Happy holi ........
Do you play holi or do you celebrate holi? And where does this holi word come from? What does it mean?
Not anymore - used to play it till a few years ago.
The demon Holika was killed by Prahlad. This is the legend - (from wikipedia)
According to
Bhagavat Purana,
[1][2][3] a king named
Hiranyakashipu who, like many demons and
Asuras, had the intense desire to be immortal. To fulfill this desire, he performed the required
Tapas or penances until he was granted a boon by
Brahma. Since the Gods rarely granted immortality, he used his guile and cunning to get a boon that he thought made him immortal. The boon gave Hiranyakashyapu five special powers: he could be killed by neither a human being nor an animal, neither indoors nor outdoors, neither at day nor at night, neither by
astra (projectile weapons) nor by any
shastra (handheld weapons), and neither on land nor in water or air. As this wish was granted, Hiranyakashyapu felt invincible, which made him arrogant. Hiranyakashyapu decreed that only he be worshiped as a God, punished and killed anyone who did not accept his orders. His son
Prahladdisagreed with his father, and refused to worship his father as a god. He continued believing and worshipping Lord
Vishnu.
This made Hiranyakashipu very angry and he made various attempts to kill Prahlad. During a particular attempt on Prahlad's life, King Hiranyakashyapu called upon his sister Holika for help. Holika had a special cloak garment that prevented her from being harmed by fire. Hiranyakashyapu asked her to sit on a
bonfire with Prahlad, by tricking the boy to sit on her lap. However, as the fire roared, the garment flew from Holika and covered Prahlad. Holika burnt to death, Prahlad came out unharmed.
[1][2]
Vishnu appeared in the form of
Narasimha - half human and half lion, at dusk (when it was neither day nor night), took Hiranyakashyapu at a doorstep (which was neither indoors nor outdoors), placed him on his lap (which was neither land, water nor air), and then eviscerated and killed the king with his lion claws (which were neither a handheld weapon nor a launched weapon). In this form, the boon of five special powers granted to Hiranyakashyapu were no longer useful. Prahlad and the kingdom of human beings were thus free from the compulsion and fear of Hiranyakashyapu, showing the victory of good over evil