Stage 1 of 4 · Samat (Holika Dahan)
Samat — the Holika bonfire
On the night of Phalguna Purnima the neighbourhood heaps dry wood, branches, old furniture and cow-dung cakes around a central pole at a crossroads, and sets cow-dung figures of Holika and Prahlad on top. After dusk the heap is worshipped — purified, wound with raw cotton thread three, five or seven times as the family circles it, and offered grain, turmeric, coconut and batashe.
Then it is lit — locally Samat / Sammat jaraawi, “burning the Samat” — and people sing and dance around the blaze to dhol and manjira; embers are carried home as auspicious. It re-enacts the legend in which the devout Prahlad survives the fire while his fire-proof aunt Holika burns: devotion outlasting evil.
विधि · The rite, step by step
- Wood, branches, old furniture and cow-dung cakes are heaped around a central pole; cow-dung figures of Holika and Prahlad set on top.
- The heap is worshipped (Holika Sthapana) — purified and wound with raw cotton thread three, five or seven times as the family circumambulates it.
- Grain, turmeric, coconut, moong and batashe are offered and a water-pot emptied before Holika.
- After dusk the pyre is lit (Samat jaraawi); people sing and dance around it; embers and ash are carried home.
मन्त्र · mantraअसृक्पाभयसंत्रस्तैः कृता त्वं होलि बालिशैः। अतस्त्वां पूजयिष्यामि भूते भूतिप्रदा भव॥
asṛkpābhaya-santrastaiḥ kṛtā tvaṃ holi bāliśaiḥ · atas tvāṃ pūjayiṣyāmi bhūte bhūti-pradā bhava
“O Holika… therefore I worship you; O being, be a bestower of prosperity upon me.” A pan-Hindu Holika prayer used at the bonfire — the Mithila Samat is otherwise a folk rite carried by song.
Across communities The name Samat / Sammat is the Purvanchal–Mithila–Terai distinctive (vs the generic “Holika Dahan”). Modern neighbourhood bonfires sometimes raise concern over burning waste.
What is used
Dry wood, branches & cow-dung cakesthe central polecow-dung figures of Holika & Prahladraw cotton thread (kaccha sut)grain, turmeric, coconut & batasheembers carried home
Meaning
Devotion outlasting evil (Prahlad)the burning of ego & winterembers as blessing
