Holi Festival and Mandawa Fort Castle, Mandawa, India

Mandawa Fort Castle: 3532+XC6 Castle, near Raghunathji Temple, Mandawa, Rajasthan 333704, India
Date Picture Taken: March, 2026

Mandawa is known for its lively Holi Festival, when people celebrate with colorful powders, music, dancing, and traditional festivities.

The evening before Holi, people gathered around a large bonfire for Holika Dahan, walking around the fire as part of the traditional celebration.

The next morning, we woke up at our hotel, ready to join the colorful Holi celebrations.

The Holi Festival celebrates the arrival of spring, renewal, and the triumph of good over evil. It is also a joyful occasion when people come together, put colored powders on one another, dance, sing, and celebrate.

The festival essentially has two parts.

• The evening before — Holika Dahan: A bonfire is lit to symbolize the destruction of evil. People gather around the fire and perform traditional rituals, including walking around it.
• The next morning — Rangwali Holi: This is the famous colorful celebration. People throw and smear gulal (colored powder) on one another, accompanied by music, dancing, food, and festivities.

Holi festival is celebrated throughout India, not just in Mandawa. Holi is one of India's major Hindu festivals, although the traditions and intensity of the celebrations vary considerably by region.

Unlike the more scattered celebrations in a large city like Delhi, Holi in Mandawa felt especially lively and intimate, with the entire small town seeming to join in the colorful festivities.

In Mandawa, most of the women watched the Holi celebrations from rooftops and balconies, while the street festivities were largely dominated by men.

In the evening, we visited Castle Mandawa, a historic fort that has been converted into a heritage hotel.

Castle Mandawa is an 18th-century Rajput fort, built in 1755 by Thakur Nawal Singh and later converted into a heritage hotel while preserving much of its historic architecture and royal character.

Some of the local dishes I enjoyed during the tour.