🇮🇳 The colours of India

Before many Hindu weddings, relatives rub turmeric paste on the bride and groom in the haldi ceremony. The yellow stands for blessing and a happy start.

At Holi, people throw coloured powder called gulal, most often pink and red, over family, friends and strangers to welcome spring.

Many Hindu brides in north India marry in red, and married women traditionally wear red sindoor in the parting of the hair as a sign of marriage.

The Natyashastra, the classical Sanskrit treatise on drama, gives each mood a colour. Raudra, fury, is red.

In Kathakali dance drama from Kerala, a red beard (chuvanna thadi) marks violent and destructive characters, while noble heroes have green faces.

In Hindi and Urdu a furious person is said to turn 'red and yellow', laal-peela hona.

The Natyashastra gives karuna, the mood of sorrow and compassion, the colour of a dove: a soft grey.

Hindu mourners usually wear plain white to a funeral. In many communities widows traditionally wore white afterwards, a custom now less strict.

A small black dot of kajal, the kala tika, is put on a baby's cheek or forehead to protect the child from the evil eye.

The Natyashastra assigns black to bhayanaka, the mood of terror, one of the eight moods of classical Indian drama.

The white middle band of the Indian flag stands for peace and truth, and plain white dress is widely read as a sign of peace.

A black dot on a child's face or a black thread on the wrist guards against nazar, the envious gaze. In Hindi the envious 'burn', with no colour.

At Diwali, homes are lit with rows of small oil lamps, diyas, marking the victory of light over darkness and hope for the year ahead.

White khadi, the hand-spun cloth promoted by Gandhi, became the dress of Indian politicians as a sign of simplicity and public service.

Red is the colour of Shakti, divine energy. Durga is dressed in red and offered red hibiscus, and in Bengal women apply red sindoor to one another as Durga Puja ends.

Saffron, kesariya, stands for courage and sacrifice. Rajput warriors are said to have worn saffron for a final battle, and Sikh flags are saffron or deep yellow.

In Kathakali dance drama of Kerala, a green painted face (pacha) marks noble and heroic characters such as gods and virtuous kings.

In Hindi and Urdu, to 'blacken the face' (munh kala karna) is to bring disgrace on oneself or one's family.

The Natyashastra assigns blue (nila) to bibhatsa, the mood of disgust, one of the eight moods of classical Indian drama.

The Natyashastra assigns yellow to adbhuta, the mood of wonder and astonishment, in its list of the eight moods of drama.

In Hindi a shocked person's colour 'flies from the face' (chehre ka rang ud jaana), leaving them pale.

In the songs of the Rajasthani poet-saint Mirabai, the dark colour of Krishna, shyam, is the colour of the absent beloved she longs for.

In Indian English, old film songs that never lose their appeal are called 'evergreen', and fondly remembered times are 'sunehre din', golden days.

The Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar, the holiest Sikh shrine, is sheathed in gold and stands in a pool that doubles its light. It is known as the Golden Temple.

Krishna, Rama and Vishnu are shown with blue skin, widely explained as the colour of the boundless sky and ocean.

Turmeric yellow and red kumkum mark new beginnings as auspicious: wedding invitations, the first page of account books, the doorway of a new home.