Holi 2025: Why Holi is Celebrated

Holi is a special festival which is celebrated with great enthusiasm by the people of India. The main attraction of this festival of colors is the event of Holika Dahan. Every year people search for questions like “Why is Holika Dahan performed?”, “Holi 2025 date”, “When is Holi in 2025?”, “Happy Holi”, and “Holi 2025” on Google to find out the correct date of the festival and the traditions associated with it.

If you want to know why Holika Dahan is performed this article will explain the most popular story behind this festival in detail.

In ancient times, there was a powerful demon king named Hiranyakashyap. With his great penance he pleased Lord Brahma and received a boon from him that made him invincible. The boon was such that he could not be killed during the day or night, on earth or in the sky, by any weapon, human, or animal. Because of this boon he became arrogant and started believing that no one could kill him, and he started to consider himself a god.

Due to this arrogance he declared throughout his kingdom that no one should worship Lord Vishnu anymore, but everyone should worship him only. However, his own son, Prahlad, was a devoted worshipper of Lord Vishnu. Prahlad refused to obey his father’s orders and continued to worship Lord Vishnu. This angered Hiranyakashyap and he made several attempts to kill Prahlad.

Hiranyakashyap ordered his soldiers to kill Prahlad by any means necessary, but due to Lord Vishnu’s grace, Prahlad was saved each time.

First Attempt: Hiranyakashyap ordered Prahlad to be thrown off a high mountain into a gorge but Vishnu saved him.
Second Attempt: Prahlad was imprisoned and given poison but due to Vishnu’s grace, the poison turned into sweet pudding.
Third Attempt: They tried to crush him under the feet of elephants, but he remained safe.
Fourth Attempt: He was bitten by deadly serpents, but they could do him no harm.
After failing repeatedly Hiranyakashyap called upon his sister Holika, who had received a boon that made her immune to fire.

Holika decided to take Prahlad in her lap and enter the fire. She had a special shawl (cloth) that protected her from burning when she donned it in the fire. Her plan was for Prahlad to burn while she remained safe.

Holika wrapped herself in her special fire-protecting shawl and sat in the flames with Prahlad.
But as the fire started burning, a strong gust of wind, due to Lord Vishnu’s grace, blew the shawl away, covering Prahlad instead.
As a result, Prahlad was safely saved, and Holika was burnt to ashes.
This is why Holika Dahan is performed every year, symbolizing that the end of evil is certain, no matter how strong and powerful it may seem, and true devotion always triumphs.

If you want to know how Lord Vishnu’s Narasimha avatar ended Hiranyakashyap, read our article.