All that ash: From pyre to ire, row erupts over Kashi’s Masan Holi

In Kashi, there are opposing and supportive sides to the controversy surrounding the custom of using funeral pyre ashes to celebrate Masan Holi at Manikarnika Ghat. The practice has been vehemently opposed and seen to be against Kashi tradition by the Kashi Vidwat Parishad, an association of intellectuals and Vedic academics of Kashi.

However, the Samiti president Chandrika Prasad Gupta has stated that ashes are not required and that the offering of "abir-gulal" to the deity is preferable. Gulshan Kapoor, the manager of Baba Mahashmashan Nath Seva Samiti, which organizes the celebration, has asserted that the custom is centuries old.