How to Cite:
Shivani Lingamneni, "The Colonial Stain: British Rule and the Enduring Legacy of Colorism in India" International Journal of Humanities Science Innovations and Management Studies, Vol. 2, No. 5, pp. 72-80, 2025.

Abstract:
The article talks about how British colonialism ingrained the ideology of colourism in India’s social and cultural systems, thus generating a stubborn racial and aesthetic pecking order that is in favour of whiteness and lighter hues of skin. Drawing on postcolonial theory, critical race discourse, and cultural studies, this paper examines how racial classifications adopted in the colonial era have been applied in both education and literature, and can also be found in media representations.The study draws close comparisons between Anglo-Indian narratives, nationalist writings and popular culture of today to show how the colonial “whiteness as superiority” fable turned into an unadulterated mark of class, happiness, and moral rectitude in postcolonial India. Then it considers how these hierarchies have continued to kick up a storm in both matrimony practices and advertising, film, and the levelling of languages. Thus, this article refutes the suggestion that colorism in India is merely a social prejudice and argues instead that it continues to be a legacy of the colonial past: a reminder that independence in politics did not necessarily bringabout decolonization at all levels of representation and thought. Finally, the paper concludes with a call for greater decolonial consciousness in literary and cultural analysis to dismantle the residual structures of chromatic inequality.

Keywords: Colorism, Colonialism, Postcolonial Identity, British Raj, Whiteness, Racial Aesthetics, Decolonial Theory, Indian Literature, Cultural Hierarchy, Colonial Legacy.

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