Holi’s age-old mythological connection with Lord Krishna-Radha and Mathura
As the folk-tale goes, troubled by his wheatish complexion, Lord Krishna once applied colour on Radha’s face in a bid to make her complexion alike. Thus began the festival of playing with colours in India.
According to the folk tale, after exiting his hometown of Nandgaon, Lord Krishna used to pursue Radha in her town of Barsana and to apply colours on her. Photo: Pixabay
There’s an age-old tale that has travelled down the generations through the word of mouth — about the origin of the festive practice of playing with colours in India.
Apart from the popular Hiranyakashyap, Prahlad and Holika story that is the most popular narrative when it comes to the origin of Holi, the story of Lord Krishna and his beloved Radha having to do something with this festival is something less talked about.
As the folk-tale goes, troubled by his wheatish complexion, Lord Krishna once applied colour on Radha’s face in a bid to make her complexion alike. Thus began Lord Krishna’s repeated quests of looking around for Radha and applying colours on her.
According to the folk tale, after exiting his hometown of Nandgaon, Lord Krishna used to pursue Radha in her town of Barsana and to apply colours on her. She got outwitted a few times, but after a while Radha got seasoned in this rabble and once took up a cane to beat Krishna.
Thus began the tradition of ‘lathhmaar’ Holi in areas around Mathura.