Besides the Holi of Braj in Uttar Pradesh and Basant Utsab at Shantiniketan in Bengal, the festival is celebrated with great gusto in all the other states of India. In North India, Haryana, Maharashtra and Ahmedabad in Gujarat, a pot of buttermilk is hung high on the streets and young boys try to reach it and break it by making human pyramids while the girls try to stop them by throwing colored water on them to commemorate the pranks of Krishna and cowherd boys to steal butter and 'gopis' trying to stop them. At this time the men soaked with colors go out in large procession to mock alert people of the Krishna who might come to steal butter in their homes. The boy who finally manages to break the pot is crowned the Holi King of the Year for that community.

At some places, there is a custom in the undivided Hindu families that the women of the families beat their brother-in-law with her sari rolled up into a rope in a mock rage as they try to drench them with colors and in turn the brother-in-law bring sweetmeats for her in the evening. Bengalis celebrate Holi as Dol Yatra or the swing festival where the idols of Krishna and Radha are placed on swings and women sing devotional songs, throw colors and 'abir' on them and perform dances as devotees take turns to swing them. The people of Orissa celebrate Holi in a similar manner but here the idols of Jagannath, the deity of the Jagannath Temple of Puri, replace the idols of Krishna and Radha.

Manipuris in northeastern part of India celebrate Holi for six days. Introduced in the eighteenth century with Vaishnavism, it soon merged with the centuries-old festival of Yaosang. Traditionally, youths at night perform a group folk dance called 'thaabal chongba' on the full moon night of Phalgun along with folk songs and rhythmic beats of the indigenous drum. However, this moonlight party now has modern bands and fluorescent lamps and a bonfire of a thatched hut of hay and twigs is arranged.

Boys have to pay money to the girls for playing 'gulal' with them. In Krishna temples, devotees sing devotional songs, perform dances and play 'gulal' wearing traditional white and yellow turbans. On the last day of the festival, large processions are taken out to the main Krishna temple near Imphal where several cultural programs are organized.

Holi in Delhi

Holi in Goa

Holi in Orissa

Holi in Punjab

Holi in Bengal

Holi in Gujarat

Holi in Haryana

Holi in Barsana

Holi in Rajasthan

Holi in Maharashtra

Holi in Tamil Nadu

Holi in Uttar Pradesh

Holi in Madhya Pradesh

Holi in Andhra Pradesh

Holi in Himachal Pradesh

Holi in Mathura-Vrindavan

Holi in Bhil Tribes of North West India