Colorful streets of India....

India has always been exalted and remembered fondly as the country of colors. Color is the most important element of India. From bright colorful clothes to beautiful and creative paintings, pottery and handicrafts. From mouth watering Indian cuisines to the seasons and festivals, it all reflects the distinctive and rich culture and colorful spirit of the people of India. In India, the color red represents something quite different: Purity. That’s contrary to Western cultures where the color white is used to symbolize purity.


Red also stands for purity and is the preferred color for a bride's garment. Indian brides traditionally wear red gowns and once married their foreheads are adorned with a red dot or tikka, the symbol of commitment. Because the wedding represents the beginning of a union of two individuals, the color red also symbolizes fertility and prosperity. Red is dynamic and constantly breathing fire in the eyes of the beholder. It incites fear and is the color associated with one of the most revered goddesses in Hindu mythology - Durga. Her fiery image is enhanced by her red tongue and almost red eyes.

The color green represents the harvest or a new beginning and, as in America, green is symbolic of nature. In India green is also the color used to honor Islam.

White is the absence of color, and is the only color widows are allowed to wear. It is the acceptable color at funerals and ceremonies that mark death in the family. It reflects the basic quality of the color itself, in principle; white, as a color, repels all light and colors and therefore, when a widow wears white, she disconnects herself from the pleasures and luxuries of active and normal participation in society and life around her.

Turmeric, for instance, while being used for cooking in both the north and the south, is also used in ceremonies offering prayers and marriages. Yellow symbolizes sanctity and is an essential herbal ingredient applied on the body and face by women in the sub continent

Black in India has connotations with lack of desirability, evil, negativity, and inertia. It represents anger and darkness and is associated with the absence of energy, barrenness, and death. Black is used as a representation of evil and is often used to ward off evil.

The colors of India have mesmerized rulers, outsiders, and visitors - perhaps more so because of the stories and legends that bind its people, its culture, and its beliefs. The "rani" pink of mystical Rajasthan, the pastel hues of southern India, the joyous, bright hues of the northern frontier, and the balmy bright colors of the east offer a kaleidoscopic insight into an almost perfect blend of history and modernism.

The color blue, for instance, is associated with Lord Krishna, perhaps one of the most favored gods in India. And, as is obvious for any agricultural economy.

In India, a festivals of colors if celebrated named as Holi(http://meghanaunleashed.blogspot.com/2009/07/holi-festival-of-spring-scientific.html). Also Rangloi (http://meghanaunleashed.blogspot.com/2009/06/rangoli-beautiful-collage-of-colors.html) a collage of colors is made on festivals to decorate the houses.