History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c20.s3.t3.14

v1.c20.s3.t3.14

Poets like Bāṇa and others have mentioned subtle shades of colours in their literary works. The colours mentioned are not just poetic fancy because works like Viṣṇudharmottara-purāṇa have suggested a myriad by clever combinations of colours in various proportions. Literary works in Sanskrit are replete with references to shades and tints produced by different combinations of colours. Yellow and blue make green while red and blue make purple. Peculiar white of haritāla śaila is different from swan white. Red is found in different tints like that of bandhuka flowers, kuṅkuma red, kusumbha rāga red, blood red like a bunch of ghātaki flowers, sindūra colour of mandāra flowers, mañjiṣṭha red, reddish like the morning sun and so on¹⁷. Likewise, different shades of other colours including black and white are mentioned or suggested in different contexts. All these imply that people in ancient India were highly colour conscious and were able to prepare different paints by combining two or three colour pigments.