Protests have started against the ‘Masane Ki Holi’ program organized at Manikarnika Ghat and Harishchandra Ghat, the crematorium of Varanasi. Kashi Vidvat Parishad and some other organizations have opposed the ‘Masane Holi’ program saying that this tradition is not according to the scriptures.
Kashi Vidvat Parishad member Pandit Vinay Pandey said on Monday that playing Holi in the crematorium is not ‘scriptural’. He said that for the last few years some people have been organizing it and calling it an ancient tradition. Pandey said that the crematorium has a dignity, it is not a place for celebration. He said that now the young men and women are “breaking the decorum by playing Holi in a vulgar manner” in the crematorium.
‘The young men and women got drunk and started creating ruckus’
State unit president of Sanatan Rakshak Dal, Ajay Sharma, said that Masane Holi was started in 2014 in the name of serving Thandai to Aughad Babas and later it was claimed that it is a 400 year old tradition. He claimed that in the Holi of Masane, which was started in the name of Aughad Babas, young men and women got drunk and started creating ruckus.
‘One should not go to the crematorium without any reason’
Sharma said that a common man should not go to the crematorium without any reason. He said that it is written in the Puranas that a person who goes to the crematorium without any reason is subjected to Sutak for a month and such people later go to the temples and defile them too.
‘Tradition of playing Holi in crematorium, a conspiracy to defame Kashi’
Referring to late Pandit Chhannulal Mishra’s popular song ‘Masane Ki Holi’, Sharma said that the renowned Hindustani classical singer had clarified that his song was sung for Digambara (Shiva) and not in support of this practice. Sharma said that this tradition of playing Holi in the crematorium is a conspiracy to defame Kashi and it should be stopped immediately.
‘All members of Kashi Vidvat Parishad are outsiders’
At the same time, Gulshan Kapoor, who organized Holi of pyre burning at Manikarnika Ghat, said that it is not yet clear how many Kashi Vidvat Parishads there are in Banaras. He claimed that all the members of Kashi Vidvat Parishad are outsiders and they do not have knowledge of the tradition and scriptures of Kashi.
Kapoor said, ‘They don’t even know that Kashi is a cremation ground and Mahadev himself has come to the crematorium to play Holi with pyre ashes. It has been mentioned in Veda Purana as well as in Durga Saptashati.” He claimed that due to ‘Mughal invaders’, the tradition of Masane Holi had almost ended and now it has been revived.
Kapoor alleged that some “chandajeevi people” want to earn money by taking donations under the guise of this event, but their intention is not being fulfilled, hence they are defaming Masane Holi.