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Photos: Holi celebrations begin, colours take over India
Every year, Holi, India's festival of colours, is celebrated at the beginning of spring. Celebrations take over the country in different forms with people coming out to play, chasing each other with coloured water and powder called gulal. Celebrations though, do come with regional twists, like in Uttar Pradesh’s Barsana where women chase men with sticks during ‘Lathmar Holi.’ A day before the festival is ‘Holika Dahan,’ wherein people gather around bonfires. This year, however, people are being more cautious than usual, owing to the outbreak of coronavirus in the country.
Updated on: Mar 11, 2020 4:43 PM IST
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Women celebrate the arrival of Holi with coloured powders known as ‘gulal’, in Nadia district of West Bengal on the eve of the festival. Holi, the Hindu festival of colours, is observed at the end of the winter season on the last full moon of the lunar month. The festival also heralds the arrival of spring. (PTI)
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A woman preparing gulal for the festive celebrations is surrounded by heap of the powdered colour at Sector 20, in Noida. In Uttar Pradesh, tight security measures have been put in place to ensure smooth conduct during the celebrations. (Sunil Ghosh / HT Photo)
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A riot of colours fills the air, creating a scene quintessential to the festival as revelers celebrate at the Govind Dev Ji Temple in Jaipur, Rajasthan. (PTI)
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An effigy depicting the coronavirus is seen before "Holika Dahan," a ritual during which it is burnt, on the eve of Hoi proper, at a residential area in Worli, Mumbai, on March 9. Local residents burnt down the ‘Coronasur’ effigy seeking divine recourse in curbing the spread of the virus. (Hemanshi Kamani / REUTERS)
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A school boy (left) dressed as the Hindu god Krishna has gulal applied to his face during celebrations of the festival in Kolkata, West Bengal. (Bikas Das / AP)
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Revellers seen through a cloud of yellow, as people step out to celebrate the arrival of Holi in Kolkata, West Bengal. (Samir Jana / HT Photo)
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Students smear gulal on each other as part of Holi celebrations in New Delhi a day before the festival. Public transport in the national capital will be at a standstill in the morning hours owing to the festival. (Amal KS / HT Photo)
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A person holds a tray laden with various coloured powders as students wearing garlands of flowers participate in a cultural procession in Kolkata, West Bengal. (Dibyangshu Sarkar / AFP)
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Children stocked with water spray guns and ‘pichkaris’ take aim at a passing auto-rickshaw a day before Holi in Guwahati, Assam. (Anupam Nath / AP)
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Devotees celebrate the arrival of Holi with flower petals at a temple in Amritsar, Punjab. Amid the festivities, the outbreak of coronavirus has been a cause of concern. In Amritsar’s Shiwala Temple, people replaced colours with flowers to minimise contact. (Narinder Nanu / AFP)
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Artists perform at the Govind Dev Ji Temple in Jaipur, Rajasthan. According to Hindu mythology, Lord Krishna visited his beloved Radha’s town Barsana from Nandgaon in Mathura to celebrate Holi with her. (PTI)
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People play with colours as Holi celebrations get underway at the Durgiana Temple in Amritsar, Punjab. (Sameer Sehgal / HT Photo)
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Devotees celebrate Lathmar Holi at Gokul near Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. The small town of Barsana, situated approximately 42 kms from Mathura is famous for its unique way of celebrating the festival. The women of Barsana chase the men from the village and hit them playfully with sticks. (PTI)
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