My Theory on Colour
Colours relate to each other and on human emotions and perception. While technically one has studied the Colour Wheel Theory, have you considered another totally different aspect of the meaning and importance of colours in India?
Can you understand colour without understanding light? Because without light there is no colour! Just switch off your light at night and suddenly all the colours disappear. The spectrum of light that falls on an object reflects back leaving behind whatever is absorbed out of it. That colour which is absorbed is the colour of the object as you see it.
All aesthetic understanding in our culture stems from a spiritual core. What is taken, absorbed or consumed on the planet should be far less than what is given back. This is a core principle of ecology as understood the Indian way. Beauty is material, whereas sublimity is spiritual, and thus delight experienced from beauty is skin deep or superficial, whereas a spiritually sublime experience creates ‘auspiciousness’ that is much deeper and longer lasting than beautiful delight.
So, white, that absorbs nothing from the spectrum and reflects everything back is auspicious. Black that absorbs all the colours and gives back nothing is termed inauspicious. Therefore white is considered pure, black impure. Hence we were told not to wear black to any important event of our life!
Since colour stems from light, it has a great connection to the land around. You have noticed that cold countries have grayish blueish cooler ambient light whereas in a tropical country like us, the light is warmer. Since we are more than a country, in fact a whole subcontinent, we have regional light in different parts of the country. In Kerala, the endless paddy fields reflect so much of a green hue into the ambience, that people wore white to stand out against it. Rajasthan is an ocean of beige, hence a riot of colours dot the vast neutral background. A dark interior of a granite temple in South India lit with oil lamps has the perfect atmospheric depth to accommodate deep jewel toned silks, embellished with gold threads that glow amongst the brass lamps.
Of course fashion came along to break rules and mixed up everything. But next time, do take a minute to see whether those kanjeevaram sarees look equally beautiful on video lit reception stages? Or whether, without the vast neutrality of a neutral desert beige, you should try to create ‘ fun’ with colours!? May look funny actually! HaHa.