Riot of colours: Mathura celebrates Holi

Mathura (UP): Mathura was drenched in hues of the rainbow on Monday as people celebrated Holi, the festival colours, on Monday and smeared 'gulal' on each other.

Brij Bhoomi, especially Vrindavan and Govardhan, also witnessed an explosion of colours.

"The path of Govardhan parikrama is virtually covered in rainbow colours as thousands of pilgrims are performing the parikrama and throwing gulal on each other," said Pawan Kaushik, the priest of Daanghati temple in Govardhan.

In Anyor village on Parikrama Road, Holi was celebrated with much fanfare. Daubed in colour, children were seen playing Holi with pilgrims. The pilgrims also danced to the beats of Holi songs.

Pilgrims visiting the ISKCON temple also joined the celebrations in Vrindavan.

In parts of Mathura, women hit men with sticks as part of Lathmar Holi.

District Magistrate Shailendra Singh said so far, no untoward incident has been reported from anywhere.

Police personnel have been deployed at strategic points to monitor the situation, he said.