With Kanhaiya Sang Holi turning into a hit, Singer Chetan Malhotra is probably the only independent singer in the Bhajan genre, who has delivered 10 consecutive hits, such as Sai Tera Hi Naam, Hanuman Chalisa, Hanuman Milenge, Shyam Nazro Mai Hi, Sai Tere Dar Pe, O Vrindavan Bihari, Ganpati Bappa Morya, Jai Mata Di, and Jai Siya Ram.
News has come that Hindu students celebrating Holi in Punjab University, Lahore were beaten up by a Muslim extremist group, and 15 Hindus were injured.
It is time we crushed the poison of communalism in our country, and show to the world that we are one. United celebration of Holi will help in this process.
By Justice Markandey Katju Holi is the festival of colours in India, and marks the end of winter and the advent of spring. Though Holi is celebrated throughout most of India and even abroad ( due to the Indian diaspora ), I venture to submit that those who have not seen Brij ki Holi have not seen India. Brij is the area comprising of Mathura city in the state of UP, India and its surrounding region including places like Vrindavan, Gokul, Govardhan, Barsana, and Nandgaon. It is associated with the life of Lord Krishna, an important god in the Hindu pantheon. The dialect of Hindi spoken there is called Brijbhaasha in which the great poet Surdas wrote. Brij ki Holi this year has commenced on 28th February, which was ‘Lathmaar Holi‘, and will last until ‘Dauji ka Huranga‘ on 9th March i.e. a total of 10 days. Holi in particular is on 8th March. During this period of 10 days the whole of Brij region will be full of colour and festivity. Lathmaar Holi, which marks the commencement of Brij ki Holi, was celebrated on 28th February this year, and takes place every year in Barsaana, which is 40 kms from Mathura city. It is believed to be the home town of Radha, the chief consort of Lord Krishna. There is a temple of Radha in Barsaana on a hillock, where people of all ages can be seen dancing and singing throughout the day. In Barsaana people greet each other by saying ‘Radhe, Radhe’ instead of saying ‘Jai Shri Krishna’. That is because Krishna fled to Dwarka ( in Gujarat ) when King Jarasandh attacked Mathura, thereby abandoning the people of Brij, but Radha remained with them. In Lathmaar Holi the young men and boys of Nandgaon, where Krishna spent part of his childhood, walk 9 kms to Barsaana, and are beaten with lathis ( sticks ) by the women of Barsaana ( the young men wear protective headgear to prevent serious injury to their heads, as the beating is usually on the heads ). Thereafter Holi is celebrated for…
By Justice Markandey Katju Upto 1857 Hindus and Muslims used to celebrate each other’s festivals e.g. Holi, Diwali, Eid etc together. But in 1857 the great Mutiny broke out, in which Hindus and Muslims jointly fought against the British. After suppressing the Mutiny, the British rulers decided that the only way to control India was divide and rule ( see my article ‘The Truth about Pakistan’ and BN Pande’s ‘History in the service of imperialism‘ online ). Hence they steadily and systematically injected the communal virus into our society, year after year and decade after decade, with the result that many Hindus and Muslims began believing the British propaganda and started regarding each other as enemies, and stopped celebrating each others’ festivals. Even after Independence in 1947 some elements like some political parties have been trying to polarise society on caste and communal lines to create vote banks. Since India is a country of great diversity, because it is broadly a country of immigrants, like North America ( see my article ‘What is India’ online ), we must combat communalism, since it disrupts the very fabric and identity of India, and thereby weakens it. We have to administer anti dotes to the communal poison which has been injected into our society since 1857. One of the ways of doing so is celebrating religious festivals of all communities together, and this is what I have been propagating for long. When I was a lawyer ( 1971-91 ) and judge (1991-2004) in Allahabad High Court the High Court Bar Association used to organise a Holi-Eid Milan every year in the High Court premises, in which Hindi and Urdu poetry would be recited, and songs sung. When I became a judge of the Supreme Court I organised joint Kavi Sammelan and Urdu Mushaira as Diwali-Eid celebration in the Supreme Court lawns Urdu mushairas in the Indian Supreme Court I myself keep one day roza every year in Ramzan ( usually on the last Friday of the Holy Month of Ramzan ), and appeal to all non Muslims to do so. https://www.siasat.com/former-sc-judge-markandey-katju-observes-fast-on-last-friday-of-every-ramzan-2133853/ Similarly, I…
Jungle raj in Bihar news: Why media silent on Madhubani massacre on Holi Day More than 40 dead, 38 others injured across Bihar during Holi Over 40 people killed in Bihar during Holi but not much responses sought from the media neither from the government nor from a society as a whole. We romanticise these festivals so much and yet every year they take so many lives. Of course, Holi seems to be the best time for ‘avenging’ things. Benipatti massacre, Bihar Madhubani Benipatti The biggest of the story came from a village Mehmudpur in district Madhubani where five members of the Rajput community were massacred but this story has been killed by the Brahmin-Bania media in Patna and Delhi. If you google search about this story, you won’t get any information. You will get the news about the incident that happened but not about the murderers who have killed the five members including one BSF Jawan who had come home on holidays. Some people wanted to give it a ‘communal’ angle because it is ‘Mehmudpur’ but Bihar police says it is not the issue of ‘caste’. I am surprised when it is not the issue of caste then what stops police and media from naming the murders. Media in this country has a brutal caste face. It can easily vilify the Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims. If anyone from these communities is caught in some evil act then the entire communities are targeted but there is no story from Bihar. Even the heroes of ‘secular’ ‘liberal’ elites in Delhi media remain silent. Interestingly, the loudspeakers of Karni Sena who had threatened to stop various films about their depiction of ‘Rajputs’ are silent. No political party in Bihar has spoken about it. BJP which enjoys the biggest patronage of Rajputs in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and elsewhere in the last decade has not uttered a word about it. Human Rights activists remain silent as it is not suitable for them. Have Rajputs lost all the goodwill from all other parties because excessively working for Brahmanical India where they have no space except…
By Justice Markandey Katju Since the Holi festival is approaching in India which is associated with the life of Lord Krishna it would be interesting to deal with the legend of Krishna. Krishna, like Rama, is a mythological figure, but behind every mythology there is usually some history. However, we need not go into the question whether Krishna was a historical figure or not. Photo by Ananta Creation on Pexels.com As portrayed in our literature ( in Sanskrit and in many Indian languages ), Krishna is a multi faceted personality, a child god, a prankster, a thief ( ‘ makhan chor ” ), a lover, a philosopher and adviser to Arjuna ( in the Bhagavadgita ), a military strategist, a diplomat, a universal being, etc. In the Mahabharat we come across him as an adult, but we learn nothing of his childhood in that epic. That we learn from other works like the Bhagavad Puran ( particularly in the 10th chapter ), the Harivansha, etc.in which his pranks, escapades, frolics etc in his childhood are mentioned, as well as his killing of demons like Pootna and Kaali Nag. When the first atomic explosion in the world took place in Alamogordo in New Mexico, USA on 16th July 1945 the great nuclear scientist Dr Robert Oppenheimer, the head of the Manhattan Project ( who was also a great Sanskrit scholar ), on seeing the mighty explosion, instantly recited a shloka of Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita : ” Now I am become death, the destroyer of the world “ https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/satyam-bruyat/bhagavad-gita-and-the-first-atomic-explosion/ Krishna’s advice to Arjun in the Gita that one should do one’s duty without seeking any benefits is well known. Krishna is also described as a ‘Ranchhod’ i.e. one who abandons the battlefield. This he did when the more powerful Jarasandh approached Krishna’s capital Mathura, and Krishna retreated to Dwarka. This is the technique used in warfare, particularly guerilla warfare, of retreating before a more powerful enemy, and far from being cowardice is an act of military strategy. The love of Krishna for the gopis of Vrindavan, Radha,…
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