Braj Holi, Bharatpur - Pre Holi Celebration

Celebrated a few days ahead of the actual color festival of Holi, the Braj Holi of Bharatpur commemorates the same colorful spirit with great pomp and gusto. The two-day festival resembles the one celebrated in the Braj and involves playful activities full of zest and, of course, colors. This year, the Braj Holi Festival in Bharatpur is taking place from 16-17 March 2019.

The festival is dedicated to Lord Krishna and celebrates his immortal love story with Goddess Radha. This legendary story of Radha and Krishna is enacted through the means of playful ‘Rasleela’ dance, wherein actors play the roles Krishna, Radha and other Gopikas (cowherdess/milkmaids/friends of Krishna).

People of all age participate in the festival, creating a lively environment with their folk songs and splashing one another with colors and colored waters. The entire town is painted and no one is spared from being splashed with colours. The festival is celebrated with great pomp and ceremony in Deeg, Kaman, and Bharatpur in the Bharatpur District. The gaiety of the festival attracts tourists from across the globe, who too participates in the on-goings of the day, enthusiastically getting colored, literally, by the festivity of the environment.

Though the prime occurrences of the festival seem to be the Rasleela dances and play of colors, however, before diving into these exciting set of activities, the townspeople take a dip in the holy waters of Banganga River while visiting the Radha-Krishna temple situated on the banks of the river.

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