[Indra]

Varna is a Sanskrit term (वर्ण varṇa has two meanings; first it means "color"; and second it means a "veil". As color it does not refer to the color of the skin of people, but to the qualities or energies of human nature. As a veil it shows the four different ways in which the Divine Self is hidden in human beings.

• In the Zoroastrian Avesta and the Gathas, the word Varana or Varena (from the root Var ("put faith in, to believe in") is used in the sense of preference[2] (or religious affiliation, conviction, faith, religious doctrine, choice of creed or belief). The language of the Gathas (the oldest part of the Avesta) is very similar to the language of the Rig Veda.
• It may also come from the root Var- "choose", as in "svayamvara", “[a girl’s] own choice [of a husband]”[3], or from the root vri (which means "one's occupation").
• In the Rig Veda, the word varNa occurs 22 times and means lustre. In 17 out of 22 times it refers to the "lustre" (i.e. "one's own typical light") of gods like Soma, Agni or Ushas.[4] In RV 3.34.5 and RV 9.71.2 it refers to the lustrous colour of the sky at dawn.[5]
• According to Hindu tradition, Varna refers to sounds of speech or language. Western Indologists have wrongly interpreted varna as "a letter of the alphabet". According to Welzer (1994 (229-230)), Varna can be grammatically derived from the term "class" (vide Panini), but it has acquired the incorrect meaning of "colour".

Varna in Hinduism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia