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I am visiting from USA and will go back on Friday, Jan 12.


After having read the history of Chittorgarh and the pride its brave people bestowed on India in not surrendering in 1303 A.D. to a horde of savages then ruling Delhi, led by a tyrant named Khilji, I and my wife visited the very impressive, beautiful and historical fort "Chittorgarh" in 2005. Needless to say, the visit was memorable.

Our local guide told us that the savage forces surrounding the fort were huge and overwhelming. The provisions in the fort running out and seeing no chance of victory over the numerically huge savage forces, the Rana and his men decided to fight the savages on the day of Holi. They decided to play Holi with blood. The children were sacrificed, men donned saffron clothes and fought to the last drop of their warm blood. The women, led by Maharani Padmini, committed Jauhar to save their own honor and that of their men and country for eternity.

THE GUIDE TOLD US THAT SINCE THAT DAY SOME 700 YEARS AGO, THE HOLI IN CHITTORGARH IS NOT PLAYED ON THE DAY OF HOLI. IT IS PLAYED 14 DAYS LATER.
I am writing to respectfully ask
(1) if what we were told by the local guide was/is true?
(2) Is that tradition of not playing Holi on the day of Holi is still followed in Chittorgarh? And
(3) If not, then when was that tradition changed so the Holi is played on the day of Holi in Chittorgarh?
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Respectfully yours,
Krishan Saxena, Ph.D