by Peerzada Arshad Hamid

NEW DELHI, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Hindus celebrated Holi, the festival of colors, across India with religious fervor and gaiety on Thursday.

Jubilant people gathered outside their houses shouting and laughing. The participants holding colored powder in plates, applied them on each other to express love and affection.

"The festival of colors signifies the victory of good over evil and the arrival of spring," Suman Jothshi, a Holi reveller said. "The festival is a harbinger of joy in our lives."

The Hindu celebration of colors is India's merriest festival. It is marked by throwing colored paint on each other.

Young and old including women and children were seen splashing and smearing colored powder on each other, besides exchanging pleasantries.

Joyful teenagers and youth drenched in water colors walked along roads and streets throwing colors and hitting each other with color-filled balloons, besides aiming at passers-by.

"Early in the morning my sister and brother-in-law came to our house. They had brought colors along," said Ashutosh, a Green Park resident. "No sooner they entered the house they smeared colors on us to express their love."

According to Ashutosh, the festival brings people close to each other and helps them to cheer up.

"In this otherwise busy world this festival at least brings some respite and allows people to forget worries," he said.

Holi is an ancient Indian festival, which marks the end of winter and the onset of spring.

Reports pouring in from many states said at many places people gathered in parks and open spaces to celebrate the festival. Hued in colors, participants were seen dancing to the beats of drums and songs of famous Bollywood music.

Many people were seen taking selfies with their mobile phones and freezing the colorful moments during the celebrations.

The major events took place in Mathura city, northern state of Uttar Pradesh, the birth place of Hindu god Krishna.

Celebrations start 40 days ahead of main Holi festival in the city.

Holi, a public holiday in most Indian states, is being celebrated by Hindus every year in India.

However, many Indian politicians this year decided not to celebrate Holi as a mark of respect to the paramilitary troopers killed in suicide bombing on their convoy in Pulwama district of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The attack left at least 40 paramilitary troopers belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) dead.

The CRPF announced that it would not hold any official event to mark Holi in solidarity with the bereaved families of the paramilitary troopers.

Originally known as Holika, historians say the festival was introduced in India by Aryans.

The festival is mostly popular with the young and grown-up children, who begin the colorful celebrations several days ahead of the main festival. On the eve of Holi, elderly people also join in.

For revellers anyone and everyone is a fair game in playing Holi.

"During celebrating Holi whosoever comes by is applied color," Ashutosh said.

The social networking websites on internet were abuzz with the Holi greetings and colorful pictures.

To coincide with Holi, Google released a new doodle on its homepage to celebrate the ancient Indian festival. The doodle features Google logo showcasing graphics of men and women enjoying splashing colored powder.

People also wished each other by sending Holi messages and animated graphics interchange format (GIFs) on their mobile phones.