NEW DELHI, March 14, 2003: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs may have declared March 19 as the official holiday for Holi, but confusion continues. Several religious organizations have announced that they will celebrate Holi on March 18. Officials say that date for Holi was decided about a year ago after consulting the panchangam (the Hindu religious calender.) However priests differ. “Holi cannot be celebrated on March 19. Holika Dahan is on March 17, the Puranmashi (the full moon) night. Therefore, Dhulendi (the festival of colour) has to be celebrated the next day,” said Laxmi Narayan Shastri, chief priest of Birla Temple. He also said that the religious texts do not ban people from celebrating Holi on Puranmashi. “The fuss is unnecessary. Holi has coincided with Puranmashi on earlier occasions as well,” he said. The problem this year is that Puranmashi starts at 7:21 p.m. on March 17 and ends on 9:45 a.m. on March 18 and some say that Holi cannot be celebrated on March 18 because of this. HPI would like anyone with an expert opinion on this issue to share with our readers to please contact ar@hindu.org.
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