The Ochre Robe

The Odds & Bits Series : II

Color in the relations between people … is a phenomenon we are coming to view … in the world's experience … and the interest may well increase. But how does a person view the color issue? Indic literature … in the steamy experience of variety … in the Indian sub-continent … refers to color … in the broad categorization of the Sanskrit word ' Varna ' … as a specialization of duties in life. This led to the introduction of the caste system in Indic society.

 

There isn't a great deal of documentation on the issue. There's an awkward theory … floating around … in academic circles … that all color and race differences … are falsely imagined. The US State Department on its website … has brought a new perspective to the issue. In a rare admission of cultural differences … it says on its site … that it is viewing the world today … as an  experience of variety.

 

Elsewhere … in what is referred to symbolically as the ' Ochre Robe ' … one encounters the suggestion of colors … in words that are mystic … and may be reminiscent of the experience of Saints. In Indic culture the practice of donning the ochre robe ... is an announcement of the renunciation of color in any variety ... and the habit of only referring to the one color of homogeneous balance ... the color of the earth ... as the color ochre.

 

Without making too much  fuss over it … a person may bring themselves to view the issue of colors … as simply an issue of black and white … in order to speak of … differing points of view.  The dictionary defines ' ochre ' as … ' yellow to orange color ' … and as … ' any of various earths containing silica and alumina and ferric oxide; used as a pigment.' Obviously … the issue is one of skin pigmentation … where the skin … is also the medium of experience of eros.

 

In the founding of the Tamil language … circa 500 BCE … the founders used the term ' Tolkappiyam ' … to refer to the language. Obviously the word ' Tamil ' was a later substitution. ' Tolkappiyam ' … in translation means … ' the maintenance of the skin condition ' …. a strange term to describe a language.

 

In addressing the health of the skin tissue in Indic conditions … Indic culture … sometimes promotes fasting … non-speaking … avoidance of the bath … and in specialized practices … omitting personal grooming … as a way of healing … skin irritations … sexual deviations … arising from mild psychosis in behaviors. In a practice … that extends to early Vedic times … the Indic views the human body … as the earth or world … and refers to the many … inspirations he receives … as emanating from the unblemished condition of the skin.

 

White supremacist groups on the web … sometimes refer to the color difference … in words that are not only filled with acrimony … but is coherent with the empathy of their condition. In retrospect therefore … a view that sees the world as ' variety ' … may begin with the experience of … what our skin condition and color … means to us … and that … may well begin the proper course of the inquiry.