yuga, VarNa and colour

[Dominique.Thillaud]

At 3:16 +0200 17/05/97, Luis Gonzalez-Reimann wrote:
>At 12:00 PM 5/15/97 BST, Mikael Aktor wrote:
>>Indeed it seems to be correct that the straightforward relation between
>>varNas (B, K, V, Z) and colours (white, red, yelow, black) is more part of a
>>popular tradition than it is warranted by ancient and classical texts. But
>>there is a tendency among scholars to reiterate this tradition _as if_ it
>>were a textual one.
>
>The texts usually identify the four yugas with the four colors, and as the
>varnas are sometimes associated to the yugas, the relation is probably
>indirect.  It is a symbolical correspondence that is frequently applied to
>sets of four.
>
>According to the Mbh, the color of Narayana/Visnu/Krsna throughout the yugas
>is white, red, yellow and black (Mbh 3.148.16,23,26,33); but soon after it
>is said to be white, yellow, red and black (Mbh 3.187.31).
>
>
>Luis Gonzalez-Reimann
>University of California, Berkeley

	This exchange between red and yellow is very interesting to me
because I believe this two colours are linked to warriors in eurindian
myths.
	So I have some requests about dice game:
	What is the meaning of -para in dvApara ? (if 'more than', that's a
bit confusing).
	I know kRta the better and kali the worst, but what about treta and
dvApara ?
	Regards,
Dominique


Dominique THILLAUD
Universite' de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, France