7th March 2012 is Holi this year.  The festival of colors, which is looked forward to like any other festival, begins much in advance, with the Holi Ropan tradition.

As per the traditional custom in the Hindu religion, the preparations for the festival of Holi starts a month before, when the central tree trunk of Holi is installed in the ground on the full moon day.

The significance of this tradition has diminished with time in the common masses but is still preserved in two places of the city, The City Palace and Badi Holi.

The tree trunk was erected today in the evening at the Manak Chowk of City Palace by Purohit Karmantri and the staff of Shree Dharma Sabha after worshiping and purification of the land with Soft Mud (Mitti) and Cow Dung (Gobar). The Shree Dharma Sabha works under Shree Eklingji Trust.

The same ritual was also followed at Badi Holi today. According to a few people of the area we’d talked, the trunk of this particular tree contains thorns on it and is called the Samal tree. Thorns are considered as impurities of the society and thus are burnt on the penultimate day of Holi.

This event at Badi Holi was carried out under the supervision of Satya Narayan Mali, President of Shri Char Bhuja ka Mandir, in which the people from Sagarvanshi Mali community will participate.

Gopal Mali of Badi Holi said, ‘this custom is carried out every year in the memory of Prahlad who was a devotee of Lord Vishnu and for remembering his victory on the evil personalities like Holika.

The legend behind the festival Holi is believed that long back there was an evil king Hiranyakashyap who considered himself as the god of all and did not allow followers of his dynasty to worship any other diety. His son, Prince Prahlad, however, was a very holy child and prayed a lot and this exasperated his father.

The king ordered his sister Holika, who was immune to fire, to sit with Prahlad on a burning log of woods. But because of his prayers and devotion, the Prince was safe and Holika was burnt to death. It is since then and to commemorate this event that this festival is celebrated.