Enquiry with regard to colour symbolism in Hindu Traditions

[Klaus Karttunen]

Dear Jonathan and others.

According to my notes Huizingas diss. was not on colours, but  De vidûsaka in het Indisch tooneel. 155 p. Groningen 1897.  
Other discussions of colours include:
FILLIOZAT, Jean: "Classement des couleurs et des lumières en sanscrit", Problèmes de la couleur. P. 1957, 303-308 (Laghuprabandha 185-190).
GRÖNBOLD, Günter: "Die Farbensymbolik in der buddhistischen Ikonographie", As.St./Ét.as. 32, 1978, 117-122. 
HOPKINS, Edward Washburn: “Words for Color in the Rig-Veda”, AJPh 4, 1883, 166-191. 
SIVAPRIYANANDA: "Colour symbolism and the ‘tri-guṇa’ concept", JOIB 38:1-2, 1988, 33-41.

Note further:
SCHWENTNER, Ernst: diss. Eine sprachgeschichtliche Untersuchung über den Gebrauch und die Bedeutung der altgermanischen Farbenzeichnungen. 1915.
SOLTA, G. R.: "Zum expressiven Charakter der indogermanischen Farbenbezeichnungen", AnzÖstAW 87, 1950, 40-52.
TIFFOU, Étienne & Yves-Ch. MORIN: “Étude sur les couleurs bourouchaski”, JA 270, 1982, 363-383.
WOOD, Francis Asbury: Color-names and their congeners. 1902 (Indo-European).

Best,
Klaus

Klaus Karttunen
Professor of South Asian and Indoeuropean Studies
Asian and African Studies, Department of World Cultures
PL 59 (Unioninkatu 38 B)
00014 University of Helsinki, FINLAND
Tel +358-(0)9-191 22674
Fax +358-(0)9-191 22094
Klaus.Karttunen at helsinki.fi




On Nov 1, 2010, at 8:26 PM, Jonathan Silk wrote:

> I do not have the reference to hand, but the famous Huizinga (known as a
> historian of Europe) wrote a thesis on varṇa in the sense of color,
> unfortunately in Dutch. Perhaps a translation project some day...
> 
> jonathan
> 
> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 6:49 PM, Christophe Vielle <
> christophe.vielle at uclouvain.be> wrote:
> 
>> References in the Indology list-archives s.v. "colours"
>> http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa?S1=indology
>> (colours and 4 yugas, 4 var.nas, 9 rasas, etc.)
>> Best wishes,
>> Christophe Vielle
>> 
>> 
>> Am 01.11.2010 um 16:53 schrieb James Hegarty:
>>> 
>>>  An undergraduate student recently asked me about colour symbolism in
>>>> Hindu Traditions.
>>>> 
>>>> I realised very quickly that I knew very little about this.
>>>> 
>>>> Can anyone suggest readings (primary and secondary) on this topic?
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Here are two theses:
>>> 
>>> Jain, Narendra Kumar: Indian Colour Symbolism. Berlin, 1978
>>> Berlin, Techn. Univ., Diss., 1977
>>> 
>>> Slavik, Jan: Dance of Colours: Basic Patterns of Colour Symbolism in
>>> MahÇyÇna Buddhism. Göteborg: Göteborgs Etnografiska Museum, 1994.
>>> (Etnologiska studier, v. 41). ISBN 9187484080
>>> 
>>> University of Göteborg, Ph. D. Thesis, 1994
>>> 
>>> Besides these, many publications on iconography deal also with religious
>>> symbolism and will give lots of references in this respect.
>>> 
>>> Hope it helps
>>> Peter Wyzlic
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Institut für Orient- und Asienwissenschaften
>>> Bibliothek
>>> Universität Bonn
>>> Regina-Pacis-Weg 7
>>> 53113 Bonn
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> http://www.uclouvain.be/christophe.vielle
>> http://belgianindology.blogs.lalibre.be/
>> 
>> --
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> J. Silk
> Instituut Kern / Universiteit Leiden
> Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, LIAS
> Johan Huizinga Building, Room 1.37
> Doelensteeg 16
> 2311 VL Leiden
> The Netherlands
>