The Hin­du Prachar Kendra host­ed its 33rd Phag­wa Fes­ti­val on Sat­ur­day at the Kendra Grounds on Raghu­nanan Road, En­ter­prise.

The evening fea­tured the Pra­ha­l­ad Leela, de­pict­ing the sto­ry of the tyrant King Hi­ranyaka­shipu, his sis­ter Ho­li­ka, the child devo­tee Pra­ha­l­ad and the di­vine man­i­fes­ta­tion of God as Nars­ingh—half li­on, half hu­man. The pro­gramme al­so in­clud­ed the tra­di­tion­al Ho­li­ka Da­han and Ran­ga Barse cel­e­bra­tions.

The spec­tac­u­lar rit­u­al burn­ing of the Ho­li­ka ef­fi­gy sym­bol­is­es the tri­umph of good over evil, re­call­ing the sto­ry in which Pra­ha­l­ad is saved from de­struc­tion in the fire. This vic­to­ry is cel­e­brat­ed with show­ers of coloured pow­der dur­ing Ran­ga Barse, rep­re­sent­ing the smear­ing of sa­cred ash from the burnt pyre.

The Kendra’s Phag­wa Fes­ti­val, known for its cre­ative in­no­va­tions, has al­so been ex­plor­ing a unique ad­di­tion to the tra­di­tion through the use of bougainvil­lea flow­ers, which bloom dur­ing the Phag­wa sea­son.

This year, ap­prox­i­mate­ly 75,000 petals were sourced and pre­pared by mem­bers of the com­mu­ni­ty. Heaps of the petals were show­ered dur­ing the Ran­ga Barse, cre­at­ing a mag­i­cal and colour­ful ex­pe­ri­ence in cel­e­bra­tion of the spring fes­ti­val.