Why Do Paintings from the Gurus' Times Show Everyone with Light Skin?

I've noticed this, in those pictures/paintings i see (not sure if they are old or new) but nearly always everyone has really light skin.

examples




Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/sikh-sikhi-sikhism/34258-why-do-paintings-gurus-times-show.html
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=34258



There are many more of course, in India there are a lot of dark skinned people so why is it that IN GENERAL the artwork does not represent this?

Has the artwork been altered by western influence (light/fair = beautiful) etc?

 
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Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=34258
This is perhaps the only painting where Guru Gobind Singh ji with dark skin. AS with other artworks of Sobha Singh, even this one was copied 1000s of times by other artists and the beautiful skin tones and colours were changed to white.

Yeh there are a couple with darker tones, tho usually it's only the mogals haha.

This mentality goes back thousands of years. Today its being kept alive in all sorts of media. The only to combat is through that media.

Incidently, Mughals were actually fair skinned people. The word Mughal is persian for Mongol, and if you look up Mongols on Google. These are fair-skinned people, when compared to other Indians. Ironically, most Sikhs are darker than mongols and were darker than Mongols in the past.

Does anyone think there could be a Jatt influence? I think there is a growing belief amongst some Jatts that they are not a caste but a race in their own right, descended from Indo-Scythian origins...

I don't think its a jatt thing only.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=34258

Look at this:


You know Krishna, in Hindu mythology, is supposed to be dark skinned. More dark skinned than typical Indians, he is the colour of sham/evenining. Essentially he should look very African but this is a typical representation of him.

True..but I guess there is also a different colour dimension with several depictions of the Hindu Deities isn't there..i.e they are blue!

Quick Google reveals:
Vishnu is depicted with a blue skin. The colour blue symbolises the infinite expansion of the blue sky and the blue ocean.

Therefore all his incarnations including Krishna, are shown as such. In Hinduism, persons who have depth of character and the capacity to fight evil are depicted as blue skinned. ...
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=34258

"The theory of the blue coloring of Krishna goes to the fact that the Creator has given the maximum of blue to nature i.e. the sky, the oceans, the rivers and lakes. The deity who has the qualities of bravery, manliness, determination, the ability to deal with difficult situations, of stable mind and depth of character is represented as blue colored. Lord Krishna spent his life protecting humanity and destroying evil, hence he is colored blue."

I suggest there is more than one explanation for this.


Most of the pictures we are looking at are 19th/20th Century depictions. By that time the prejudice in favor of light skin had firmed its grip on cultural notions and artistic imaginations of what is desirable.

There are fair-skinned, light-eyed people in Northern India. The population genetics used to explain this are fairly complex and also controversial.

Krishna is depicted as either Black or Blue depending on the sect of Hinduism.

We do have access to contemporary images of the Gurus, painted during their lives, as well as ordinary Sikhs, which give greater accuracy in terms of historical details, compared to most pictures we are exposed to. And there are photographs from the era of Maharajah Ranjit Singh and his generals that can give us a fairly good sense of things.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=34258
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=34258

I am however not sure why we need to be all that concerned whether our Gurus are depicted, light or dark, because they live on today in the Shabad Guru.