Legend has it that a young god Krishna once complained to his foster mother, Yashodha, that Radha was so fair in stark contrast to his dark hue. Yashodha humorously told him to smear some colour on Radha's face. Following her suggestion, Krishna and his fellow cowherds from Nandgaon went to another village, Barsana, and mischievously slopped colour on Radha and the other gopis (maidens). The girls, in turn, responded by chasing the boys away with sticks.
This was the beginning of Holi, the festival of colours. Every year, in the end of February or beginning of March, various parts of the Subcontinent are suddenly turned upside-down: social interactions are riddled with pranks; people are doused with coloured powers; dancing erupts in the streets. There is food, drink and good cheer galore.
Holi is celebrated in many parts of the Subcontinent, with gusto and rambunctious verve. But in Braj Bhoomi – the area in Uttar Pradesh roughly made up of Mathura, Krishna's birthplace; Vrindavan, where he grew up; his natal village of Nandgaon, and Radha's village of Barsana – Holi has a particularly special meaning. For more than a week before Holi is celebrated elsewhere, colours and festivities take over the streets and villages of Braj Bhoomi, with people coming from afar to witness and participate in the excitement.
The highlight of the weeklong festival is Latthmaar Holi, which is played on consecutive days in Barsana and Nandgaon. On the first day, the menfolk from Nandgaon dress in their traditional attire, and go off to play Holi in Barsana; there, the women beat them off with lathis, in a re-enactment of the interaction between Krishna and Radha. As the women of Barsana teach the young men of Nandgaon a lesson – with their husbands cheering to them hit harder – the elders of both villages congregate in the village temple and sing colourful ballads of Holi. These songs, known as hori, are compositions about the mischievous, irresistible Krishna, cavorting with his Radha among the gopis, drenching them not just with his favourite colour, kesari, but also with love. During the subsequent days, the tables are turned in Nandgaon: the men from Barsana are at the receiving end of the stick from the women from Nandgaon.