The Saffron Story

Photographer Raghubir Singh once said that India knows colour through intuition. Colour in India is more than just visual aesthetics, it has its own seasons, its own symbolism and sociology. Each colour tells a complex story, and in our special series, Colours of India, we bring to life the stories of different colours.

Saffron:

It's striking that a colour can be so elevated in the aesthetic of a culture that it becomes one of three jewels of a land. Zaffran in Kashmir where it is cultivated... a colour favoured by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah in Awadh... The 'kasumbo' of Rajasthan becomes the 'bhagwa' of renunciation and purity in the robes of the Hindu and Buddhist saints... also an inspiration for contemporary fashion and designers. In Benares and BodhGaya, the colour dominates the landscape through very strong religious associations. And the colour enters the political discourse of the country through its association with the saffron of Hindutva.

One colour with its deep variations and stories...