Black is Blemish In India

[Guest guest]

Jagpreet Luthra in Delhi, reporting for Al-Jazeera, argues

that "colour prejudice against people with dark skin in a country

such as India defies common sense." It's an interesting article. It

contains some strong statements -- both positive and negative --

about the role of Hinduism in influencing attitudes toward skin

color. Are there any thoughts or opinions members would like to share

on the subject?

 

BLACK IS BLEMISH IN INDIA

 

October 7, 2003 - The sun shines bright here throughout the year -

except in the snow-capped Himalayan region - and two of the most

revered Hindu deities, Krishna and Shiva, are the colour of a

beautiful night sky, not to mention the religion's supreme goddess

Kali (meaning black).

 

If black still connotes blemish rather than beauty in India, the

reasons, say experts, are historical and political.

 

SOCIAL INDICATORS

 

"Colour prejudice is an offshoot of the bigger evil of casteism in

India," says Udit Raj, leader of the Indian Justice Party, which

represents Dalits or the oppressed tribes and castes in the

traditional political system.

 

"The hold of the caste system in India is deep, dark skin is the skin

of the lowest castes, traditionally the subjugated people and,

therefore, disagreeable," he says.

 

The country's foreign rulers, whether Mughal or British, were also

light-skinned. This, says the Dalit leader, has contributed to

shaping social attitudes in India.

 

"Fair skin became a symbol of power and wealth and those who equate

beauty with it are subconsciously hankering after a higher status;

those who are shunning black are, perhaps, rejecting the slavery that

it connotes whether in India or in the US."

 

RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE

 

Ideally, the Hindu religion should have gifted the average Indian a

great love for black, and not only because the most loved Hindu gods

are this colour, says Baba Goswami, 78-year-old Hindu leader of a

Krishna cult, the West Bengal-based Gaurang Ashram.

 

"While white is the colour of light and purity, black, like the

night, connotes a dissolution of all form," says Goswami, who,

however, agrees that such "profound interpretations" are beyond the

average person's understanding, which is why, "despite the deep hold

of religion on the Indian mind there is colour prejudice in society."

 

Udit Raj, who, like many Dalits, converted to Buddhism, believes that

Hindu religion has reinforced rather than removed racial prejudice in

the country, mostly "through the evil of casteism."

 

Besides, "only a few of the 33 million gods are dark, the rest are

all fair," he points out.

 

The story of Ramayana, the most popular Indian epic, he underlines,

is "all about the victory of fair-skinned and noble Ram over the

black and evil Ravana."

 

What religious and political leaders find most alarming about this

subtle racism in India is that already disadvantaged groups like

women, tribal and lower caste people are caught in its vortex.

 

FAIR AND FOUL

 

Matrimonial advertisements, top revenue earners of many Indian

newspapers, are nothing if not a study in colour prejudice of the

Indian middle class: 90 out of 100 matrimonial ads list a

woman's "fair,very fair" and "really fair" skin as a prerequisite

to her acceptance as a "beautiful" woman.

 

The colour prejudice is so infectious that, Dalits, officially

categorised as Scheduled Castes and Tribes, who are among the most

dark-skinned people in the country, are also seeking fair brides.

Even their political leader pleads guilty to it.

 

"I am very dark, almost black, but my wife is as fair as an English

woman and I must say that although ours was a love marriage in which

her intrinsic qualities mattered more than looks, I found her fair

skin very attractive," says Udit Raj.

 

In his view, while preference for fair skin may be natural, the

prejudice against dark skin in India is cultivated.

 

Folklore about feminine beauty largely celebrates black tresses and

kohl eyes, but the skin had better be fair for a woman to qualify as

truly beautiful.

 

Skin-lightening agents, whether herbal or chemical, are the lowest

common denominator in 95% of the indigenous beauty products like

soaps and creams.

 

MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

 

The fairness cream industry rakes in about $150 million in sales

annually, according to a Mumbai-based marketing research group, ORG-

MARG.

 

Taking a leaf out of this beauty book, a cosmetic company, Hindustan

Lever Limited (HLL), the Indian subsidiary of the London-based

Unilever, launched a television ad campaign last year in which a dark-

skinned, plain Jane, unable to bear the financial responsibility of

her family, is undergoing deep mental trauma until she finds

a "fairness cream."

 

The cream transforms her into a gorgeous, light-skinned woman and her

looks become her passport to a successful career as a mini skirt-clad

flight attendant.

 

The ad campaign went unnoticed for its deeply sexist and racist tone

until a feminist group decided to do something about it.

 

That the leftist All India Democratic Women's Alliance (AIDWA) had to

petition the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) before HLL

withdrew the campaign earlier this year tells its own story about the

hard shell that protects such attitudes in India.

 

The NHRC is an autonomous body whose chairperson and members include

eminent judges and bureaucrats appointed by the President of India

and it was the first such complaint before it.

 

Thanks to the commission, the feminists' battle against the cosmetic

company ended in victory but the war on colour prejudice, it seems,

has not even begun.

 

OBSTACLES

 

Even famous people complain about colour barriers.

 

"I was thin, a woman AND dark —three features that are not acceptable

to the people of Kerala," celebrated author-activist Arundhati Roy

said in a media interview shortly after she won Britain's prestigious

Booker Prize for her book, "The God of Small Things."

 

Underscoring the irony in Roy's observation is the fact that Kerala

is a matriarchal society where an overwhelming majority of the

population are dark-skinned.

 

While some in India may disagree with this assessment, the fact

remains that criticism by those on the receiving end of what is

considered to be colour prejudice indicate the existence of

problematic social attitudes.

 

BOLLYWOOD'S DARK SECRET

 

Fashion models like Nina Emmanuel, Nayanka Chatterjee and Sheetal

Malhar all know that their brown-black skin is a disadvantage.

 

They are far less in demand in India than the fair-skinned models,

and have to scout the Western fashion capitals to make money and

name.

 

"At least the fashion industry has reached a stage of evolution where

colour is an issue and those at a disadvantage because of it openly

talk about it," says film critic Shubhra Gupta.

 

"In Bollywood, where fair and beautiful go hand in hand, you are

either fair or you won't even dream of getting the leading lady's

role," she says.

 

"A dark-skinned actress, on the other hand, even to get a vamp's role

has to have a voluptuous form that she is ready to bare," says Gupta

about the racist accent of Bollywood, a nickname for the world's

largest film industry - of commercial Hindi cinema.

 

Gupta attributes the success of Bollywood dark-skinned actress

Bipahsa Basu to her bold and unconventional roles where emphasis is

on exposure rather than colour of the skin.

 

Racial themes also find an echo in mainstream Hindi cinema although

the dialect today is less pronounced and more light-hearted than it

was in the past.

 

"Dark skin is either the butt of jokes or when inter-linked with

casteist-sexist themes it is a matter of tragedy, but it is never a

normal feature and certainly not beautiful," emphasises Gupta.

 

Social and political activists would vouch that the same is true in

real life, only far worse for the victims.

 

Source: Al-Jareera

URL: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/06F0AFD3-CC94-46C7-B331-

D6681F16AE0A.htm