The Holi Story for Kids: Prahlad, Holika and Hiranyakashipu

Holi is the festival children wait for all year: buckets of coloured water, fistfuls of gulal, friends chasing friends down the street, everyone laughing and everyone the same colour by lunchtime. It falls on the full moon of the month of Phalguna, usually in March, and marks the end of winter and the arrival of spring.

But Holi actually begins the night before, with a bonfire called Holika Dahan. Behind that bonfire is one of the most powerful stories in Indian tradition: a small boy who would not give up his faith, a king who thought he could not be defeated, and a fire that burned the wrong person. Here is the story of Holi for kids.

The king who wanted to be worshipped

Long ago there was a demon king called Hiranyakashipu. He wanted to be the most powerful being in the universe, so he performed fierce austerities to win a boon from Brahma. When Brahma appeared, Hiranyakashipu asked for a very clever boon. He could not be killed by a human or an animal; not by day or by night; not inside or outside a building; not on the ground or in the sky; and not by any weapon.

Sure he could now never die, Hiranyakashipu grew proud and cruel. He declared that no one in his kingdom should worship any god, especially Vishnu, and that everyone must worship him instead.

The son who would not obey

Hiranyakashipu had a young son called Prahlad. From the time he was very small, Prahlad was a devotee of Vishnu, and he chanted Vishnu’s name every day. His father was furious. He sent Prahlad to teachers to change his mind, but Prahlad only taught the other children about Vishnu. He ordered Prahlad to stop, and Prahlad, gently but firmly, refused.

Hiranyakashipu then tried to frighten and hurt his own son. In the old tellings, Prahlad was thrown from a cliff, trampled by elephants, given poison and surrounded by snakes, and each time he was protected and unharmed. He never once grew angry with his father. He simply kept chanting.

Holika and the fire

Hiranyakashipu’s sister, Holika, had a gift: in many tellings, a shawl or a boon that meant fire could not burn her. The king came up with a plan. Holika would sit in a great bonfire with Prahlad on her lap. She would be safe, and the boy would burn.

The fire was lit. Prahlad sat calmly and chanted Vishnu’s name. And then something unexpected happened. Holika’s protection failed her, because it had been given for good use and she was using it to harm an innocent child. In some tellings the shawl flew from her shoulders and wrapped itself around Prahlad. Holika was burned, and Prahlad walked out of the fire unharmed. That is why, every year on the night before Holi, people light a bonfire and remember how good survived and evil was burned away.

A gift given to protect cannot be used to harm. Holika had the power to walk through fire, and it failed the moment she used it against a child.

Narasimha

Hiranyakashipu was now beside himself with rage. He asked Prahlad where his Vishnu was. Everywhere, Prahlad replied. Even in this pillar? asked the king, and struck it with his mace. The pillar split open, and out came Vishnu as Narasimha, with the body of a man and the head of a lion.

Every condition of the boon was met. Narasimha was neither human nor animal. It was twilight, neither day nor night. He seized the king on the threshold of the palace, neither inside nor outside, and placed him on his lap, neither on the ground nor in the sky. And he used his claws, which are not a weapon. The boon that seemed to make Hiranyakashipu unbeatable could not save him. Children love working out each condition one by one; it is a wonderful puzzle story.

Why colours? Krishna’s Holi

The bonfire comes from Prahlad’s story, but the colours come from Krishna. In a much-loved tale, little Krishna, whose skin was dark blue, asked his mother Yashoda why Radha was so fair and he was so dark. Yashoda laughed and told him to go and colour Radha’s face any colour he liked. Krishna did exactly that, and playing with colours became part of the spring festival in Braj, the land of his childhood.

Holi in Mathura, Vrindavan and Barsana still lasts for days. In Barsana, Radha’s village, women playfully drive away men from Nandgaon with sticks in the famous Lathmar Holi.

What children can take from Holi

Prahlad is one of the youngest heroes in all of Indian tradition, and that is why children connect with him. He was not strong or powerful. He was just a child who believed in something and would not give it up, even when the most powerful person in his life told him to. And he never answered cruelty with cruelty.

Holi is also a festival of letting go. Colours make everyone look the same, so it is traditionally a day to forgive old quarrels and start again. Ask your child: is there someone you need to make up with this Holi?

A safe, happy Holi with children

Choose natural or herbal colours, oil skin and hair beforehand, protect eyes, and keep play gentle with smaller children. Most of all, tell the story the night before, while watching the bonfire if you can. A child who knows about Prahlad sees the flames very differently.

If your child loves stories like these, our live storytelling and Indian culture classes tell them properly, with discussion, questions and plenty of room for children to retell them in their own words.