From Hindu gods to Catholic saints, Indians worship the fair and lovely

[rug]

5 hours ago
WRITTEN BY
Maria Thomas
Quartz India

A Catholic priest has blown the lid off a long-held, but barely mentioned, religious bias over skin colour among Indians.

People in this country are obsessed with a fair complexion.

India’s skin-whitening cream industry, which promises to render pretty much every body part a shade lighter, is a Rs3,000-crore behemoth. It peddles the promise of success and happiness to fairer people—so much so that, last week, some parliamentarians wanted such creams banned for their “misleading claims.”

In most Indian movies, a fair complexion is the ultimate ticket to a successful love life. But something else about lighter skin—its closeness to divinity—has been perniciously suggested to believers.

http://qz.com/747992/in-india-even-the-gods-cant-escape-the-fairness-industry/