By- Susmita Paul
An absence and a presence combines in the magical symbolism of the colour white. While it
connotes peace and purity in India and across the world, white is interestingly also the colour of mourning in India. While the white saree draped Saraswati, sitting on the white lotus and accompanied by the white swan is worshipped in the Hindu pantheon of divine beings, the white saree clad widow is supposedly believed to be inauspicious. Further, the colour red when added as a border to a white saree is believed to be auspicious. Does these not make our understanding of the aspects of the colour white confusing?
In reality, white is like a complete colour in itself. Unlike the contrast between black and
white in the Christian mythology, white is the colour of the two spectra of emotions: peace
and mourning. In the state of mental peace, there is silence. There are no distractions at this point. In the state of mourning, the mind is agitated and seeks that calm centre of existence. The science behind the rainbow as being at the opposite spectrum of white light, furthers our understanding of the symbolism behind the colour white.
Mourning at death is the beginning of the passage towards the still centre of silence. If delved into the deeper layers of Hindu philosophy, it emerges that death is but part of life. The white attire of mourning is symbolical not of sadness, but a celebration of the purity of the soul beyond the limits of the body. At this juncture, the white colour predominant in the depiction of Saraswati merges with the white attire usually worn after a death in the household. The white saree, bordered by red is thus worn not only at auspicious events, but also in a Hindu household where someone has died.
The interpretation of the colour white is thus not a matter of perplexity. It is, like many other things in life, a matter of perspective.
Susmita Paul is new to publishing in English with recent publications upcoming and in 'Montauk', ‘Learning and Creativity’ blog, Poets of the Pandemic section of ‘Headline Poetry and Press’ blog and Plato's Caves Online. She self-published her only chapbook of English poetry, "Poetry in Pieces" in 2018. “Himabaho Kotha Bole” (When Glaciers Speak) (Kaurab, 2019) is her only book of Bengali poetry.
She did her Masters in English Literature from the University of Calcutta.
She is a Zentangle-inspired artist and an independent researcher. She is mother to a curious five year old. She lives in Graz, Austria. She is 38 years young.
Susmita writes because she breathes. Michael Ondaatjee, Hari Kunzru, Octavio Paz and Gabriel Garcia Marquez are the novelists she loves reading. Rainer Maria Rilke, Pablo Neruda and Rabindranath Tagore are some of her favourite poets. Susmita loves the films of Luis Buñuel, Akira Kurosawa and Ritwick Ghatak.
Instagram: susmita.paul.writes