BASANT PANCHMI or the fifth day of the Hindu month of Maagh is being observed by the Hindu community today. It marks the beginning of Basant Ritu when a castor oil tree is planted around a pyre which is built and burnt forty days after.  The occasion is popularly described as the planting of Holika. Holika was the sister of King Hiranya Kashyapu who was the father of Prince Prahalad.  Prahalad was a great devotee of Bhagwan Vishnu who resisted his father’s demand that he was God Almighty. This decisive stand of Prahalad brought his father’s wrath down against him.  The demonic King tortured the humble devotee of God Prahalad and placed him on the lap of his sister Holika and kindled a fire to have him consumed, because it was believed that the lady possessed a boon which made her immune to the effects of fire.  However, the lady was consumed and Prahalad escaped unscathed.

The Holika which will be burnt on the eve of Holi recalls this event and echoes the accepted universal concept that good will forever triumph over evil.  Apart from this story, on Basant Panchmi Saraswati is worshipped.  She was not only a paragon of virtue, but the infinite source of scholarship and learning.  Thus, Hindus will worship Saraswati by doing puja to Her on Basant Panchmi.

On Basant Panchmi, nature is in its embryonic stage and unfolds for the celebration of Holi when nature’s bounty blooms, blossoms and flowers converting the land into beauty with scents of fragrances.  Hindus capture the magenta from nature’s beauty and squirt it affectionately on each other on Phagwah day.

The Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha invites all to observe Basant Panchmi in their respective Mandirs.  The Oranisation will meet at the Shri Krishna Mandir, Campbellville, Georgetown for puja and worship on Basant Panchmi at 7:00 p.m. and with the singing of chowtaal plant the Holika.
(Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha release)