On the seventh day of Holi, Holi is played again here on the Ganga Mela. In the morning the tricolor is hoisted, the national anthem is sung and then colors are blown. A procession is taken out across the city.
Kanpur’s Holi connection with 1942 revolution
Holi, the festival of colors and happiness, is being celebrated across the country today. In many parts of the country for the last several days Holi being celebrated Is. Today Holi will end in almost many parts. Holi festival will end in your place this evening too, but in some places the excitement of Holi remains for many days. This is what happens in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
Holi is celebrated for 7 days in Kanpur, which is called the city of revolutionaries. 6-7 days after Holi another Holi is played on the day of Baat Anuradha Nakshatra. Ganga Mela is organized on the seventh i.e. the last day and then Holi ends. This tradition is going on since 1942. The story behind this is related to the 1942 revolution.
Kanpur’s Color Revolution
Then there was British rule in the country. The festival of Holi was being celebrated. People were playing with colors and gulal. Meanwhile, in Hatia, the young revolutionaries were painting each other with colors and raising slogans of freedom. He hoisted the tricolor there regardless of the British rule. When the British came to know about this, many soldiers came on horseback and started taking down the tricolor. During this, a struggle started between the young revolutionaries and the British soldiers.
A British officer issued an order to imprison all the youths. About 45 people including Gulab Chandra Seth, Naveen Sharma, Vishwanath Tandon, Buddlal Mehrotra, Hameed Khan were arrested among these youths. He was put in jail.
movement started again
In protest against the arrest of the young revolutionaries, people started the Albela movement. In protest, laborers, litterateurs, businessmen and general public all took to the streets and stopped the work of the British government. Everything came to a standstill in the surrounding areas as well. The workers stopped going to the factory. The transporters blocked the chakka. Government employees went on strike. Women-children-elderly all sat on dharna.
This is how the tradition started
The arrogance of the British came out. The British officer reached the protest site. After four hours of talks, the revolutionaries were released from jail. The revolutionaries were released after about 6 days of talks. It was the day of Anuradha Nakshatra. The whole city stood outside the jail to bring the revolutionaries. The faces of the revolutionaries who were released from jail were painted and this procession went around the whole city and ended at Hatia Bazaar. Since then the tradition of playing Holi again on the 7th day of Holi is going on.
Flag hoisting, national anthem, color-gulal
On the seventh day of Holi, Holi is played again here on the Ganga Mela. In the morning the tricolor is hoisted, the national anthem is sung and then colors are blown. A procession is taken out across the city. Ganga Mela is organized at Sarsaiya Ghat in the evening, where people greet each other on Holi by applying gulal.
