Shyam Varna

Lord Krishna was an avatar(incarnation) of Lord Vishnu. He is also known as “Shyam varna” means dark complexioned. In some versions of classical text he is also described as having dark blue complexion. There are many legends behind this. Once lord Krishna was playing with his friends near the bank of Yamuna river. All of a sudden the ball fell into the river. Lord Krishna jumped into the river to get back the ball. But in the river there was an abode of a poisonous snake Kalia. Fierce battle took place between them. The snake fires all his deadly poison on Lord Krishna. Due to the poison his complexion changed to deep blue. Another aspect is Lord Vishnu resides in ksheer Sagar(cosmic ocean). So that water turns the complexion of the Lord into deep blue. The deep blue colour is a symbol of infinity and depth. The supreme soul can not be viewed with ordinary vision.