Why Gods-Krishna are shown blue in color
In Hinduism, many gods are often shown in blue color. For ex: Lord Krishna, Lord Vishnu, and Lord Shiva all are shown in blue color. But do you know why? Why only blue? Why not in brown, green or any other color? In this article, we will go through the various reasons on why the gods are shown in blue color
All the reasons have been explain beautifully in hindi and english in the below videos on youtube.
Why Lord Krishna in blue color?
If I think about blue-colored god, then the first image that comes to my mind is lord Krishna. As lord Krishna was born dark-colored, he was given the name Krishna, Which means black in Sanskrit. Now you may ask if lord Krishna was born dark-colored, then why he is shown in blue color, why not in black color.
Well in the past, lord Krishna was shown in both, black as well as the blue color but the modern world became so much obsessed of fair skin, that the modern artists started painting all gods as fair-colored even though most of the gods were actually dark-colored. The reason behind the blue color of lord Krishna is as follows
Witch Putana Poison effect
Afraid of the death by the hands of lord Krishna, Demon kansa ordered her sister putana to kill baby Krishna. When witch Putana attempted to kill Krishna by her poisoned milk, baby Krishna didn't die but his skin became blue in color due to the poisoning effect. It is said that since then, blue color never faded from the face of lord krishna.
Five-headed snake poison effect
Blue color of his skin increased further as he fought with the five-headed snake hiding inside the River Yamuna. This five-headed snake had killed many villagers of vrindavan. To save the life of remaining villagers, krishna fought valiantly with the five-headed snake, defeated him and outcasted him from entering the village limits of vrindavan. However while fighting, five-headed snake stung lord Krishna many times due to which his skin turned bluer in color. That's the reason why lord is depicted bluish black in color.
General public loved blue color
Most of the ancient citizens were farmers whose livelihood was entirely dependent on good rains and waters from lakes and rivers. For rains, they would look up into the sky that appeared blue in color. Water in lakes/River also looked blue in color. So, for the poor farmers, there was nothing more enlivening, refreshing and joyous than a bluish black rain cloud nourishing the fields, filling the lakes/rivers and green mountains. For them, blue was the color of their existence and so, they believed, if gods existed, he/she would be in blue color.
Blue is the color of the infinite
Sky, which seems to have no beginning or end, is in blue color. Sea or ocean, that also seems to have no beginning nor end for a human eye, is also in blue color. Hence the limit of sky and ocean was beyond the imagination of the human eye.
Similarly, Black color have no beginning or end for a human eye. After travelling few kilometers in space, one realizes that sky is not in blue color but in black with shining stars and moon. If there is no light, then everything appears black in color. This blackness is infinite beyond human comprehension.
Both sky and ocean/sea/lakes appear blue in color at daytime and appears black in color at night time. Both blue and black represents infinity. So, people assumed the god's supreme creation in blue & black color, and so, started decorating all gods in bluish black color. That's the reason why god are shown in bluish black color.
Wisdom and thoughts of ancient sages
Ancient sages preached that blue and black is the color of creation. They said that whatever immeasurable appears to eye is only in blue or black color, the sky, the oceans, the horizon are all blue. Rainy Clouds are black in color but appears so soothing and beautiful to the eye. The summer hot sky looks blue to us because the eternal endless distance is interpreted by physical eye as in blue color. Blue color signify cosmic entity and convey the Anadi-Anant (boundless) form of God and hence, the reason why gods are shown blue in color.
Blue color of lord shiva
During the churning of the milky ocean to produce the nectar of immortality, among the other things, halahala, meaning poison, came out of the sea. Halahala was so toxic that it could have destroyed the whole creation. On the advice of lord Vishnu, Devas requested lord Shiva for help and lord Shiva readily agreed to drink the poison. Fearing that the poison would kill him, goddess parvati pressed his throat so that the poison do not enter his body. Though the poison didn't harm lord Shiva, it turned his neck blue in color. This is the reason why lord Shiva is also known as Neelakantha and is usually depicted in bluish black color
Lord Shiva consuming poison release from churning of the ocean
Why Lord Vishnu blue in color?
Lord Vishnu resides on the blue cosmic ocean. He rests on the five-headed serpent names sheshnag. He is believed to be the all-pervading, omniscient, omnipresent god. So, Lord Vishnu is shown in blue color as he is infinite and immeasurable like the sky and surrounded by the infinite cosmic ocean.
Not only the Indian gods, even the ancient Egyptians gods were shown blue in color. Below is the image of Egyptian god amun
Summary
In Short, whatever is limitless is conveniently granted the color blue as this color is attached to our perception of infinity. As Hinduism believes in one ultimate formless God (who cannot be described), all the devotees perceive the ever-pervading omnipresent omniscient Lord Vishnu, lord Shiva and lord Krishna etc in bluish black color.