City - Halisahar State - WEST BENGAL Country - India
About
Dol Purnima more popularly known as Holi is a festival of colours and the city celebrates it with the traditional gaiety. Holi is also known as the Dol Yatra in Bengal. It is celebrated by people of all walks of life both young and old by smearing each other with coloured powder especially red. Colours are also mixed with water and sprayed on passer-by. The ever enthusiastic group enjoys by drinking bhang which is a mild-milk beverage laced with marijuana. Social barriers are broken. This is a time when lower-cast plays with the upper-cast and poor may play with the rich.
According to the legend, ambitious king, Hiranyakashyap wanted to be the most powerful king and wanted to be worshipped as the god. But his own son Prahlad, who was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu, refused to obey his father. Hiranyakashyap decided to punish his son and asked for help from Holika, his sister. As Holika was immune to fire, the king asked Holika to sit at the center of a flaming pyre with Prahlad on her lap. The intention was to kill Prahlad. Yet Prahlad emerged unscathed by the fire while Holika was burnt to ashes. The good over the evil, prevailed. From Holika to Holi, the celebration marks the triumph of the good over the evil.
A great candid! The expression on the little boy's face is one of amazement and expectancy!Also, the information provided in the "about" is most interesting!