It is not clear when things changed and Fair Skin came to be preferred in India, it is surprisingly true that traditional indian aesthetic was very different from how we see it now - it is evidently revealing by study of the paiting in the Ajanta and Ellora caves near mumbai, these caves were constructed during the rule of the " Vakatakas " allies of Gupta Empire one of the striking aspect is that most of the people in the paiting are very dark skinned. It certainly looks like ancient indians had a clear preference for the Dark Skin.There are several other evidence to support for example Krishna is considered to be the most handsome male in Hindu tradition and his name means " the Dark One " though later on he became Blue Skinned reason medieval artist depicted him Blue. Similarly Drupadi in Mahabharata is described as being very dark. Males significantly pampered themselves in india, they are following salon phenomenon with the singular object besides hair trimming to do facial, manicure, pedicure and waxing all to make the skin glow " Fair " the fairness cream of L ' Oreal , Nivea and host of such companies have added in their supplies dark spot reduction, skin brightening further manufacturers have added raw coffee wash ( Mcaffeine ) , Lakme and many more have boosted their image and made them look fair and attractive though temporarily. The fairness and bleach cream market in india is currently estimated to be worth nearly Rs 6500 crores. Fair and Lovely now named Glow and Lovely is one of the best selling personal care products in south asia. During our time some 50 years ago we had " Afgan Snow " a valuable dressing table possession.
Gupta's Empire 1700 years ago gives us a vivid picture of what life was like for rich and idle. A lot of importance was given to personal grooming - a man routinely prefered to have an oil massage, bathe, shave, apply perfumes and get ready for the evening to head for saloon to trim his hair and add steam treatment particularly on face and hands to get a glowing skin. This was carried on and in nineteenth century profoundly in lucknow and bengal. Zamidars of early twentieth - century kolkata were quite similar to the Page 3 socialites now in cities like mumbai and delhi who like to enjoy a fabulous life style!
Dark skin in medieval india was a preference; according to Marco Polo commenting about indian males said the " Darkest Man" was most highly esteemed person and was considered better than others who were not so Dark " Even God's and their Idols were
Black" while interestingly Devils were shown as White as Snow.. "The Idol of Lord Jagannath in Puri confirms what Polo meant "
