Hampi Festival

The ruins of the magnificent city of Hampi (353 kilometres from Bangalore), Karnataka, once the capital of the Vijayanagar Empire (one of the greatest empires India has known) and now a UNESCO World Heritage site, come alive during this extravaganza, held in the first week of November. Dance, drama, music, fireworks, puppet shows and spectacular processions . all combine to recreate the grandeur of a bygone era. The ruins of stone temples, elephant stables, barracks and palaces offer a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the people who once resided there.

Hemis Festival

The courtyard of Hemis Gompa (monastery), the biggest Buddhist monastery in Ladakh, in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, is the stage for this festival, which celebrates the birth anniversary of Guru Padmasambhava, revered as a reincarnation of Buddha. The colourful two-day pageant falls on the 10th day (Tse-Chu) of the Tibetan lunar month.

A raised dais with a richly cushioned seat is erected in the courtyard, and a small, finely painted Tibetan table is placed here. Ceremonial items - cups full of holy water, uncooked rice, tormas made of dough and butter, incense sticks - are placed on the table. Traditional music is played, with four pairs of cymbals, pan drums, small trumpets and large wind instruments.

Locals dress up in their finest traditional garb for the occasion. Lamas (monks) perform splendid masked dances and sacred plays to the accompaniment of cymbals, drums and long horns. The head lama presides over the function.

Every 12 years, in the Tibetan Year of the Monkey, the two-storey high Thanka depicting Padmasambhava, richly embroidered with pearls and semi-precious stones, is displayed. The last display was in 2004. A colourful fair, displaying some beautiful handicrafts, is the special highlight of the festival.

Holi

The most lively of all Hindu festivals is observed on the day after full moon in the month of Phagun (sometime in March) according to the Hindu Lunar calendar. It heralds the end of the winter and the beginning of the spring. North India, in particular, goes wild, goes wild, with people smearing brightly hued powders on each other and squirting each other with coloured water from pichkaris.

Holi is also a harvest festival, marking harvesting of the winter crop (rabi). Farmers celebrate Holi by offering their first crop to Agni, the Fire God.

The night before full moon, huge ceremonial bonfires are lit in a re-enactment of the legend of Holika and Prahlad. Holika was the sister of Hirankashyap, the demon king of the Asuras. He fancied himself to be the Supreme Being and ordered his people to worship him. However, his son, Prahlad, an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu, refused to do so. Holika had been granted a boon that provided her protection against fire, so Hirankashyap asked her to sit on a burning pyre with Prahlad in her lap. She did just that, but it was Prahlad who walked out of the pyre unharmed, while Holika was burnt.

At Mathura and Vrindavan, the places where Lord Krishna spent most of his childhood, Holi is celebrated with great gusto - The Rang Gulal Festival is celebrated for over a week with exuberant processions, songs, music and dance. In Maharashtra and Gujarat, a grand procession of men soaked with coloured water walks through the streets shouting Govinda Aala Re (here comes Govinda). In Manipur, Holi is a six-day festival. In Anandpur Sahib, Punjab, Sikhs celebrate a special festival, Hola Mohalla, on the day after Holi. Mock battles and the display of the skills of the Nihang Sikhs (traditional members of the Sikh army founded by Guru Gobind Singh) are a key attraction of this unique festival.

Holla Mohalla

This Sikh festival begins the day after Holi, in March, and lasts for 3 days. It is celebrated at the sleepy town of Anandpur Sahib (close to Chandigarh) in Punjab. Sikhs from all over the state (and outside) congregate at the Gurdwara Keshgarh Sahib, the place where the Khalsa (Sikh brotherhood) was founded. Early morning prayers herald the event. A large number of community kitchens offer langar (free food) to those present.

Dressed in traditional costumes, the Nihang Sikhs (traditional members of the Sikh army founded by Guru Gobind Singh) delight those present with a display of their skills in archery, fencing, tent pegging, bareback horse riding (standing erect on 2 speeding horses) and shooting. Mock battles are enacted with enthusiasm and the area resounds to the sounds of the firing of ancient cannons. Of course, this IS Holi, so there's a lot of spraying each other with colour. A fair comes up around the Gurudwara. Evenings are for cultural events, including music and poetry competitions. The highlight of the last day is a long procession led by the Panj Piaras which makes a round of all the gurudwaras in the area.

Hornbill Festival

Held in Nagaland in December, this festival pays tribute to the Hornbill - the most revered bird of the Naga tribes. The festival showcases Nagaland's heritage in all its diversity and grandeur.

Hoysala Mahotsava

The splendidly sculpted Hoysala temples of Belur and Halebid in Karnataka, a UNESCO World Heritage site, are the venue for this dance festival.