The Holî in Mârwâr.
Colonel Tod gives an interesting account of the festival as performed at Mârwâr. He describes the people as lighting large fires into which various substances, as well as the common powder, were thrown; and around which groups of children danced and screamed in the streets, “like so many infernals; until three hours after sunrise of the new moon of the month of Chait, these orgies are continued with increased vigour; when the natives bathe, change their garments, worship, and return to the ranks of sober citizens, and princes and chiefs receive gifts from their domestics.”[68]
The Ashes of the Holî Fire.
The belief in the efficacy of the Holî fire in preventing the blight of crops, and in the ashes as a remedy for disease, has been already noticed. So in England, the Yule log was put aside, and was supposed to guard the house from evil spirits.[69]
The Basis of the Holî Rite.
We have seen that the primary basis of this and similar rites is probably the propitiation of sunshine. But the present observances in India are probably a survival of a very much more primitive cultus. We have already seen that in one form of the popular legend, Holî is the sister of Sambat, the year, and revived him from death by burning herself with his corpse. We find the same idea in Nepâl, where a wooden post adorned with flags is erected in front of the palace, and this is burned at night, representing the burning of the body of the old year, and its re-birth with each succeeding spring.[70]
The Drâvidian Hill tribes of Mirzapur do not perform the Holî ceremony like their Hindu neighbours, but on the same date the Baiga burns a stake, a ceremony which is known as Sambat Jalânâ, or “the burning of the old year.”
In Kumaun each clan puts up the Chîr or rag-tree. A middle-sized tree or a large branch is cut down and stripped of its leaves. Young men go round and beg scraps of cloth, which are tied to the tree, and it is then set up in the middle of the village. Near it the Holî fire is burnt. On the last day the tree itself is burnt, and the people jump over the ashes as a cure for itch and similar diseases. While the tree is burning, men of other clans try to snatch away some of the rags. It is regarded as being very propitious to be able to do this, and the clan which loses is not allowed to set up the tree again. Faction fighting in order to gain the right of setting up the tree has practically ceased under British law.[71]