Holika Ka Dahan (Art & Craft) – Malayalam
HOLIKA KA DAHAN
This collage activity is an interesting way to introduce children, the mythological connotations of Holika Dahan.
Holi has different mythological connotations in different parts of India. The most popular relates to an ancient demon king in India known as Hiranya Kashipu. He was a cruel and tyrannical ruler. His son Prahalad was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu. This infuriated his father who tried hard to get him to stop worshipping Vishnu. When all his efforts failed, Hiranya Kashipu decided to kill Prahlad. He tried various ways , including getting him to jump off a steep cliff and being trampled by an elephant, but Lord Vishnu saved him every time. Eventually Hiranya Kashipu called his sister Holika who had a boon that she would not burn in fire. Holika made Prahalad sit on her lap in the fire. But, this time, by Lord Vishnu’s grace, Prahalad was unhurt, but Holika was burnt to death.
Values Inculcated:
- Instill intensity of Prahalad’s devotion
- The victory of good over evil
- Patience
- Creativity
Materials Required:
- Old newspaper (to spread while doing the craft work)
- Card paper
- Glue stick
- Yellow, red and orange tissue or crepe paper
- Brown colour paper
- Twigs
- Sticky tape
- Holika & Prahalada picture (hand drawn/from old books)
Activity:
- Cut a bonfire shape from card.
- Cut flames from the tissue paper.
- Glue only the base of flames to the card. (to add texture & to make flames look real)
- From brown paper cut some rectangular “log” shape sticks.
- Glue these to the bottom of the fire. Few real twigs can also be used. (to bring the collage to life and add more texture.)
- Stick/Draw Holika & Prahalad pictures as shown in the sample picture.