Holi Festival

These cities have a mythological connection with Lord Krishna, and the festival of Holi is a week-long lavish affair where the entire town comes together in celebration, covered in colour where travellers can witness and experience a combination of age-old traditions and unrestrained fun.

Travellers can also witness some of the most unique forms of Holi here, such as the Phoolon ki Holi at the Banke Bihari Temple where Holi is played with flowers or the widows Holi symbolising breaking of social shackles.

The Sikh community at Anandpur Sahib has given their own unique twist to the celebrations of the Holi festival. Also known as Hola Mohalla, this three-day festival is celebrated with a display of weapons, mock battles, exhibitions, kirtans, music and poetry competition etc. The highlight of this festival is some of the most daring feats performed by some of the participants which include the sport of Gatka which is a mock battle played with real weapons, tent pegging, bareback horse-riding, the performance of numerous daring stunts like standing on two speeding horses etc.

The festival of Holi receives great patronage from the Royal families of Rajasthan and is celebrated over a 2 day period in Jaipur and Udaipur. The festival commences with Holika Dahan which takes place in many popular tourist attractions across Rajasthan such as the Udaipur Palace etc. and this is followed by celebrations across the streets of various cities like Jaipur and Udaipur all across Rajasthan with people throw water and colour on each other.

Jaipur also celebrates an elephant festival during Holi wherein the festival begins with a massive animal parade wherein elephants, camels, horses are decorated and dressed up by their owners. Other festivities also include elephant polo, elephant races, a tug-of-war between elephants etc. which attract a large number of visitors to Jaipur and Udaipur every year during Holi.