The Dark Mien

Hindu scriptures differ on the skin colour of Ram. Was he white, blue, bluish-grey, black or even green?

- Abhik Bhattacharya

“HE has a voice like the sound of a dundubhi ( kettledrum). He has shining skin. He is full of splendour. He is square-built. His limbs are built symmetrically. He is endowed with a dark complexion.”

In Sundara Kanda of Valmiki Ramayan, when Sita asks Hanuman to prove that he knows Ram and Lakshman, this is his response. The repetitive reference of Ram’s dark skin has come up several times across different Ramayanas. But the scriptures do not always represent the practiced reality. In a world of multiplicities, where the contest between the great and little traditions continues unabated, Ram sometimes is depicted in blue; sometimes in black; and, on a few occasions, even in white or green. 

So, what is the skin colour of Ram? Can there be any unanimity? In a country that is populated by what the West calls ‘brown’ people, colour matters. And when it comes to the most politically active god of the century—who himself fought a court case to ensure his rights over his birthplace—the debate over the depiction can have broader political meanings.

The debate began when three renowned sculptors from different parts of the country were invited to make the 51-inch tall idol of five-year-old Ram lalla to be installed in the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram Mandir. While two of them—Ganesh Bhatt and Arun Yogiraj—carved the idol out of bluish-grey stone known as Shyam-Shila, which was brought from Karnataka, Satyanarayan Pandey made a white idol, carving it out from the makrana marble of Rajasthan.