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The Eighth Colour of Rainbow: when Myths encounter Truth!

Indranil Sarkar
MY heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began,
So is it now I am a man,
So be it when I shall grow old
Or let me die!
Thus sings the Romantic poet William Wordsworth while catching at the
spectacular colour-odyssey of a Rainbow in the glimmering evening sky after
day-long rain.
The feeling is universal and timeless. Naturally, hundreds of Myths have been
enrooted in this unique solar feature.
A Rainbow is defined to be an optical and meteorological phenomenon that is
caused by both reflection and refraction of light in water droplets in Earth's
atmosphere, resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky.
It takes the form of a multi-coloured arc. Rainbows caused by sunlight always
appear in the section of sky directly opposite to the sun.


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According to Hinduism, Surya is the chief of the Navagrahas. Surya literally
means the supreme light. He is an important element of both Hindu
Astronomy and Astrology. He is a supreme deity of the Hindus. He is depicted
as dynamic and usually imagined as a rider in a chariot harnessed by seven
horses or one horse with seven heads. The seven horses represent the seven
colours of the rainbow.
The chariots horses are named after Gayatri and other Vedic meters. They are
harnessed by Arunadeva. The names of the seven horses yoked to the sun-gods
chariot are Gayatri, Brhati, Usnik, Jagati, Tristup, Anustup and Pankti.
Arunadeva rides the chariot sitting in front of the sun-god looking backward.
He is engaged in driving the chariot and controlling the horses.
In Bhavisya Purana, the seven horses are named Jaya, Ajaya, Vijaya, Jitaprana,
Jitakrama, Mano Japa and Jita Krodha.These Horses are metaphoric SEVEN rays
of the sun.


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Jaya is the first ray. It bestows firm conviction, mental and physical strength
generosity domination of others and benevolence.
Ajaya, the second gives Compassion, tranquility and intelligence as well as
inward understanding.
Vijaya is the third ray. It bestows voracious reading, high thinking and spiritual
base.
Jita prana is said to be the fourth which provides deep thinking, extreme
kindness and mercifulness.
Jita karma, the 5
th
ray grants high quality discipline. It is the giver of
knowledge and acts as scientific evaluators.
Manojapa is the sixth ray. It provides dedication, devotion, sincerity and helps
pursuing the path of truth.
Jita krodha is the seventh ray. It is the provider of in-depth evaluation, artistic
taste in fine arts and adoration of beauty. It gives love for display.

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According to another Myth the seven horses (colours) are Susumna, Suradana,
Udanvasu, Visvakarma, Udavasu, Visvavyaca and Harikesa.
Susumna is equivalent to the brightness of thousand rays. This ray has made the
most beautiful Chandra (Moon).The Nectar given by the full moon bestows all
mortal beings happiness and pleasure.
Surandana has originated from this ray. Even the rays of Surandana are only the
rays of Surya (Sun) alone.
Udannvasu has created the Kuja graha (planet).This ray protects the living
being from the defects of blood, and gives them health, brilliance and wealth.
Visva karma is the constructor of the Budhagraha (planet). This ray removes the
mental agitations of the people and grants all auspiciousness and peace.

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Udavasus ray has constructed Brihaspati planet. This planet grants pleasures
and liberation to all living beings. By worshipping this planet all hurdles,
obstructions, opposition are got removed and success is achieved.
Visva vyaca ray has created Sukra and Sani. Among them Sukra is responsible
for Virya (sperm).Sukra is in charge of humans procreation and also his ray
brings death. Hence by worshipping this ray one gets full longevity.
Harikesa has given birth to all Stars (Nakshatras). These are called Nashatra
because they protect the human bodies from the loss of strength, virya, and teja.
In another Myth Surya is said to have seven service personnel namely
Namshatras, Months, Fortnights, Seasons, Years, Days and nights.
The seven colours of the horses of Suryas chariot are: Red, Orange, Yellow,
Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. We also see the same colours in the Rainbow in
the order of ROYGBIV. But, surprisingly nowhere the name of the Chariot of
Surya is mentioned

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Truly speaking, our modern understanding of light and colour begins with
Isaac Newton (1642-1726) and a series of experiments that he publishes in 1672. He
is rightly the first to understand the rainbow colour spectrum.


Newton understood that when white light passes through a transparent
medium (like air) into another (like glass), its components are deflected the first
time according to their colour, and once again when they reemerge (back into
air, for example). This creates a spread of coloured light rays from red to violet,
like the colours of the rainbow.

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This ordered separation of coloured rays is known as the spectrum. The
spectrum of white light consists of six basic colours arranged in a specific order:
red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet.
Scientists of the Randall Monroe University in West Virginia have identified an
invisible eighth colour in the rainbow spectrum on 1
st
April, 2014.
Newtons Prism experiment
No, it was not an all fools day hoax. It was real. Though the new found colour
is yet to be named, the scientists undertaking the research found that the shade
may be best thought of in similar terms to grue and bleen; the portmanteau
words used by linguists to convey the difficulty some languages have in
differentiating between blue and green. It is the first addition to the traditional
spectrum since Isaac Newton first successfully split white light using a
triangular prism in 1671.The discovery may help materialize much speculated
Invisibility Cloak and create new vistas in military camouflage activities. It
may even help achieving the dexterity in war activities as narrated in the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

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However, it is to be remembered what the Science News had reported on a
study of mantis shrimp vision on the 15
th
of August, 2012. As per the report, the
full spectrum contains not less than 300 distinguishable colours. So, the eighth is
not the last. In near future we will surely hear of many more colours in the
Rainbow i,e there is every possibility of having many more horses of the
Suryadevas Chariot. After all, the dictionary still defines rainbow as Noah did: a
symbol of hope.
References:-
I .http://www.kamakoti.org/kamakoti/bhavish ...
ii.http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/343056/description/Mantis_shrimp_flub_color_vision_test
iii. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow
iv. https://www.google.co.in (images)
v. www.ask.com
vi.www.eisamay.com [Bengali epaper; dated 1-4-2014]
vii.www. naturalmagickshop.com/.../The-Myth-Magic-and-Science-of-the-Rainbows.
viii. www.artfire.com/.../mythology _of_rainbows_and_rainbow
ix. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya
x. Surya Myth by Sri Vidya Rajagopalan

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NB. Creative-Commons attributes were obliged.-i.s