The Truth of “Holika” And Her Incomplete Love Story

The festival of Holi is celebrated with great pomp across the country. Holika Dahan is done before playing Holi. In Holika Dahan, the story of King Hiranyakashyap and devotee Prahlad is heard and Holika is presented as a villain. But there is a theological story in which she is a helpless lover who embraces death to save her beloved Iloji. Let us know about the incomplete love story of Holika, which got burnt on Holika Dahan.

Holika was the sister of King Hiranyakashyap, whose marriage was fixed with Iloji and both loved each other very much. Holika’s marriage with Iloji was fixed on the day of Phalgun Purnima but something else was agreed upon on the night of Purnima. Here Hiranyakashyap was very upset with his son and devotee of Lord Vishnu, Prahlad. The king tried a lot to convince his son and adopted different methods but he failed every time. Therefore Hiranyakashyap decided to sacrifice his son. Since Holika was blessed with the boon of being saved from fire, Hiranyakashyap made a plan and told about this plan to his sister Holika.

According to the plan, Holika was to sit in the Havan Kund along with Dushala along with her nephew Prahlad, due to which Hiranyakashyap would get freedom from Prahlad. Holika refused this plan and despite repeated requests, Holika did not agree. Then Hiranyakashyap threatened to disrupt the marriage and kill Iloji. Hiranyakashyap said that before marriage, sit in the Havan Kund with Prahlad and then you marry Iloji. Helplessly, Holika agreed with her brother and planned to sit in the Havan Kund with Prahlad on the wedding day itself i.e. on the full moon day. Iloji did not know anything about this and he was coming with the wedding procession on the full moon night.

Holika sat in the Havan Kund along with Dushala along with her nephew Vishnu devotee Prahlad. But suddenly the wind blew such that Dushala came near Prahlad and Holika was burnt to ashes and not even a hair of Prahlad got burnt. When Iloji, who arrived with the wedding procession, saw this, he could not accept it and he also jumped into the fire pit, but by then the fire had subsided. Seeing this, the distraught Iloji lost his senses, left everything and went to the forest.

In Hindu religion, it’s believed that doing Holika puja on Holi bestows power, prosperity and wealth. All sorts of fear can be conquered by doing Holika Puja on Holi. It is believed that Holika was created to ward off all sorts of fear, hence, although a Demoness, Holika is worshipped along with Prahlada before Holika Dahan.

This year in Fiji, Holika Dahan will be celebrated on Monday 25th March (after Sunset) and Holi will be on Tuesday 26th March.