Chapter 10

A few weeks later, still at March, and after that Sundarta and George really got along with each other that they meet up every day and talk about everything from their countries' cultures to sword wrestling to wars to politics etc, and after that George became too close with the Michorian royal family, it was the Holi.

And for who doesn't know Holi: the Holi is a popular ancient Hindu festival where Hindu people basically spray colors on others.

On the eve before the Holi, George noticed people gathering in the middle courtyard. He decided to go and check while suddenly he heard knocking on his door. He opened and he found Sundarta, completely happy and beautiful with some makeup, fancy clothes and some jewels.

George got surprised; Sundarta never knocked his door.

He was still staring at her while she finally greeted him: "Good evening, George."

"Hey…" He answered.

"Didn't you notice that there's something weird happening in the palace?" She asked a rhetorical question.

"I did notice. What's going on?" He worriedly wondered.

Sundarta calmly laughed and explained:

"Tonight is the Holika Dahan; it's the night before the Holi. People now gather around the bonfire to perform religious rituals."

"Bonfire? Why?"

"Dress up Indian clothes fast and come with me; I'll explain to you more when we read the prayers. Hurry up!"

Sundarta closed the door of George's room, leaving the latter with multiple questions.

Anyway, he dressed up Indian clothes and opened the door. When Sundarta saw him, she stared at him for few seconds, and she said: "Let's go."

The British prince followed her until they arrived at the middle courtyard. He found also all of Ann, Milady, Krishna and Chandramukhi wearing Indian clothes, standing with the people in front of the royal temple and watching some servants placing a pyre in front of the temple.

Ann hugged Sundarta then George and she whispered to him: "This is much better than your father's meetings, isn't it?"

George laughed while Ann smiled to him. Then, she caught her daughter's hand and pulled her softly next to her.

George stood next to Sundarta while the servants were putting two effigies on the top of the pyre; apparently, the first one was in the shape of a woman, made of combustible materials, and the one was in the shape of a young child, made of non-combustible materials.

Sundarta noticed George watching the scene, amazed. She smiled and explained, watching people now decorating the effigies with coconuts, corns and colors: "This eve is called Dulhendi. It's the remembrance of the story of Holika, King Hiranya kashyap and his son Prahlad. That female effigy is for Holika, and the other young effigy is made for Prahlad."

"What's their story?" George wondered, truly wanting to know the myth.

"Hiranya kashyap was a king who was granted by Lord Brahma with a boon. This boon gave Hiranya Kashyap five special powers: Neither human being nor animal could kill him. He could neither be killed indoors nor outdoors. He could neither be killed during the day nor at night. No projectile weapon or a hand help weapon could kill him. He could neither be killed on land, nor in water or air…"

"Wow… lucky him!" George expressed his amazedness.

"These special powers made Hiranya Kashyap so powerful that he became so arrogant and asked his public to worship him as a God. And if someone refused to, he would get much punished or even killed. However, his young son Prahlad disagreed with his father and refused to worship him while he kept believing in and worshiping Lord Vishnu. This made Hiranya Kashyap truly furious that he planned to kill his son. So, he called his sister Holika for help because she was granted with a boon; fire could not burn her. He asked her to take Prahlad with her to a bonfire, to sit together on it by tricking him to sit on her lap, as the fire will burn Prahlad but not Holika. But shockingly, as the fire grew higher, the child didn't get hurt at all while the aunt got burnt until she completely disappeared. Prahlad didn't get hurt because he was chanting Lord Vishnu's name…" She continued.

"Wow…" He said, watching the preparation of the bonfire.

"Tomorrow, we spray gulal (the colored powder) on our faces and we play the whole day. This ritual symbolizes the victory of good over evil. Here, Holi also marks the agricultural season rabi crops (agricultural crops in India) and besides forgiveness, forgetting and ending conflicts by meeting others." Sundarta finally finished.

"Amazing, I wish we have such celebrations like the Holi but…"

"What?"

"I'm catholic!" George informed. "How will I celebrate another religion's festival?" He anxiously wondered.

"Don't worry" She calmed him. "You can join us in celebrating while you're still catholic."

"Good…" He relieved.

The Adopted Princess looked at him and announced: "I would like to learn about caltholic festivals one day."

"I will tell you everything once the Holi ends." He promised.

"Good." Sundarta smiled and came back watching servants now waiting for the end of the sunset…

A few seconds later, she mentioned meaningfully another story about the Holi: "Holi also tells the story of Lord Krishna and Radha's… love…"

She smiled to him and continued, while George's eyes lighted: "Lord Krishna loved Goddess Radha. He was worried that she didn't like him cause of his dark blue skin color, which was caused when a demoness tried to poison him when he was a baby. So, his mother Yashoda suggested that he playfully smear some gulal on Radha's face. After he did, Radha fell in love with him and soon they got married."

The "love birds" kept looking at each other, as George understood what she meant by telling him Krishna and Radha's story.

During this long conversation, Ann was listening to them, terribly happy and glad of hearing them truly getting along with each other, watching her biological daughter and her godson happy with each other…

Finally, the sunset was over, and it started getting darker. The bonfire began; people gather around it and offer different things like sweets, stalks from the harvest, coconuts and wheatgrass to pay their gratitude. Sundarta was throwing the latter. And when she found George just watching the festival, she gave him some to throw…

***