Enquiry with regard to colour symbolism in Hindu Traditions

Wed Nov 3 10:44:23 UTC 2010

Are you thinking of: Dharma and society : a comparative study of the theory and the ideal of Varna ("natural class") and the phenomena of caste and class by Mees (1935)? I have no idea if it says anything about varna as colour.

Beste,

Anna Slaczka
The Rijksmuseum
Amsterdam

--- On Wed, 11/3/10, Jonathan Silk <kauzeya at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> From: Jonathan Silk <kauzeya at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Enquiry with regard to colour symbolism in Hindu Traditions
> To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
> Date: Wednesday, November 3, 2010, 9:23 AM
> Klaus is right and my memory was
> faulty; Huizinga indeed wrote on the
> vidusaka. But I still believe that some Dutch scholar wrote
> a thesis on
> varna as color--Arlo, do you know?
> 
> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 2:11 PM, Klaus Karttunen <klaus.karttunen at helsinki.fi
> > wrote:
> 
> > 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/
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Sign-up to Dropbox using the following link and get
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> >
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> >
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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
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 
> -- 
> 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
> 