The significance of yellow

Ratna Raman

Colours create magic! When we mix the colour yellow with red we get orange.  Yellow mixed with blue gives us the colour green.  Such mixing of colours replicates the processes of nature.

The colour yellow operates in a spectrum ranging from lemon yellow, mustard, ochre and gold and is associated with warmth and light. Yellow literally and metaphorically is the colour of sunshine. The sun, a bright ball of golden yellow, breathes warmth and light upon the earth in the presence of air and water.  Abundant yellow rays from the sun make it possible for the grass to grow and for leaves to appear along various shoots.

“We all live in a yellow submarine,” is a very popular  Beatles (pop music group of the sixties) number, originally  composed  for children.  The ‘submarine’ is a deep sea stealth boat, used primarily for secret explorations and war strategy. By making it yellow in colour, the song is suffused with happiness and cheer and successfully projects a life of great bonhomie under water.

In most of the sun filled countries of the world, especially those in the Orient (East), yellow evokes positive associations of warmth and happiness. Yellow is associated with sunrise and sunsets,  plentiful summers, and is  a colour abundantly present in nature. Dry earth, sands, rock and stone are often tinged yellow.   A wide range of birds and animals dress in various yellow shades. Fields of yellow sunflowers   and   mustard flowers delight the eye in the cold season. Marigold flowers, essential for festivities and decorations, appear at the start of the cold season and continue to flower through the spring.  Hot summers in India are made most beautiful when the laburnum (amaltas) tree begins to bloom and amaltas flowers stream down in  dazzling long-string clusters.  Yellow is a predominant colour in fruit, vegetable, lentils and cooking oils. Auspicious, anti inflammatory and with healing properties, yellow turmeric and beige sandalwood are intrinsic ingredients at weddings, bridal adornment, rites and religious ceremonies. 

Yellow is the most luminous colour in the spectrum.  Out of a range of colours, the human eye spots yellow first. School buses are yellow in colour and so are large earth movers because no one can afford to miss seeing them. Auto-rickshaws and taxi tops are also yellow, enabling travellers to sight them instantly in heavy traffic.

 The intensity of yellow allows for use only in small concentrated doses. Early yellow sunshine supplies Vitamin D which helps human bones absorb calcium.  Prolonged exposure to yellow heat can dehydrate and generate loss of balance, both physical and mental. Extensive sun gazing harms vision. 

 The expression “yellow yellow, dirty fellow” directed jeeringly at anyone wearing yellow in childhood could have racist connotations.  The fear that  Asians (Chinese, Japanese,  Burmese), termed the ‘yellow race’ in colonial times, could become a world power, allowed  for the coinage of  the term  ‘yellow peril.’   A coward is described as 'yellow-bellied.'

 'Yellow fever' is a viral fever wherein the patient's skin takes on a yellow tinge due to jaundice (illness of the liver).

‘Yellow journalism’ is a term used to describe sensational reporting.  Prejudiced reporting is often due to a jaundiced vision.

Brass and gold frame the opposite ends of the yellow metallic spectrum. Brass is an inexpensive (cheap) and impure alloy. Gold’s purity and hypoallergenic qualities ensure its use in medicine and food and its domination in world jewellery trends. This coveted 'yellow metal' remains a measure of the wealth of nations.