Deliberations with Devdutt - Colour Me Red

Red is the colour associated with the Goddess.

- DEVDUTT PATTANAIK

Lakshmi wears red. Durga wears red. Blood is red. Menstrual fluid is red. Red is the colour of the earth before the rains. It is the colour of life and fertility. Kumkum is the red colour made using saffron or turmeric. Sindoor is the red of the setting sun obtained on earth from cinnabar (lead oxide). These are worn by men as Tilak and by women as Bindi. These are the colours to smear images of Ganesha and Hanuman. Then there is Abir and Gulal, hurled into the sky, during the festival of Holi.

Today this is toned down. But the hurling of red colour with red water, by boys and girls, the consumption of bhang and the bawdy lyrics sung on the streets of North India and in Bollywood (remember Amitabh Bachchan in Silsila) all point to