hair's colour in Sanskrit

[Frances Pritchett]

On Thu, 8 May 1997, S Krishna wrote:

> No less a person( or God) than Lord Krsna is supposed to
> have been "discriminated"( or at least made fun of)because of his
> dark complexion  as the following lines( written by Surdas) tell us:
>.... 
>   The underlined words tell us that Krsna bhagvaan also had his leg 
> pulled , if not "discriminated" against by his playmates, who belonged
> to the same caste as Krsna( gvAl/Cowherd). The early part of the life
> of Krsna is sprinkled with such incidents. Keeping in view our own 
> contemporary experiences as well as such mythological "evidence", is
> it still possible to convince ourselves of the fact that discrimination is/was 
> based on caste and NOT on color?
> 
> Krishna
> 
Speaking of darker and lighter colors, anybody who looks at modern comic
books or "god posters" can verify that as a rule Krishna is no longer the
classic dark blue-black color, but a delicate pastel blue.  If anything,
the pastel seems to be getting lighter every year...