Why only women celebrate Kundra in UP's Kundra village?

Lucknow, March 8, 2021, Saturday

The tradition of celebrating Holi from Abil and Gulal in India is centuries old. In which women, men and children participate enthusiastically. However, in Kundra village in Hamirpur taluka of Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh, only women play Holi. While young children and men have not played Holi for decades. Thus, small children are very attracted to the injector during the Holi festival while the children of this village stay at home without playing Holi. On the day of Holi, the men of the village boycott Holi and go to the farm from morning. In the absence of men, the women of the village gather near the Ramji temple for the Holi festival. Holi songs are sung to the beat of Manjira, Dholak and Trasa.

Abil Gulal then starts playing Holi by slapping each other on the cheeks. The women then divide into groups and take to the village streets to play Holi with water. There are many myths about why only women play Holi in this village. The villagers believe that women and children also used to participate in the Holi festival near the Ramji temple years ago. Once on the day of Holi festival in the village, a dacoit named Mebarsinh attacked and killed a man named Rajpal with a gunshot. Since then, the village has stopped celebrating Holi. A few years later the women of the village proposed to resume the Holi festival.

In this regard, the village community came together and decided that only women would celebrate Holi but men would not. Since then only women have participated in the Rangotsav of Kundra village. According to another belief, at one time men also used to play Holi and then go to bathe in Yamuna. So the women also bet that she too would play Holi in the absence of the men. Over time, not only men but also women play Holi. Although the villagers do not know what happens if men celebrate Holi, but because of this tradition, only women celebrate Holi. (Symbolic image)