Personal Note: All religious festivals have some spiritual or community message to convey. I believe this was the main reason that festivals came into being. Festivals were the instruments of collective enjoyment, joy and purification of mind, body and soul. Festival of "Holi" is also one of important festival of "community togetherness', expression of collective joy of an important message of reminding us to burn our inner impurities before we celebrate.
Significance and Meaning of Different Colours
Red - Purity
Green - Vitality
Blue - Calm
Yellow - Pious feeling
Historically "Holi" was originally known as 'Holika'. The festivals finds a detailed description in early religious works such as Jaimini's Purvamimamsa-Sutras and Kathaka-Grhya-Sutras. Historians believe that Holi was celebrated by all Aryans but more so in the Eastern part of India several centuries before Christ.
There are two ways of reckoning a lunar month- 'purnimanta' and 'amanta'. In the former, the first day starts after the full moon; and in the latter, after the new moon. According to this purnimanta reckoning, Phalguna purnima is the last day of the year and the new year heralding the Vasanta-ritu (spring season, starting from next day). Thus the full moon festival of Holika gradually became a festival of merrymaking, announcing the commencement of the spring season. This perhaps is the reason for some of the other names of this festival - Vasanta-Mahotsava and Kama-Mahotsava.
Reference in Ancient Texts and Inscriptions
Besides having a detailed description in the Vedas and Puranas (Narad Purana and Bhavishya Purana), the festival of Holi finds a mention in Jaimini Mimansa. A stone inscription carved 300 BC found at Ramgarh in the province of Vindhya has mention of Holikotsav on it. King Harsha, too has mentioned about holikotsav in his work Ratnavali that was written during the 7th century.
The famous Muslim tourist - Ulbaruni too has mentioned about holikotsav in his historical memoirs. Other Muslim writers of that period have mentioned, that holikotsav were not only celebrated by the Hindus but also by the Muslims.
Reference in Ancient Paintings and Murals
The festival of Holi also finds a reference in the sculptures on walls of old temples. A 16th century panel sculpted in a temple at Hampi, capital of Vijayanagar, shows a joyous scene of Holi. The painting depicts a Prince and his Princess standing amidst maids waiting with pichkaris (water colour syringes) to drench the Royal couple in coloured water. A 16th century Ahmednagar painting is on the theme of Vasanta Ragini (spring song or music) shows a royal couple sitting on a grand swing, while maids are playing music and spraying colours. There are a lot of other paintings and murals in the temples of medieval India which provide a pictorial depiction of Holi. A Mewar painting (circa 1755) shows the Maharana (the King) with his courtiers. While the ruler is bestowing gifts on some people, a merry dance is on, and in the center is a tank filled with coloured water. There are several famous Bundi miniature painting on the theme which shows king seated on a tusker and from a balcony above some damsels are showering gulal (coloured powders) on him.
Legends and Mythology
In the entire North and West India, the Legend of Lord Krishna is also associated with play with colours as the Lord started the tradition of play with colours by applying colour on his beloved Radha and other gopis. Gradually, the play gained popularity with the people and became a tradition. In Bengal and Orissa, Holi Purnima is also celebrated as the birthday of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (A.D. 1486-1533). There are various legends to explain the meaning of the word "Holi", most prominent of all is the legend associated with demon king Hiranyakashyap, His sister Holika, and His son pious Prahlad.
Hiranyakashyap wanted everybody in his kingdom to worship only him but to his great disappointment, his son, Prahlad was an ardent devotee of Lord Narayana (Vishnu). Hiranyakashyap asked his sister, Holika to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad in her lap as she had a boon that fire can not burn her. However, she was not aware that the boon worked only when she enters the fire alone. As a result she got burnt in the fire while Prahlad was saved by the grace of the God for his extreme devotion. Hiranyakashyap too had a boon that neither human nor animal can kill him, he can neither be killed in the day nor in the night, he can neither be killed on the earth nor in the sky. However, Lord took the form of a half human and half lion to kill him in the presence of all after placing Hiranyakashyap in his lap at the time of dusk fulfilling all condition, against the boon he had.
Well the message here is; no matter how much powerful, schemer, talented and booned you may be. If you are evil with bad schemes, Almighty God will have his ways to punish you when it is appropriate. That evil can never triumph over good and in the long run goodness and devotion will celebrate its victory over evil and narcissism.
There are also a few other legends associated with the festival - like the legend of Shiva and Kamdeva (God of Love) and those of Dhundhi and Pootana. All depict triumph of good over evil - lending a philosophy to the festival.
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