<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>HOL&#256 MAHALL&#256</TITLE>
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<p class="C1">&#65279HOL&#256 MAHALL&#256 or simply Hol&#257, a Sikh festival, takes place on the first of the lunar month of Chet which usually falls in March. This follows the Hindu festival of Hol&#299. The name Hol&#257 is the masculine form of the feminine-sounding Hol&#299. <i>Mahall&#257</i>, derived from the Arabic root <i>hal</i> (alighting, descending), is a Punjabi word signifying an organized procession in the form of an army column accompanied by war-drums and standard-bearers and proceeding to a given spot or moving in state from one <u>gurdw&#257r&#257</u> to another. The custom originated in the time of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh (1666-1708) who held first such march at Anandpur on Chet <i>vad&#299</i> 1, 1757 Bk/22 February 1701.</p>
<p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;	Unlike Hol&#299 during which people playfully sprinkle colour, dry or mixed in water, on each other, the Gur&#363 made it an occasion for the Sikhs to demonstrate their martial skills in simulated battles. This was probably done forestalling a grimmer struggle against the imperial power following the battle of Nirmohga&#7771h in 1700. Hol&#257 Mahall&#257 became an annual tourney held in the open ground near Holga&#7771h Fort across the rivulet Charan Ga&#7749g&#257, northwest of the town of Anandpur S&#257hib. The popularity of this festival may be judged from the fact that out of five Sikh public holidays requested by the <u>Kh</u>&#257ls&#257 D&#299w&#257n, Lahore, in 1889, government approved two -- Hol&#257 Mahall&#257 and the birth anniversary of Gur&#363 N&#257nak. The festival has now lost much of its original military significance, but Sikhs in large numbers still assemble at Anandpur S&#257hib on this day and an impressive and colourful procession is taken out in which the Niha&#7749gs in their traditional panoply form the vanguard, parading their skill in the use of arms as also at horsemanship and tent-pegging.</p>
<p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;	Mahall&#257 on M&#257gh&#299 fair is also observed at Muktsar, sacred to Ch&#257l&#299 Mukte, and at Ta<u>kh</u>t Sr&#299 Abchalnagar Haz&#363r S&#257hib, N&#257nde&#7693, in Mah&#257rash&#7789ra. At the latter place, the procession is led by a white horse believed to be a scion of the favourite blue-black stallion of Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh.</p>
</ol><p class="CONT">S. S. Vañj&#257r&#257 Bed&#299<br></p><BR>
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