However, it is unique in that it also gives the people license to temporarily discard the roles they play in an otherwise strictly ordered and stratified society and assume different ones – a process of reversal.

In his article “The Feast of Love”, Marriott describes the “tightly ranked and compartmentalized order” observed by the villagers in terms of a social and economic hierarchy. On the basis of relative pollution and purity, the village was separated into castes and the conditions of intercaste interactions were clearly defined. The subordinacy of the women to the men in generic relationships as well as husband-wife interactions

was equally stressed and the servility and deference of the women to all males senior to them was expected at all levels. As the structural anthropolog

Corresponding to the atmosphere of festivity during Holi is the decrease in inhibitions of the participants, both social and otherwise. The women especially enjoy a degree of freedom during the festival which is not otherwise available to them routinely. They can thus be identified with the cowherd women who are the playmates and lovers of Krishna. These gopis leave their husbands to sport with Krishna, breaking the normal codes of social decorum. In a similar fashion, the women of Kishan Garhi deviate from the norms of conduct by boldly beating the men with sticks.

On observing these interactions, Marriott interprets this reversal of roles as leading to greater love and understanding of the other. He also stresses that because there exists a feeling of love towards the other that there is a willingness to reverse roles, thus resulting in a mutual reinforcement of reversal and reciprocation.

How do these practices observed during Holi relate to the mythology of Krishna? Marriott notes that the association of Krishna with the Holi festival might have been a relatively recent development. The description of the festival as the celebration of Krishna’s killing of the demoness Putana provides an obvious link between the deity and the festival, but the myths we have read do not contain in them precedents of Holi nor any reference as to how it is celebrated. However, some of the Krishna myths provide a basis for the attitudes of the villagers during the celebrations.

The Krishna cult influence on the people of Kishan Garhi is also a function of geography. The village is situated very close to Mathura, the dwelling-place of Krishna and the original source of the Krishna legends. Krishna would thus have acquired the status of practically a local deity and

Some topics in this essay:
Claude Levi-Strauss, Kishan Garhi, Mount Govardhana, Holi Krishna, Krishna Holi, Garhi Marriott, Krishna India, Love” Marriott, , Shiva Krishna, kishan garhi, holi festival, holi krishna, cowherd women, krishna myths, reversal roles, social economic,