From Mughals, maharajas to the British – how artists captured Holi celebrations

A calligraphic panel on the reverse is signed by Hafiz Nurullah, a scribe at the court of Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula of Awadh. This painting is linked to other works from the “Lucknow Album”, believed to have been compiled in 1785.

The painting reflects the cultural assimilation of the festival as well the artistic refinement of the Lucknow court. Similarly, a painting from 1775 depicts Asaf-ud-Daula celebrating Holi “with the ladies of his court”. This painting, too, bears a quatrain by Hafiz Nurullah.

A mid-18th century painting captures Maharaja Bakhat Singh, of the Rathore clan, engaged in Holi celebrations in a pool with a group of women of the royal court. The maharaja can be seen with a pichkari while the women throw coloured powders and water at each other.

Several women stand on the steps and balconies – some carrying pichkaris, some holding plates with colored powder while a group plays music. This Rajput miniature painting is characterised by its vibrant colours, intricate detailing and architectural precision.

A watercolour from 1765 depicts a maharaja playing Holi with women and musicians in a garden pavilion. The painting is likely from Karnataka and was featured in an exhibition of miniatures from the Mughal and Deccani Schools.

Mughal aristocrats like Prince Azim ush Shan, the grandson of Aurangzeb, celebrated Holi in Dacca – modern-day Dhaka. Nawazish Muhammad Khan, another Mughal aristocrat, once celebrated Holi for seven days at the Motijheel Palace in Murshidabad. Like the Mughals, the nawabs of Bengal, too, embraced Holi celebrations during the 18th century, notes Historian Sushil Chaudhury.

In 1757, Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula joined Holi festivities after signing the Treaty of Alinagar with Robert Clive of the East India Company. As the East India Company took control of Bengal in the latter half of the 18th century, official holidays for Holi were five-seven days.

Bhakti touch

The Rajput-style paintings that depict deities Krishna, Radha and the gopis playing Holi are unparalleled in their details and aesthetic production.

A 1788 painting from Kangra shows women throwing red and orange powders and spraying colored liquid at one another.

Radha, the beloved consort of Krishna in Hindu mythology, is the central figure on the left.

Similarly, a painting from the Bilaspur School in the Pahari Hills, dated to around 1850, depicts Radha and Krishna celebrating Holi.

An anonymous painting from around 1790, in the Mughal style, shows Krishna playing Holi with the Gopis. This painting blends illusion and reality as the princess on a balcony envisions Krishna and the gopis playing Holi in a forest grove, covered in pink and yellow dye. The women of the zenana watch from above as the scene unfolds below.

Among the revelers, are yogis clad in animal skins alongside a dancing hijra – “khawaja sara”, a member of a traditional transfeminine third gender in Persian – joyfully waving her shawl.

Bazaar scenes and ‘Hohlee’

The celebrations of ordinary Indians also found vibrant artistic representation.

A Patna Kalam painting depicts a lively celebration in a large, open indoor space with men and women dressed in traditional white attire throwing coloured powder and water at one another. Musicians play drums and other instruments.

A nobleman or an important figure is seated on an elevated platform, observing the event. Women in the background laugh and toss colors as some spectators watch from near the doorway.

A Murshidabad painting from 1785 depicts a vibrant celebration outdoors: Men, covered in red powder, dance, sing, and play drums as they make their way toward a tank. At the centre, a man is carried on a litter while bystanders observe the festivities.

This artwork is part of a series of nine drawings that illustrate a durbar at the Murshidabad court, along with various Hindu and Muslim festivals and religious ceremonies.

English artist William Carpenter, in a watercolour from 1850, depicts the Sadr Bazaar of Pune, where three young children stand in front of a market stall, curiously inspecting flowers and coloured powder on display.

Of the many depictions of Holi during the colonial period one stands out for not just its aesthetics, but also the accompanying literature.

The illustration “Playing the Hohlee”, etched by T Baxter and drawn originally by Deen Alee, was included in a book by English writer and soldier Thomas Duer Broughton. This Company-style painting depicts a group of women under a canopy holding plates or baskets of coloured powder. A man, possibly Daulat Rao Scindia of the Gwalior Kingdom, puts colour on one of the women. There are also large pots of coloured water, into which a woman can be seen dipping her pichkari in.

Broughton, in his book Letters Written In A Mahratta Camp, an account of his travels through 1809 gave a vivid account of life in India while he journeyed through Rajasthan alongside Scindia and his army. In this book he describes “Hohlee” as a Hindu Carnival and a time of “universal merriment and joy” observed by all classes: “Playing Hohlee consists in throwing about a quantity of flour, made from a water-nut, called singara, and dyed with red sanders: it is called abeer; and the principal sport is to cast it into the eyes, mouth and nose of the players, and to splash them all over with water, tinged with an orange colour with the flowers of the dak tree.”

His description of Holi celebrations under a large canopy at Scindia’s camp is especially vivid. Broughton writes of the tent erupting in celebration as the maharaja and his officials lead the celebrations and participants pelt each other with powder and water. The maharaja, he writes, is shielded by attendants and retaliates with a fire-engine hose, drenching everyone.

Broughton observed that beyond royal festivities, Holi was marked by street celebrations. Men paraded through towns and camps, singing “kuveers” with bawdy humor, mocking superiors. Some dressed in grotesque costumes as personifications of Holi, while others delighted in shouting coarse jokes at women. At women-only gatherings there were dances through the night.

The festival lasts through Phagoon, or Phalgun, the last month of the Hindu year that ends with the burning of Holika.

Broughton notes that the term “Phagoon” originates from two Sanskrit words – Phal, meaning “faults” or “slight errors”, and Goon, meaning “admissible” or “venial”. It implies that minor social transgressions, such as playful teasing, indecent jokes and lighthearted mischief are permissible during this season, as even nature seems to indulge in excess and when the songs are marked with more than ordinary licence, they are termed Dhumaree.

He noted that the officers who participated in the celebrations earned greater affection from their men, who delighted in playfully including their names in Holi songs – the more indecent the lyrics, the louder the laughter and applause.

But not all Holi songs are “indelicate”, he says, offering a translation of one about Krishna being chased by a party of gopis during Holi:

While some his loosened turban seize,
And ask for Phag, and laughing tease;
Others approach with roguish leer,
And softly whisper in his ear.
With many a scoff, and many a taunt,
The Phagoon some fair Gopees chaunt ;
While others, as he bends his way,
Sing at their doors Dhumaree gay.
One boldly strikes a loving slap;
One brings the powder in her lap;
And clouds of crimson dust arise
About the youth with lotus-eyes.
Then all the colour’d water pour,
And whelm him in a saffron shower;
And crowding round him bid him stand,
With wands of flowers in every hand.

Artwork over the centuries not only documents the cultural assimilation of Holi across regions but also highlight the festival’s role in fostering artistic expression and social harmony. Together, these artworks serve as a tribute to the syncretism of the festival of colours.

Sonal is Assistant Professor of History at Motilal Nehru College, University of Delhi. She specialises in the history of colonial India.