Before the colours, the fire — and before the fire, a boy who would not stop saying what he believed, in a house where saying it was dangerous.
When it falls
22 March 2027 11 March 2028 28 February 2029
Prahlāda is one of the few stories where the child is braver than every adult in the room. Worth telling before the colours start.
Why it has more than one name
The fire the night before is Holikā Dahan; the colours the next day are Holī or Raṅgvālī Holī. The whole falls on Phālguna Pūrṇimā. In parts of the south the same full moon is kept as Kāmadahana, which tells a different story for the same fire.
22 March 2027, 11 March 2028 and 28 February 2029. The fire is lit the night before, on Holikā Dahan.
What is the story behind Holi?
Prahlāda — a boy who kept saying what he believed in a house where saying it was dangerous, and the aunt who walked into the fire holding him. It is one of the few stories in which the child is braver than every adult present.
Is Holi a good story for young children?
The Prahlāda story carries a fire and a threat to a child, so it reads better from about age six, and the page says so before you begin rather than after.
Sandhya Katha chooses one story each night against the pañcāṅga, for your child's age, and lays it out to be read aloud. Free, nothing to install.