Color in the Vedas and the Myth of the 'blonde' Indra

Описание: 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗲𝗱𝗮𝘀 - 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗨𝗻𝗩𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰: Modern racial literalism, whether nationalist or supremacist seeks collapses Vedic poetic language into crude lowest common denominator anthropology, and in doing so completely misunderstands how the ṛṣis thought, saw, and conceived the Vedic hymns. 𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄; 𝗴𝗼𝗱𝘀, 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝘆𝗺𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝘁𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻-𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀:
00:00 The Myth of the 'blonde' Indra and the true symbolism of Indra's golden hair/beard/skin
02:20 Color in the Vedas and other deities' descriptors
03:36 Debunking colorism as a part of the Vedic worldview

𖤓 If it was in fact so - why are several revered Vedic rishis described as dark? Why are gods called tawny, brown, golden, red, multiform? This reel dismantles racialist readings of the Vedas using the Vedas themselves. You’ve probably heard this claim from bad-faith actors across the internet - “Vedic gods were blonde.” “Indra was white.” “Early Vedic culture was racially obsessed.” 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘂𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗶𝘀 of the Vedas and is an undoing of several colonial glosses, reductionism and Twitter threads.

✹ All focal artwork here is by   / achintya.venkatesh   as part of my ongoing 𝙑𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙘 𝙋𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙤𝙣 𝙑𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 series: join me as I illustrate obscure Vedic Hindu lore! The illustrations featured include:
↯ Indra illuminates Pratardhana Daivodasi; Purandara - Destroyer of Forts; Indra as the Ram of Medatithi Kanva; Indra consumes the cosmic Soma; Indra - Rescuer of Paravrja; Ga-Avindat: Indra rescues the Dawns from Vala the Encloser
↯ Agni Vaisvanara, God of Fire
↯ Soma-Chandra, the Moon that Pours
↯ Tvastr, Celestial Smith of the Devas
↯ Vak, Goddess of Speech
↯ Rudra and Mrgavyada-Rudra, Slayer of Prajapati
↯ Super Saiyan Goku
↯ Harakodandarama and Vishnu

𝗘𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝘀:
● Scythian warriors and Indo-Scythian/Saka king by   / jfoliveras  
● Rathri, goddess of night by CheriLuna
● Colossus by   / leebermejoart  
● Narasimha by Molee Art/Anirudh Sainath (rest in eternal power)
● Draupadi by Mukesh Singh of 18 Days fame ●   / mukeshsinghartworks  
● Persian warriors by Giuseppe Reva   / giuseppe.rava  

All third-party images, footage, and textual excerpts are the property of their respective owners and are utilized strictly under the principles of fair use for educational, research, critical, and transformative non-commercial purposes, in accordance with applicable copyright laws.