Dol Purnima, also popularly known as Dol Jatra, Dola Jatra, Doul Utsav or Deul, is a Hindu swing festival celebrated during the Holi festival of Assam,[1]Bengal, Braj region, Gujarat,[2]Odisha, Rajasthan, and Tripura.[3] This festival is dedicated to the divine couple of Radha and Krishna. It is usually celebrated on the full moon night or fifteenth day of the Falgun month mainly by Gopal community.[4]
Hindu literature is replete with references of terms like Dolotsava and Dola Yatra. Garga Samhita, a Vaishnav text has reference to Dolotsava of Shri Krishna in the month of Chaitra.[5]
The Sanskrit word Dola means a swing,[6] while utsava means a festival or a feast. Hence, Dolotsava literally means swing festival or swing feast and refers to religious service of swinging the idol of a deity on a swing.[7]
Similarly, word Dola Yatra is compound of two Sanskrit words: Dola and yatra . Yatra refers to procession and thus Dolayatra refers to swing procession.[8]
Significance
Radha Vallabha Sampradaya
This festival is also celebrated with great fervor and enthusiasm in Radha Vallabh Sampradaya and Haridasi Sampradaya where the idols of Radha Krishna are worshipped and offered colours and flowers to commence the festivities.[9]
On this auspicious day, the murtis of Krishna and his beloved Radha, richly adorned and besmeared with coloured powder. In Braj, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bengal, Odisha and Assam, the murtis of Radha Krishna are taken out in procession in a swinging palanquin, decorated with flowers, leaves, coloured clothes and papers.[11] The procession proceeds forward to the accompaniment of music, blaring of conch shells, trumpets horn and shouts of joy or victory and 'Hôri Bola'.
In the region of Assam, the festival is marked by singing songs, like "Phaku khele korunamoy" by the 16th Century Assamese poet Madhavdev, especially at the Barpeta Satra.[12] The 15th century saint, artist and social reformer Srimanta Sankardev celebrated Doul at Bordowa in Nagaon, Assam.[13] The festival also includes playing with colours made usually from flowers traditionally.
In South India, the kirtan compositions of the 15th century poet, Annamacharya and Tyagaraja are sung in the evening.[14] Dolotsavam is celebrated on Holika Purnima at Suryanarayan Swamy temple at Arasavalli, Andhra Pradesh.[15]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
