Faizan Khan / Mathura

The famous Lathmar Holi, a festival in which women beat men with lathis to recreate the romantic association between Lord Krishna and his ladylove Radha has begun with usual enthusiasm in the town of Barsana in district Mathura of the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

People from all over India visit the town to see a version of the La Tomatina festival of Spain. The women in covered faces and holding big sticks in hands, and reining blows on men is a fun game and part of the extended Holi celebration that culminates with Holi on Monday.

The festival took off Tuesday evening when a group of women wearing colourful traditional dresses descended on the scene in a particular street making men look for the cover. A large crows of onlookers cheers the women up.

As per the tradition, the menfolk are from Nandgoan, the village of Lord Krishna.

The lathi-wielding women represent the girl gang of Radha from her native place of Barsana. The men come to play with colours with girls and the latter come with a bigger weapon to add to the fun and show their power.

Krishna often played pranks on his women friends and, on this day, the women take revenge in a fun way by giving it back to his boys’ gang. The festival symbolizes the love and friendship between Radha and Krishna and is an expression of joy and youthful revelry.

In Radha’s town, women were high on enthusiasm since morning, finishing their chores and decking up to receive the menfolk coming from Nandgaon.  In spite of the COVID, a large number of pilgrims have reached Barsana to enjoy the festival.

In this part called Braj, the land where the love story of Krishna and Radha happened, Holi continues to be celebrated in the most unique way in celebration of the Radha-Krishna relationship.

Every street from the city of Mathura to Barsana is lined with pilgrims. At the break of the dawn, groups of pilgrims take a circumambulation of Gahara vana. They are all drenched in colours that they put on each other as a mark of joy. They also visit numerous temples of Radha-Krishna in the town. They offer gulal, the red colour traditionally made from flowers to Radha.

Gautam Parashar who came from Delhi, said that he was feeling privileged to watch the Holi of Barsana in Braj.

Shubhra Sharma of Agra says, "Witnessing Radha Krishna's love story symbolized in the lathmar holi, her mind is filled with the emotion of love and fun.” She said the women of Barsana are blessed to be wearing traditional dresses and playing Holi their way.

The festival starts around 3 pm when a gang of men from Nandgaon reach Barsana. Men wearing traditional dhoti and kurta dress carry a metal shield. They come on foot to recreate the scene in ancient times. They are led by Chail Bihari Goswami, the head of their clan.

Goswami is holding the flag of his village in the name of Lord Krishna and the team walk bhajan and chanting the Vedic mantra.

Women raining in lathis on men

The men from Nandgaon are welcomed by the   Rambhrose Goswami, leader of the Goswami clan of Barsana. The guests are showered with the essence of rose and kewra, sugar candies and are served a cold drink made of cannabis, nuts, rose water in milk.

The venue of the gathering is Priya Kund, where the visitors wear a headgear before visiting the temple. They place their flag in the temple devoted to Kishoriji, the baby Krishna. 

Thereafter both the parties participated in a  joint singing session.

In the meantime, the lathi-wielding women, who had been waiting patiently from behind the doors of Rangili Gali (The colourful street) descend on the scene.

On seeing the women, the menfolk start singing and chanting loudly. The women are ruthless and they hit the men with lathis, and the latter can be seen running around to defend themselves and escape the wrath of the women.

This scene is watched by onlookers from their rooftops.