On March 14, 2025, “(m)illions
of people in South Asia celebrated Holi, the Hindu festival of colors . . . by
smearing each other with brightly colored powder, dancing to festive music and
feasting on traditional sweets prepared for the occasion.”[1]
Lest the various eats and drinks be dismissed for analytical purposes as
trivial, a particular kind of drink or food that is traditional can have religious
significance by reflecting Hinduism as a polytheistic rather than a monotheist religion.
Whereas monotheism allows for only one deity, etymologically mono theos,
a polytheist religion has more than one deity, even if one is deemed to be
superior over the others.
Holi, a national holiday in
India and a two-day holiday in Nepal, where Hinduism is the national religion,
celebrates “the end of winter and the triumph of good over evil.”[2]
In this regard, Holi shares themes with the Christian festival of Easter, which
also occurs during the spring. Yet whereas Easter celebrates the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from physical, corporeal death, and used to be associated with an
ancient Roman fertility festival—and has retained that theme as the Easter Bunny
and Easter egg hunts—“Holi has its origins in Hindu mythology and lore and
celebrates the divine love between the Hindu god Krishna and his consort Radha,
and signifies a time of rebirth and rejuvenation.”[3]
The association with the end of winter and “rebirth and rejuvenation” applies
to both Easter and Holi, as well as the pagan festival of the Spring Equinox,
which also takes place in the spring (i.e., it is not the beginning of
meteorological spring).
In Hindu theology, Krishna is
an embodied avatar (i.e., incarnation) of Vishnu, who with Brahma and Shiva are
the three main gods in Hinduism. This does not mean that Krishna is less
significant, however, as that deity has a prominent place in the Hindu scriptural
text, the Bhagavad-Gita. In that text, Krishna claim to be superior to
all of the other Hindu deities. This does not mean that Hinduism is monotheist.
This point is reflected by the fact that bhang, a drink prepared with
cannabis and consumed with milk or water, is a “tradition that marks Holi.”[4]
Even though Krishna and his consort figure prominently in the festival, the “drink
is connected to Hinduism, particularly to Lord Shiva”.[5]
That the association with that deity, which is commensurate with Vishnu, of
which Krishna is but the tenth incarnation, is tolerated (the cannabis likely being helpful in this regard) in a festival based on Krishna signifies
that Hindus are just fine with their religion being polytheist. Even though the
attitude evinced by statements like, You shouldn’t have a drink that is
associated with another god during a festival of Krishna!, is consistent
with polytheism because the existence of another god is
implicitly affirmed, toleration is a much healthier attitude in a polytheist
religion such as Hinduism. Worse than either attitude is making a category
mistake in claiming that Hinduism is monotheist.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
[5]
Ibid.
