Gee­ta Vahi­ni

Pres­i­dent, Hin­du Prachar Kendra

The Hin­du Prachar Kendra re­cent­ly host­ed its Phag­wa Fes­ti­val at the Kendra Grounds, Raghu­nanan Road, En­ter­prise. The many tra­di­tion­al Phag­wa fea­tures were well re­ceived by the packed au­di­ence who de­light­ed in the Gu­laal play of the coloured pow­ders.

The Sangeet Mi­lan Group start­ed the cel­e­bra­tion with vi­brant ren­di­tions of Chow­taals and they were fol­lowed by Pichakaa­ree singers who sang on Hin­du val­ues and the life lessons of Phag­wa.

The Pra­ha­l­ad Leela took on an in­ter­ac­tive for­mat by en­gag­ing the au­di­ence with live char­ac­ter por­tray­als of the tyrant King Hi­ranyaka­shipu, his sis­ter Ho­li­ka, the child hero Pra­ha­l­ad and the man­i­fes­ta­tion of God as Nars­ingh.

Two fea­tures how­ev­er, were the high­light of the night—Ho­li­ka Da­han and Ran­ga Barse. The spec­tac­u­lar rit­u­al burn­ing of the Ho­li­ka ef­fi­gy is a re­minder that good tri­umphs over evil as the child Pra­ha­l­ad is saved from be­ing de­stroyed in the fire. This vic­to­ry is cel­e­brat­ed with the show­ers of coloured pow­der which re-en­acts the smear­ing of the body with the sa­cred ash of the burnt pyre.

The Kendra Phag­wa Fes­ti­val, known for its in­no­va­tions, has been ex­plor­ing a beau­ti­ful ad­di­tion to this tra­di­tion­al gu­laal and abeer play.

Bougainvil­lea, which are in full bloom at Phag­wa time, are sourced and pre­pared by the com­mu­ni­ty and heaps of these are show­ered for the Ran­ga Barse to cre­ate a most mag­i­cal ex­pe­ri­ence of the Spring Fes­ti­val.