Holi, the festival of colours

Children, such as this pair from Calcutta, smear their faces with paint Photograph: Sucheta Das/AP Photograph: Sucheta Das/guardian.co.uk The main day is celebrated by people throwing coloured powder and coloured water at each other Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP Photograph: Manish Swarup/guardian.co.uk A child rests inside tomato pulp as part of the celebrations Photograph: Krishnendu Halder/Reuters Photograph: Krishnendu Halder/guardian.co.uk Indian women celebrate with music and dance in Calcutta Photograph: Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Deshakalyan Chowdhury/guardian.co.uk A Nepalese youth swims in coloured pool Photograph: Narendra Shrestha/EPA Photograph: Narendra Shrestha/guardian.co.uk Indian sadhus, Hindu holy men, smear coloured 'gullal' powder on each other's faces Photograph: Diptendu Dutta/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Diptendu Dutta/guardian.co.uk The tradition of playing with colours, as this child has done in Hyderabad, draws its roots from a legend of Radha and the Hindu God Krishna Photograph: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Noah Seelam/guardian.co.uk Devotees at the Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan. Vrindavan is famous for Holi celebration, where according to legend, Hindu god Krishna played Holi with his consort Radha Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP Photograph: Manish Swarup/guardian.co.uk It is believed that young Krishna was jealous of Radha's fair complexion since he was himself very dark. After questioning his mother, Yashoda, on the darkness of his complexion, she teasingly asked him to colour Radha's face in whichever colour he wanted Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP Photograph: Manish Swarup/guardian.co.uk In a mischievous mood, Krishna applied colour on Radha's face. Here Pakistani Hindus cover each other with coloured powder as they celebrate Holi in Lahore Photograph: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Arif Ali/guardian.co.uk Even the tourists join the celebrations in Calcutta Photograph: Piyal Adhikary/EPA Photograph: Piyal Adhikary/guardian.co.uk At the end of the day, a girl washes the colour off her skin following celebrations in Hyderabad Photograph: Krishnendu Halder/Reuters Photograph: Krishnendu Halder/guardian.co.uk