As Lord Krishna grew older, He remained very close to Radha. All the gopis, who gathered around Him and played with Him, complained, “He is always talking to Radha. Why doesn’t He talk to us all the time instead?” A gopi sighed and said, “I would give anything to be Radha.” As much as He liked Radha, Lord Krishna was also jealous of her fair face. One day, He applied colour on her face as a mark of protest. Radha laughingly put colour on Lord Krishna’s face, too. The gopis laughed with delight at this. Lord Krishna said, “You are laughing, so I must put colour on you, too.” Thus, He put colour on the faces of some of the protesting yet amused gopis. Soon, all the children started putting colour on one another’s faces. This was the initiation of the Indian festival of Holi in Vrindavan, in which people play with colours.
The Gopis are Jealous of Radha
