Background - Barsana
Barsana is the home of Radha Rani, other half of lord Krishna. And a village under Mathura district. Popular for the world famous 'Radha-Rani' Temple.
Holi is celebrated in an unusual, unique and never seen anywhere kind of way at this place.
It is believed that, little Krishna was upset about his skin color and that Radha was fairer skinned than him. So when he complained about this to his mother Yashoda, she tells him to go to barsana and color Radha in any color of his choice.
And then when Krishna went to Barsana along with his companion natives of the village. They were playfully beaten up with sticks.
And to keep this tradition alive, the males of Nandgaon visit barsana at every Holi and are playfully beaten up with sticks by the females of Barsana.
Natives of both these villages never marry with each other.
Holi In Barsana- 11th Of March 2022
We woke up, took some essentials and got ready to have the breakfast and then leave for Barsna from Vrindavan. It is almost 40 kms away.
It's good to have sunglasses as there'd be a lot of gulal and colours. And you'd want to protect your eyes the most.
The whole landscape changed as we reached there. The public transport drops at a certain point. And you'd have travel on foot till the temple from there.
Swarms of crowds were heading in the same direction as us.
And the whole village market appeared before us after walking for sometime. The street hawkers selling all kinds of Holi accessories.
Everything was colorful.
Moving a bit forward, A huge board welcomed us at the auspicious parv of Holi in Barsana.
After traveling a bit more and taking the first turn towards the way to Radha-Rani temple. The streets became narrow, and full of crowd. Celebrating holi, flying colors and decorations could be seen through out the whole journey.
Radha rani temple is deep inside the village and is situated at an elevation from the Barsana village.
Here you can see at a chowk most settlements and streets are decorated for the Holi festival.
In the way, was this ancient temple. Most of the buildigs were built in old architecture in the deep Barsana.
Soon after taking a turn from here, the staircases start, that take you to the temple.
They were full of crowds and people spilling gulal in air incessently. The whole surrounding was filled with the fragrance of gulal. And after hiking up for some time, a huge gate of Ladli Ji Maharaj temple greeted us.
The gate leads you to a huge gallery and there was no dearth of people around. Brimmed with the excitement and joy of Holi, uniting as a crowd instead of avoiding each other's pushes.
The entry to the main vicinity of temple was full of fun with people reciting Radhe & Krishna in unison and sudden gulal throws in the air created a mesmering effect and kept you cheered up continously.
A few people were standing at the roof of temple's dome, and occasionally sprinkled colored water and the abir gulal.
The view from top of the stairs, near the entry into the main temple area.
As soon as you land inside, you are taken away by the meticulous decoration. The diagonls of multicolored balloons marked the ceiling, and the abode of diety was decorated with innumerable flowers.
It was crowded, we stood there for a while and seeped in the sight of Ladli Ji. Then we moved to the backyard. Which was less crowded and people were playing holi among themselves and taking pictures there.
I also snapped the view from how the whole vicinity looked from above.
After enjoying there for sometime, we went downstairs from the opposite side, and right beneath this backyard.
The open area was full of people and non stop Dhol beats filled up the space. While people danced recklessly and spilled tons of gulal at each other.
We didn't let the fun go by. And danced like crazy, forgetting everything. And letting go all the mundaneness.
After an hour or more. The time was coming near. For the main tradition to take place and the people of Nandgaon to arrive in this temple.
We took a nice spot at some height to experience everything with clarity. And soon the local police administration started clearing the crowd to make space for the event and its participants.
The people of Nand village started reaching the temple, already drenched in the colored water and abir gulal.
All the natives of Nandgaon were welcomed by raining flowers from the high up.
And then as we saw, the festivities began, traditional songs were sung in unison and abir gulal was sprinkled in kilograms. And the whole of surroundings got bathed in the vibes of Holi in no time.
We moved spots and roamed around. And enjoyed there.
It was so much fun. Everyone was carefree, and wanted to get one with colors.
People were dancing, raising up religious flags, singing songs and reciting the name of Radha & Krishna and shouting Holi haiiiii along with sprinkling colors in the air with both hands.
Never have I ever experienced something as wondrous and joyful as the Holi here.
After having our share of fun, we came back down in the main Barsana market.
And then we went to visit another popular temple named as Kushalbihari.
I wasn't sure when will I be coming back here again. So I wanted to visit and see as much as I could.
It was also decorated and the Holi celebrations and folk music vibrated the place.
At one the side, this man was playing a Duflee.
Inside the temple, I also found this mystical baba. Whom I couldn't refrain from capturing. Though I regret not taking his permission. He wouldn't have denied and it would be more appropirate and courteous. But he didn't objected anyway.
After visiting the key temples and participating in the Holi celebrations going on there for a while. We started travelling back to the pickup spot to reach Vrindavan.
We had walk for long to finally find an autorikshaw to drive us back. And we reched at our residence during night.
Being colored from head till toe, we took baths and went out again to have dinner and engage in the Barsana's chit chats. And getting curious by imagining the next day's celebration of Holi in Nandgaon.
