Colour me Yellow !! the Holi series

                 On the 20th of March this year, the whole of India will be drenched in colour!! On this day we celebrate the festival of Holi, if you have never heard of this festival before, then join me this week as I take you on a colorful journey!. This week leading up-to the festival of Holi, I will be creating one painting each day ,with only one colour per painting. I will also be writing about some of the many traditions that abound in this diverse country of mine.

Holi series-Yellow Oil on canvas "8 x 8" inches                    © 2011 Nayna Shriyan

In Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra and also my hometown, Holi, like quite a few other states is celebrated in two parts on two days. The first day is the puja or the worship day, this day we light a bonfire called 'Holi' and offer coconuts, flowers and of course the most important 'Puran Poli' to the holy fire. The second day is when everybody drenches each other with colour. This tradition of lighting 'Holi' each year is centuries old. The story or legend as one might take it says that there was once a King called " Hiranyakashyap" who was of the demon clan and an extremely proud and powerful king. He thought himself to be above the gods, whom the humans dared worship and so he had declared that anyone that worshiped "Narayan" also know as Vishnu would be punishable by death. As luck or fate would have it "Hiranyakashyap" had a son called Prahalad . Prahalad was an  ardent devotee of the god Vishnu and would keep chanting " Narayan Narayan' throughout the day. This angered the King no end and he tried many ways to kill his son, but Prahalad would be saved by the gods each time. Finally the King's demon sister 'Holika'  who had the boon of being fireproof offered to sit with Prahalad on her lap in a huge lit bonfire. But as the gods would not allow Prahalad's death, it was Holika who burned to death while Prahalad stayed unscathed!!

Thus each year the bonfire is lit and it is called Holi !! This particular bonfire stand for the victory of good over evil.

               I have started this series with the yellow colour, because for me the bright yellow colour always symbolises the begining of spring, which is what the month of March stands for. Though traditionally in India Holi marks the begining of the summer season. Well lots of 'yellow' sun anyways :) I am thinking of using the usual primary and secondary colours, but would love to hear about any other colours that would look good in this series, it is the festival of colours after all !!!