Nehal Rajvanshi
Shvet or White is the colour most commonly associated with the Moon. Across poetry, literature, philosophy, and iconography, the Moon is described as illuminated with a silvery radiance—its light compared to silvery streams, milk, or to the sheen of a pearl. Therefore, the colour white is also seen as similar to the Moon.
The Moon is always waxing and waning, and its colour is the only aspect of it that is constant. By its very nature, the Moon and its white colour are both seen as calming and serene.
Many names of the Moon in Sanskrit also speak to its colour and the cooling and calming qualities of the colour Shvet or White.
Himanshu: one whose rays are cooling in nature.
Chandrama: that which offers cooling and resembles camphor in colour.
Chandra: that which is radiant, that which shines bright, that which glimmers.
Shubhranshu: one whose very rays are radiant, shining, beautiful, splendid, white.
The Moon God, Chandra, is also always depicted in white. He is depicted wearing white clothes, adorned with pearls, riding a white chariot drawn by white horses. Several Sanskrit invocations from the Chandra Ashtottara Shatanamavali also explore this connection between Moon and Shvet.
ॐ सितभूषणाय नमः
Salutations to the One adorned with white ornaments.
ॐ श्वेतगन्धानुलेपनाय नमः
Salutations to the One anointed with white sandal paste (associated with coolness and sacredness).
ॐ कुन्दपुष्पोज्ज्वलाकाराय नमः
Salutations to the One whose form shines like kunda, the white jasmine.
ॐ श्वेतमाल्याम्बरधराय नमः
Salutations to the Wearer of White Garlands and Robes
This understanding of the Moon, as that which is white, cooling, and auspicious appears across Indian traditions.
In Jainism, Trishala, mother of Mahavira, is said to have seen fourteen auspicious dreams before his birth. The sixth was the full moon, described in the texts as: “its white colour resembling that of milk, or of silver, or of the swan, glittering like a clean mirror, enemy of darkness, creator of upheaval in the sea water… serenely poised in the celestial sphere yet also appearing like a moving tilak.”
For the same reasons perhaps, Silver, the metal and Pearls, the precious gemstones, are also linked so closely to the Moon. In Ayurveda and traditional worldview, Silver is considered cooling in nature, sheetal, and its Sanskrit synonyms include Chandraloha and Chandrahasa, both names that are simply names with the Moon. Pearls, similarly, are Chandra’s gemstone in Vedic astrology. They are known as Chandra Ratna, described as soft white, formed in water, and associated in Ayurveda with both cooling and calming the mind.
Perhaps that is why in Grishma rtu, when the heat of the Sun is as its peak, we all turn to the Moon, symbolically, by preferring the colour Shvet or White.