Young girl,
On this day of Holī
—Your breasts dusted with flour,
Your eyes red from too much liquor,
A lotus stuck in your hair
And mango shoots behind your ears—
You are a credit to our village.
From the Gaha Sattasai, a collection of short poems in Prakrit about love and marriage. It is generally attributed to Hāla, a 1st century CE king of the Satavahana dynasty.
Indian connection
Connotations