In pictures: Kolkata’s Burrabazar celebrates Rolls Royce Holi

The Rolls Royce Holi, a celebration in which a vintage model of the car is used as a chariot of Lord Krishna and his beloved Radha, is unique to Kolkata

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The Rolls Royce Holi has now become an intrinsic part of the heritage of Kolkata. (Express Photo by Shashi Ghosh)

Holi, the festival of colours, is celebrated in unique ways in different places in India. As such, Kolkata’s Burrabazar’s Rolls Royce Holi, which celebrates the arrival of spring in a vintage Rolls Royce car that once belonged to Rudyard Kipling, is one such celebration attended by several devotees and photographers alike.

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After using the car for six years, Kipling is believed to have sold it to Kumar Ganga Dhar Bagla in 1927. Since then, the car, a rare variant of the Rolls Royce with the chassis number #6UE, became a moving temple for Radha and Krishna deities at the Bagla family’s Satyanarayan temple, the main organiser of this Holi procession.

The Rolls Royce Holi in Kolkata celebrates the arrival of spring in a vintage Rolls Royce. (Express Photo by Shashi Ghosh)

The vintage car owned by the Bagla family performs the role of a chariot of Lord Krishna and his beloved Radha. Wooden chariots form part of the procession along with the Rolls Royce.

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Religious songs are played, and drums and cymbals are used as part of the procession. (Express Photo by Shashi Ghosh)

On the 10th day of Fagun, the procession starts from Satyanarayan Jee Temple in Kalakar Street, crosses the Howrah Bridge and moves through the Burrabazar area to reach Shri Ishwar Satyanarayanjee Temple at Mukharam Kanoria Road, where the deities are kept for a few days.

They are brought back to the Satyanarayan Jee Temple in Kalakar Street on the day before Holika dahan.

The procession crosses the Howrah Bridge and moves through the Burrabazar area to reach Shri Ishwar Satyanarayanjee Temple. (Express Photo by Shashi Ghosh)

The only other time of the year the car is rolled out is during Janmashtami. The car had participated in the first Statesman Vintage and Classic Car Rally in India in 1968.

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Dry colours form part of the extravagant Holi celebration as gulal and flowers are thrown by those watching the procession from the buildings around. Hindu religious songs or bhajans are played, and drums and cymbals are used as part of the procession. Thousands of devotees dance and throw gulal as the procession progresses through the lanes and bylanes of Burrabazar.

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Dry colours form part of the extravagant Holi celebration. (Express Photo by Shashi Ghosh)

The Rolls Royce Holi has now become an intrinsic part of the heritage of Kolkata.

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