Varnas, colours, and functions
The standard Dumézilian position has been that the three functions of Indo-European ideology were correlated with the colours white, red and »dark« (green, blue or black, occasionally replaced by yellow). Having previously argued that the ideology was essentially pentadic rather than triadic, the au...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Diagonal-Verlag
2012
|
| In: |
Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft
Year: 1998, Volume: 6, Issue: 2, Pages: 163-178 |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | The standard Dumézilian position has been that the three functions of Indo-European ideology were correlated with the colours white, red and »dark« (green, blue or black, occasionally replaced by yellow). Having previously argued that the ideology was essentially pentadic rather than triadic, the author here explores the relationship between functions and colours. Starting from the four Hindu social estates (the varnas - the very word varna means »colour«), he concentrates on two passages involving sets of four colours. One, a passage in Revelations that has already been linked with the hypothesis of a fourth function, tells of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, while the other tells of the four differently coloured disguises adopted by Cligés, the hero of an Arthurian romance. The conclusion is that, at least sometimes, especially in »horsy« contexts, the basic ideology used sets of four symbolic colours linked with the four functions. The well-known triads often represent contractions or partial realisations of a larger structure. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2194-508X |
| Contains: | In: Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1515/0029.163 |