| Dol Purnima | |
|---|---|
 Krishna being carried in a procession in Odisha on Dola Purnima | |
| Also called | Dol Jatra |
| Observed by | Hindus of the Indian states/regions of Braj, Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Bangladesh |
| Type | Religious, cultural, spring festival |
| Celebrations | spraying coloured dye, playing withcoloured powder, dancing, greetings, festival delicacies |
| Date | Phalguna Purnima |
| 2025 date | 14 March in India |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Holi |
Dol Purnima, also popularly known asDol Jatra,Dola Jatra,Doul Utsav orDeul, is a Hindu swing festival celebrated during theHoli festival ofAssam,[1]Bengal,Braj region,Gujarat,[2]Odisha,Rajasthan, andTripura.[3] This festival is dedicated to the divine couple ofRadha andKrishna. It is usually celebrated on the full moon night or fifteenth day of theFalgun month mainly byGopal community.[4]
Hindu literature is replete with references of terms likeDolotsava andDola Yatra.Garga Samhita, aVaishnav text has reference toDolotsava ofShri Krishna in the month ofChaitra.[5]
TheSanskrit wordDola means a swing,[6] whileutsava means a festival or a feast. Hence,Dolotsava literally means swing festival or swing feast and refers to religious service of swinging the idol of a deity on a swing.[7]
Similarly, wordDola Yatra is compound of two Sanskrit words:Dola andyatra .Yatra refers to procession and thusDolayatra refers to swing procession.[8]
This festival is also celebrated with great fervor and enthusiasm inRadha Vallabh Sampradaya and Haridasi Sampradaya where the idols ofRadha Krishna are worshipped and offered colours and flowers to commence the festivities.[9]
InGaudiya Vaishnavism, this festival is further more significant as it was the day whenChaitanya Mahaprabhu, its founder, was born.[10]
On this auspicious day, themurtis of Krishna and his beloved Radha, richly adorned and besmeared with coloured powder. InBraj,Rajasthan,Gujarat,Bengal,Odisha andAssam, the murtis ofRadha Krishna are taken out in procession in a swingingpalanquin, decorated withflowers,leaves, colouredclothes andpapers.[11] The procession proceeds forward to the accompaniment of music, blaring ofconch shells, trumpets horn and shouts of joy or victory and 'Hôri Bola'.
In the region ofAssam, the festival is marked by singing songs, like "Phaku khele korunamoy" by the 16th Century Assamese poetMadhavdev, especially at theBarpeta Satra.[12] The 15th century saint, artist and social reformerSrimanta Sankardev celebrated Doul atBordowa inNagaon, Assam.[13] The festival also includes playing with colours made usually from flowers traditionally.
In South India, thekirtan compositions of the 15th century poet,Annamacharya andTyagaraja are sung in the evening.[14] Dolotsavam is celebrated on Holika Purnima at Suryanarayan Swamy temple at Arasavalli,Andhra Pradesh.[15]
Dolostavams Festival in Arasavalli This Ritual is otherwise known as Holika Pournima or Holi. This comes in the month of March