Play Safe Dhuleti - The holi of Gujarat

We Gujaratis celebrate every festival with great pomp and festivity. Dhuleti or Dhuli Padvo is celebrated the next day after Holi . It is the second festival after Uttarayan in January which we all await. Literally, Dhuleti means throwing of mud, the practice, which had given way to throwing of vermilion. Although it is not altogether missing in action.

Nowadays, a lot of chemicals mixed in colors are used to play Holi which sometimes takes away the fun of Dhuleti and makes it dangerous at times. However, there has been a growing consciousness for natural colors and dyes.

I'd like to know more about natural Holi colors and how to judge the purity of the colors of Holi. The other day I saw 'Rangeela' Holi colors from the colour pencils and poster color brand 'Rangeela'. Should we buy Branded colors only?

Hello Sejalben,

Your concern is sautaka right. The use of toxic and synthetic holi colours, which are available in the market are actually chemicals, made from substances like industrial dyes are not only a health hazard but also contribute to significant amount of pollution of local water sources. Do you know how this colors are made? Here are a few startling revelations:
Purple colour comes from chromium iodide, black from lead oxide.

Well, for the colours, only a few brands are available, other than the colorfully decorated heaps at the holi ke rang waale bhai at the nukkads. Well, for me personally, I buy from reliable provision stores and departmental stores, as they are of a better quality and less spurious.

Gone are the days when Holi was celebrated with rose petals, tuber rose and gulal or natural dyes made from flowers. I heard there are ways how you can make Holi colours at home. Does anybody know about it?

Aaujo,
Tanvi

Hi Tanvi,

glad to see somebody from vadodara. miss Baroda sooomuch.

Aaujo
paru

Hi Paru,

Nice to meet you as well. Do you play Dhuleti in California? How do you celebrate the festival there. We'd love to hear from you.

As for you missing Baroda; Baroda surely misses you too.......

Holi Hai!!!

Tanvi

Hi Tanvi,

I don't think there is any Holi celebration here, or i do not know abt it. Some of our festivals r celebrated , but the celebrations are nothing compared to what we do in India. I enjoyed doin Garba this time , it was organised in a hall and the carpeted floor made it easy and could do faster than i expected. In our appartment in Baroda we used to celebrate every festival and I miss it verry much. Reading you suddenly made me remember those days and thank you for that.

Happy Holi. Play a lot of color.
paru

Do you know how this colors are made? Here are a few startling revelations:
Purple colour comes from chromium iodide, black from lead oxide.

You are right Tanvi and thanks for the information. It prompted me to have a little more look into the issue and here is what I found...

Most Holi colors sold in the market are oxidized metals or industrial dyes mixed with engine oil.

• Green comes from copper sulphate,
  
• Purple is chromium iodide,
  
• Silver is aluminum bromide,
  
• Black is lead oxide
  
• Shiny colors are result of powdered glass being added to the colors.
  

All these are toxic and can result in anything from skin allergies, eye irritation, blindness and much more. When washed, they ultimately flow into the rivers and the soil and add to pollution.

Chemical Colors & Health Effects

• Lead Oxide (Black): Renal failure, learning disability
• Copper Sulphate (Green): Eye allergy, temporary blindness
• Chromium Iodide (Purple): Bronchial asthma, allergies
• Aluminium Bromide (Silver): Carcinogenic
• Mercury Sulphite (Red): Skin cancer, minamata

We in Ahmedabad at our housing society have unanimously decided this year to celebrate Dhuleti with flowers and gulal made of natural colors. Have you ever played Dhuleti with flowers of different colors? Try once and perhaps you'll never use all those chemicals again. .

Aaujo
Hetal

Hi Hetalben, Thank you for posting such vital information. I'm really excited to know about natural holi colours. Can we make them at home? Well we Gujjus are expert in homemade products..So, I'm sure this won't be too hard.

Well Jokes apart, it'll be great if you can give us some tips of how to make natural Holi colors. And its really a Coooooooooool idea to play holy hoi with flowers. All I can say is

Thanks for inspiring me to share this traditional formula for making Holi colors. It'll be great if we can spread this message far and wide on the importance of playing safe Dhuleti.

Yellow – Mix 1 part ground turmeric to 2 parts of flour or besan. You can also use atta, maida, rice flour, arrowroot powder, fuller’s earth / multani mitti and even talcum powder in place of besan. Mix appropriate quantity of the powder with besan, etc. or use separately.

Red – Grind red sandalwood into fine powder and use it as a natural colour. Remember, that your color concoction must be economical to use and easy to prepare. Red sandalwood powder may be expensive and difficult to procure, so you may use herbal vermillion instead. This you can prepare by mixing together sun dried and powdered extracts of hibiscus, marigold, sunflower etc. To increase the bulk add any flour to it.

Green –Pure mehendi / henna powder. Mix with equal quantity of flour to get a lovely shade of green. Mehendi will not leave its imprint on your face as it can be easily brushed off. You can also crush the leaves of the wheat plant to obtain a natural and safe green Holi colour.

Black – Take a small or medium sized steel container and brush it with a little mustard oil. Hold it (oil-side down and facing the candle flame) on top of a lighted candle with the help of a pair of iron tongs. After some time you will find black soot collecting in the container. This is natural collyrium or kajol, and can be used as a black dye.

Thank you Hetalben, it is perhaps the best gift you have given to all of us at Indusladies on the occasion of Dhuleti.

I tried to make the red color and I must say, it has really come out very well. Can we make wet colors too with natural ingredients? Tell us, I'll try that also.

Well, here in Vadodara, the mood is all set for Dhuleti celebrartion, while its time to get the lakda' sdry and ready for the Holi Puja on Tuesday 10th march evening, the children can be seen in the parks making a trial run with their small & large pichkaris.

Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful information on playing safe Holi.
The recipes for making colors at home sounds really interesting. If Tanvi has got success with them, I'm sure many 'sensitive skin' people like me would opt for giving a try.

Harmful chemical colors are really the perils of Holi in the recent times and I sincerely hope that your initiative to promote awareness on this at least brings the change in at least the few people who are reading this.

Much Appreciated!!!