BRAND EXPONENTS

Why Colour
Matters In India

Suma Joshi
GM - Marketing
The ripe purple of a ‘baingan’ ready to be turned into a bharta. A
peacock fanning out its lustrous turquoise plumage in anticipa-
tion of a thundershower. From a slate gray sky heavy with the
promise of the monsoon. A Gujarati Thali, a whole spectrum, with
yellow dal, orange aamras, red chhundo, green chutney, pale
cream kadhi. The vivid hues of a bandhani dupatta or a Kanje-
evaram Sari. Even the Tricolour, our national standard, the
Tiranga. Is there any aspect of our country that does not immedi-
ately invoke colour?

For how long have we enjoyed this dance with colour? Vedic
literature established the relationship. A culture that was based
on worshipping the elemental forces of nature wrote poetical
hymns to the golden orb of the Sun, the dappled light of the
dawn, the lushness of the harvest in the fields, each verse was
adorned with evocative descriptions of colour. Each colour was
not merely a descriptive adjective; it was layered with symbolic
meanings from prosperity and success to fertility and abundance
to the promise of renewal and new beginnings.

The famous figurine of the dancing girl in her ‘tribhanga’ posture

excavated at Mohen-jo-daro from the Harappan Civilisation
already shows indications of the use of colour in cosmetic
enhancement of feminine beauty. Emotions as classified in the
Natya Shastra include Shringara, the woman engrossed in
preparing herself for a romantic liaison. Using a range of natural
ingredients and processes, our ancients had already developed a
wide range of colour cosmetics. Kajal or kohl as it is better known
to the world, perhaps is the most famous product of this legacy.
Salvation itself is seen as a colourful celebration. Meera
describes her union with Lord Krishna as being coloured in
his hues. Indeed, the traditional Indian prayer is a celebra-
tion of colours: yellow haldi or turmeric, red kumkum, pink
gulal, black bukka, creamy orange sandalwood paste,
white grains of rice, brown coconuts and of course any
number of colourful flowers, leaves, fruit and vegetables
are all a part of Pooja and Yajna rituals.
This then is the land of a hundred colours and a thousand
hues.

Each part of India discovered fibres that could be woven

into fabric, of vegetable as well as animal origin giving us
wool, silk, jute, cotton, palm fibre and much else that was
then dyed using dyes and colours of vegetable, mineral
and animal origin. At least one, Indigo or Neel entered the
national consciousness during the Indigo Riots at Chau-
richaura made famous by Mahatma Gandhi’s intervention
to bring the agitation to a peaceful end.

It is therefore not surprising that even now, colours have

integrated themselves in every aspect of our lives. We are
immediately drawn to anything and everything that is
colourful. We begin our thought process in colour and not
just black & white.
And this is the very same thought that we have in DYW
when we think of brands, designs….our work speaks the
language of colours...

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