"In the Gopatha Brahmana, brahmins are sukla white, while the Kathaka samhita uses the term sukla white to refer to the vaysia, and more significantly, characterizes the rajsanya as dhumra dark. Later on the caste colors are sukla white for the brahmin, rakta red for the kshatriya, pita yellow for the vasya, and krsna black for the sudra. Classifications of this type, for which there seem to be counterparts in Chinese and Japanese drama and ritual, make no sense in racial terms ... But the classical system of color association can be made sense of in 'ideological ' terms: white, i.e. ritually pure for the brahmin, red the color of blood for the warrior caste, yellow the color of ripe grain and perhaps also of gold... and black the opposite of ritually pure white for the serfs etc who came to be excluded from the ritual at a fairly early period."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from the United StatesAcademics from GermanyLinguists from the United StatesLinguists from GermanyIndologists
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hans_Henrich_Hock
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Hans Henrich Hock
29 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Hans Henrich Hock →
Related Quotes
"A close reading of the Rg-vedic passages in which terms meaning white or light and dark or black are employed in refe…"
"[RV 1.100.18] is the only one among these that contains a word meaning white or light. Given that the very next line …"
"Examples 6-9 contain references to black or dark or even black skin; and Geldner's interpretation is almost consisten…"
"Moreover, to get his racial interpretation in [RV 4.6.13-14], Geldner has to unnecessarily assume "attraction", i.e. …"
"The word tvac 'skin' ... does not necessarily designate human or animal skin, but can also refer to the surface of th…"
"Moreover, in [RV 2.20.7 , 1.101.1] , Geldner's translations of the krsnayonih... as meaning 'having blacks or embryos…"
"Geldner's interpretation of [RV 9.73.5 , 10.116.4 ] strike me as even more arbitrary, given the limited context; Gras…"
"In light of the preceding discussion, the racial interpretation of the of the notions light/white and dark/black foun…"
"Early Sanskrit literature offers no conclusive evidence for preoccupation with skin color. More than that, some of th…"
"“….the ‘Sanskrit-origin’ hypothesis runs into insurmountable difficulties, due to the irreversible nature of relevant…"