Riot of colours: Mathura celebrates Holi

Mathura was drenched in hues of the rainbow on Monday as people celebrated Holi, the festival of colours, smearing 'gulal' on each other.

Brij Bhoomi, especially Vrindavan and Govardhan, witnessed an explosion of colours. ''The path of Govardhan Parikrama was virtually covered in rainbow colours as thousands of pilgrims performed the parikrama and threw gulal on each other,'' said Pawan Kaushik, the priest of Daanghati temple in Govardhan.

In Anyor village on Parikrama road, Holi was celebrated with much fanfare.

Daubed in colour, the children were seen playing Holi with the pilgrims, who also danced to the beats of Holi songs.

The pilgrims visiting the ISKCON temple joined the celebrations in Vrindavan.

In parts of Mathura, the women hit the men with sticks as part of the ritual.

In Falen village of Mathura, Monu, the priest of Prahlad temple, walked embers to mark the beginning of festivities as per the ritual early in the morning in an atmosphere reverberating with excitement, said Balak Das, the Mahant of Gopal Mandir Falen.

Prior to this, Monu took a dip in Prahlad Kund of the village and also performed Yagna for several hours, the Mahant said.

Mathura MP actor Hema Malini played Holi outside her residence in Vrindavan on Monday morning with the locals and offered them Gujia.

She played Holi in Radha Raman temple on Sunday evening and participated in the singing of songs in praise of Radha and Krishna.

Holi was also played in other temples, including Dwarkadheesh temple (Mathura), Dauji temple ( in Baldeo town) among others with religious fervor with devotees taking part in large numbers.

The devotees smeared gulal on each other outside the Bankey Bihari temple.

The festival of colour was also played in Gokul, Nandgaon and Barsana towns, an official of Ladli temple Barsana said.

District Magistrate Shailendra Singh said that no untoward incident has been reported so far from anywhere.

The police personnel have been deployed at strategic points to monitor the situation, he said.