Udupi District Celebrates Holi with Traditional Fervour
Udupi: The education city Manipal soaked in the festival of colours on the occasion of Holi on March 2. The students of Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal University celebrated Holi by smearing gulal on each other.
It was a glorious occasion for students from all over the world studying here to celebrate the festival of colours. Students were seen painting each other with rainbow colours. Colours of all hues, the smell of ‘gulal’ and joyous spirit pervaded the streets as students celebrated Holi with traditional fanfare and gaiety.
All students gathered in the KMC Greens ground and played Holi with absolute fun and joy with plenty of gulal and watercolours provided by the institute. They never missed an opportunity to sprinkle all sorts of vibrant colours on the faces of their friends.
Every student enjoyed every moment to their heart’s content. Students danced armed with ‘pichkaris’ chasing each other.
Marathi Community celebrates Holi in a unique way with dance and songs
Meanwhile, the Marathi and Kunbi Communities of Udupi district celebrated Holi in a unique way, quite different from that is being celebrated in either North India or Maharashtra. Holi is one of the important festivals for the Marathis as well as the Kunbis.
According to Chandra Nayak Head of the community, On this day members of the community assemble for celebrating Holi. After the arrival of all the people, the Darshana Pathri takes a holy bath and makes himself ready for offering puja in front of the Tulasi.
The trained and amateur dancers participate in the Holi dance. They wear attractive and colourful dress, resembling those of Yakshagana artistes. Marathis have unique kind of colourful designs for the dance and wear a crown on their head. Their songs, based on folklore, have a traditional appeal in them. They seem to be picked from myths such as Ramayana and Mahabharata and contain the description of Spring Season and some are in praise of Goddess Shri Durga Parameshwari. The attractive and unique style of dance has been called as ‘Holi Habbada Kunitha’ (Dance of the Holi Festival).
The dancers move from one house to the other in villages giving their performances in front of every house. The members of each house welcome these dancers by placing a dot of vermilion on their forehead. They invite the dancers into their houses and some offer food. When the satisfied dancers leave the house, they receive gifts in the form of coconuts, money or food grains from the owner of the house. Then they proceed to the next house to perform the dance.
On the day of Hunnime, all dancers arrive at the village Temple and worship the goddess. After that, they assemble at the Koodukattu place, from where they started their dance on Phalguna Shuddha Dashami. Once again they go in a circle around the Tulasi plant. Thereafter the dancers take off their costumes and apply colour to their face and body. Meanwhile, women spread some straw on the ground and set it on fire and all dancers leap across the fire and proceed to take bath. The ritual is called as ‘Kama Dahana’.