hair's colour in sanskrit

[sogbs at cc.newcastle.edu.au]

I am posting this comment on behalf of Santi Rozario:

I have been finding the discussion of skin colour very interesting, since I
am working at present on a paper on the role of skin colour in identity
construction among young women in Bangladesh. There does not seem much
literature on the subject and I would welcome any references which list
members have. Perhaps too Robert Zydenbos could post the details of his
study of Kannada fiction?

On skin colours in Bengali (my native language), they are certainly very
important especially in relation to marriageability. There are many words
for them (not just four as Robert's informant said). The main distinctions
are between kalo (black), farsha (light) and shemla (not too dark, but not
light), but these can be qualified - halka shemla is lighter than shemla
but not really light, garo shemla is between shemla and kalo, etc.

Santi Rozario (sostr at cc.newcastle.edu.au)