Roots

Heartiest greetings on the colourful occasion of Holi. We all know the importance of Holi as well as the story behind celebrating Holi as well as Holika Dehen. It dates back to very ancient history and mythology when king Hiranyakashayp ordered his son Prahlad to be burnt who was a devotee of Lord Vishnu. Hiranyakashyap’s sister Holika consented to accompany Prahlad in the fire as she had a blessing that no fire could ever burn her so as to ensure his demise.  Holika sat on pyre with Prahalad. Holika burnt alive while Prahalad was saved by the Lord.

But now-a-days we are going far away from our roots, our culture. The traditions have either become a formality, or a commercial venture, or rather an extinct or endangered culture. In deep thoughts about the same, I visited a small village/rural area to find out if the culture still alive, and to my surprise, yes it was.

The place I visited was a developing rural area in the interiors of the village Shobhagpura in Udaipur. This remote area witnessed the concrete roads for the first time just before few months. Here all the villagers and other people live in true harmony. I was welcomed by Mr. Gopal Prasad, an independent journalist, who has settled here in search of peace.

It was about 7.15 in the evening; small girls were seen making rangolis near the location. Village ladies and housewives were seen worshipping the structure. Slowly the crowd started to gather, and as happens every year, the worship and rituals were performed by the eldest person living in the village, who fired up the Holika.

Holi in a village

In next few minutes the entire area was filled with light and heat of the huge fire. Mr. Gopal informed that the villagers offer a share of the new harvest of wheat to the fire, and the roasted wheat grains so obtained is distributed to all as the Prasad. Any newborn baby is also made to revolve around the holy fire. It is believed that all the evil forces are burnt away with the fire and the spirit becomes pure and clean.

Eldest member of the Village performing the Rituals
Eldest member of the Village performing the Rituals

Eldest member of the Village performing the Rituals

Holika Dehen Rituals being performed
Holika Dehen Rituals being performed

Holi in a villageHoli in a villageHoli in a village

offering the first harvest of wheat to the fire
Offering the first harvest of wheat to the fire

Finally I was happy on my way back home. All i was taking along with me was not only the roasted wheat grains, but were memories, a warm, friendly welcome at the village, more knowledge about our cultures, and an entirely different Holi to remember for the lifetime.

Wishing everyone a very Happy, Colourful and Safe Holi. Enjoy a lot but remember to Save Water 🙂

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News

Attempt to destroy Holy Grave aroused anger in entire Udaipur

In Udaipur’s local Bohra kabristan(graveyard) the holy grave of Sheikh Ahmed Ali Rajnagarwala(one of the  teacher of Honorable Sayeedna Mohmmed Burhanuddin Saheb) and the adjoining grave were trashed by unknown people. They not only destroyed the holy shrine but also challenged the sentiments of the believers especially the Dawoodi bohra Jamaat (Bohra Youth).

The damaged grave

The damaged graveThis shameless incident happened on 13th March 2011. On getting the information about this shameless act a large sum of people collected on the spot. By watching the spot it can the sensed that this act was done intentionally to hurt the sentiment of the people as well as it interrupted the religious harmony, integrity and peace of this beautiful city.

The graveyard is one of the oldest and consists of thousands and thousands of grave on which the person life history is engraved in Urdu/Arabic script. By this it can be said that the person or a group of persons who did this job may know their targets and were good in Urdu/Arabic too. An F.I.R was logged by Mr. Khursheed Ali Rajnagarwala in Surajpole Police Station against the unknown people. A.S.P.(city) Tejraj Singh, Surajpole Police Station Head and other official visited the place. In the old times too, attempt were made to destroy this holy grave.