Clad in shades of pink and white, celebrants of the Indian festival of Holi gather to watch a play in Vrindavan in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

The play, performed throughout India during Holi, recounts the love story of Hindu god Krishna and the common cowherd Radha. For Hindus, the fable represents human longing for the divine.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, “The Quest for Color,” July 1999, National Geographic magazine)