Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

The Development of Hindu Iconography c14: Chapter VII: Iconographic Terminology

The Development of Hindu Iconography c14

Language
English

Contents

Chapter VII: Iconographic Terminology

c14.2

One studying Indian Iconography should know the meaning of certain technical terms in order to understand correctly the images of divinities and their accessories. The images are mostly depicted in an anthropomorphic fashion. The dress, ornaments, weapons, implements, etc., as shown on them are mostly identical with what are used by men. I have already laid stress on Varāhamihira’s dictum about the close similarity between the dress and ornaments worn by the people of a country and the same shown on the bodies of the gods worshipped there (*Deśānurūpabhūṣaṇaveśālaṅkāra-mūrttibhiḥ kāryā*). I have also suggested in the first chapter how an intensive study of images current in a particular locality will help one to throw much light on its social history. I now propose to explain the nature of some of these technical terms which are used to denote one or other of these various forms of dress, ornaments, weapons and implements; the various poses in which the different limbs of the images are shown by the artist will also be explained. These terms are very often used in the iconographic texts which, as every student of this subject knows, serve as the guide-books of the iconographer. While explaining some of them, I shall refer to their early and late forms of representation in art, whenever possible. T. A. G. Rao, in giving a fair account of these technicalities, hardly ever touched on this point.

c14.3

The various poses in which the hands of the images and the figures arranged round them are shown are quite interesting. The technical term, used in the texts to denote these poses, is *mudrā*; sometimes the word *hasta* is also used to denote one or other of these hand-poses. The latter is generally used in cases where the whole of the arm along with the hand is shown in a particular pose (cf. *daṇḍahasta*, *gajahasta*, *kaṭi-hasta*, etc.), while the former usually denotes the peculiar posture in which the palm with the fingers is shown (cf. *jñāna-mudrā*, *cinmudrā* or *vyākhyāna-mudrā*, *yoga-* or *dhyāna-mudrā*, etc.). It must be observed, however, that sometimes, though comparatively rarely, both the terms are used in the texts to signify particular hand-poses; thus, in iconographic parlance, *abhaya-mudrā* and *abhaya-hasta* and *varada-mudrā* and *varada-hasta* are equally appropriate. It is true that the term *hasta* can also be used in association with an emblem or weapon in the hand of the deity; thus *padma-hasta*, *pustaka-hasta*, *gadā-hasta*, etc., would mean a hand holding a lotus, a book and a mace respectively. But sometimes, there has been confusion regarding the appropriate sense of a certain term; thus, *sūcī* means a ‘sewing needle,’ but it has also various other meanings, one of which is ‘the act of pointing’. Now when a deity is described as *sūcī-hasta*, he (or she) may hold a sewing needle in the hand : but the term may also signify the pointing pose. Again, *daṇḍa-hasta* may mean one holding a club in hand, or it may denote a specific gesture.

c14.4

*Hastas* and *mudrās* thus usually indicate some action which the god or his attendant is shown to be engaged in. The action consists in the expression of an idea by means of a particular gesture. Man, himself a rational being, gifted with the power of speech, often finds it necessary to use such gestures to express completely his ideas; sometimes, a mere gesture of the hand or any other limb will contain a volume of ideas which would otherwise be only imperfectly expressed.¹ How absolutely necessary will it be for him to endow his mute gods with such suggestive action-poses in order that the idea or ideas which he wants to be symbolised by his deities may be correctly explained! Herein — in this very act of showing the images belonging to the various Indian religious creeds with the different gestures — lay one of the marked and significant differences between the fetish of a Polynesian tribe and the developed image worshipped by the highly civilised Indians. In India of the pre-historic times, a few of the expressive poses were used to characterise the representation of the divinities on seals, amulets and figurines. Some of the conventional hand-poses, that were common in early and late mediaeval iconographic art of India, can be definitely recognised in the Central Indian art of the Śuṅga period.

c14.5

¹ In India, many of the hand-poses were long stereotyped. Coomaraswamy observes, "Such motions must have been elaborated and codified at a very early date; and later on we find that the art of silent communication by means of signs, which is in effect a 'deaf and dumb language,' and just like the American Indian hand-language, was regularly regarded as one of the 'sixty-four arts' which every educated person should have knowledge of." He refers to Jātaka No. 546 (J. text, VI, 364) where the Bodhisattva judges the suitability of a woman for being his wife by communicating to her through the medium of a particular hand-sign (*hattha-muddā*); she understood it correctly and replied to him with another of her own; Coomaraswamy and Gopālakrishnāyya, *The Mirror of Gesture*, p. 24.

c14.6

It should be noted here that the fully developed and technical mudrās, that are described in such Indian works on dramaturgy as Nāṭyaśāstra, Abhinayadarpaṇa, etc., have no practical application in our present study. It is true that some south Indian types of dancing Śiva of the mediaeval period or the Vajrayāna deities of the same age in the north, specially the latter, are liberally characterised by these mudrās; but very few are the Hindu gods and goddesses, especially of the earlier period, whose hands are shown in any of the highly technical poses. Such mudrās as are reproduced by me in Plate V from a late Buddhist text on ritualism procured by P. C. Bagchi from Nepal (it contains many more such hand-poses) are usually adopted by a bhakta or a sādhaka in the Tāntric form of worship or sādhanā. R. K. Poduval distinguishes between ‘three broad divisions of mudrās, viz., Vaidic, Tāntric and Laukik (mudrās in Art).’ He says that he has recognised as many as ‘64 mudrās in Art and 108 in Tantra. The Vaidic mudrās are more or less finger signs or indications employed to regulate the stress, rhythm and intonation in the chanting of Vedas by Brahmins.’¹

c14.7

¹ Administration Report of the Archaeological Department, Travancore State, 1107 M.E., pp. 6-7, and plate. In the outline drawing of mudrās, Poduval wrongly describes the two well-known ones, viz., abhaya and varada; what is really varada is described by him as abhaya and that which is abhaya, as varada.

c14.8

Poduval has reproduced as many as 45 mudrās, which are described by him as añjali, vandanī, yoni, vaināyakī, hṛdaya, śiras, śikhā, kavaca, astra, netra (-dvaya, -traya), garuḍa, galini (gālinī?), surabhī, abhivāhinī, stāpini (sthāpanī?), sannidhāpanī, sammukhī, avakuṇḍanī (avaguṇṭhanī?), prasādanī, sannirodhinī, śaṅkha, gadā, padma, paraśu, hariṇa, abhaya, varada, śūla, kapāla, cakra, five types of prāṇāhuti (perhaps symbolising the offering of five vital breaths or pañca prāṇaḥ, viz., prāṇa, apāna, samāna, udāna and vyāna), śara, cāpa, kūrma, jala, gandha, puṣpa, dhūpa, dīpa, nivedya (naivedya), and matsya. A careful analysis of these names shows that some are connected with the deities to be worshipped, while others, with the worshipper, a third set again symbolising the upacāras used in worship. A glance at his plate will show that there is a close parallelism between the pose outlined by the position of the hands and fingers, and the name by which the pose is described. To refer to one or two instances: the vaināyakī-mudrā characteristically outlines the elephant head of Vināyaka with its lolling trunk, the śaṅkha-mudrā, a conch-shell, the hariṇa-mudrā, a deer-head with its antlers, the kapāla-mudrā, a skull with its concave side shown up, matsya-mudrā, a fish and so on. But most, if not all, of these, were adopted by the devotee or the aspirant after salvation in the ritualistic performance of his pūjā or sādhanā. Reference should also be made, in this connection, to Poduval's diagrams of several mudrās which are used by the Nambudiri chanters of the Sāman hymns in Kerala; he has photographed as many as twenty-five of such hand-poses from actual life, assigning no name however to any of them.¹

c14.9

¹ R. K. Poduval, op. cit., 1109 M.E., p. 8 and plate. He refers to a Sanskrit work on histrionics and dramaturgy, Bālarāmabhāratam by name, written by king Bālarāma Kulaśekhara Vañci Bhūpāla of Travancore. The work deals with, among other things, the aṅgas, upāṅgas and pratyaṅgas in Nāṭya, and classifies them each under six subdivisions. 'The aṅgas include the movements of the head, hands, breast, sides of the body, hips and feet; the upāṅgas, those of the eyes, eyebrows, nose, cheeks, chin and lips; while under the pratyaṅgas come the movements of the neck, arm, abdomen, loins, thighs and the shanks.' There is hardly any doubt that this portion of the work is based on works on histrionics and dramaturgy of a much earlier date. The poses of the hand are classified into asamyuta- and samyuta-hastas, as many as forty of the former and twenty-seven of the latter being described in the book. See infra about 23 former and 13 latter types of hand-poses adopted in dancing, as mentioned in the Viṣṇudharmottara.

c14.10.1

Among the forty-five Tāntric mudrās illustrated by Poduval, we can recognise only a few that were also depicted in the early representations of the Indian divinities and their attendants; these are abhaya, varada and añjali (cāpa-, śara- and kapāla-mudrās may also come under this category, if we note that the hands of the deity holding a bow, an arrow and a skull are shown in the gestures as illustrated in the plate). Many more mudrās or hastas in which the hands of the images were usually depicted, such as dhyāna or yoga, jñāna, vyākhyāna, dharmacakra, kaṭyavalambita, kaṭaka or siṃhakarṇa, gaja or daṇḍa, sūcī, tarjanī, vismaya, bhūsparśa, etc., are not included in the list. But, as it has already been observed, the list is more indicative of the practice of the ritualist himself than the pose of any deity in particular. The abhaya-hasta is the same as śāntida which latter term has been used by Varāhamihira in his description of the two-, four- and eight-armed images of Viṣṇu (Bṛhatsaṃhitā, ch. 57, vv. 33-5). This pose has been very characteristically explained by Utpala as ‘the hand turned towards the visitor (i.e., turned to front) with fingers raised upwards’ (draṣṭurabhimukha ūrdhvāṅguliḥ śāntidaḥ karaḥ). One cannot improve upon this description, and a glance at the right-hand pose of the Mathura Buddha figure of the Kushan period, sketched in Fig. 5 of Plate III of this book, will show that it fittingly illustrates the description.

c14.10.2

The right hand of the Śiva-Viśvāmitra figure (on the coins of Dharaghoṣa), sketched in Fig. 20 of Plate I of this book, is also in the same manner. Fig. 20 in Plate II is based on the representation of King Brahmadatta in the illustration of the Mahākapi Jātaka at Bharhut; the right hand of the king is shown also in the same pose and thus the artist typifies the protection ‘assured’ by the king to the monkey chief, who is none other than the Buddha himself in one of his numerous previous births. Some of the divinities represented on early Indian coins and seals have also one of their hands in the same pose. This is one of the commonest mudrās in which one or the other hand of the Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jaina images is shown, and it stands for the assurance of fearlessness, tranquillity and protection given by the deity to his worshipper. Varada- or, simply, vara-mudrā, also another of the typically common mudrās in iconographic art of ancient and mediaeval India, symbolises the bestowal of boon or benediction by the god on his votary. In the Śivaite mythology, the act of grace or benediction (anugraha) is regarded as one of the five principal activities of the lord Śiva (pañca-kṛtyas, viz., sṛṣṭi, i.e., the act of creation, sthiti—of preservation, saṃhāra—of destruction, tirobhāva—of obscuration, and anugraha—of grace). The stereotyped manner of depicting this pose in art is by putting the palm spread outwards with the fingers pointing down;

c14.10.3

in standing figures the arm usually hangs down by the side of the body, while in seated ones the arm is sometimes flexed according to artistic requirements. Varāhamihira while describing the four- and eight-armed images of Ekānaṃśā says that one right hand of either variety of the goddess is to be shown in the varada pose. Utpala explains the term varada as the pose in which the palm with fingers pointing downwards is shown inside out (uttāno'dho'ṅgulirhasto varadaḥ—Bṛhatsaṃhitā, ch. 57, p. 780). The añjali-, vandanī- or namaskāra-mudrā is usually to be found in the hands of the devotees or in those of the attendant or subordinate deities.¹ This is one of the earliest hand-poses recognisable in art, its antiquity going as far back as the age of the Indus Valley civilisation. I have referred in the last chapter to the supplicating pose of the figure kneeling before the tree goddess on one of the Mohenjo-daro seals, the scene being described by Marshall as the epiphany of the tree spirit; the hands are, however, not joined together as they should be in the sampuṭāñjali pose. But this is also not wanting; several of the terracotta human figurines that were discovered at Harappa distinctly portray it. I may refer to a few descriptions of such clay figurines given by M.S. Vats: ‘No. 6 is a squatting male figure with folded hands,’ ‘No. 7 is seated with hands folded in devotional attitude,’ ‘No.

c14.10.4

8 a rough figure seated on its haunches with arms clasped about the knees and hands folded in worship,’ ‘Nos. 9 and 10 also show male figurines with their hands folded above the breast.’¹ Reference has already been made in the last chapter to the two Mohenjo-daro seals which contain figures of a god seated in yoga posture, on whose either side kneels a half-human half-animal form of a Nāga with hands uplifted in prayer. This evidence fully proves that the idea of worship was widely prevalent among the pre-Vedic people of the Indus Valley. Kupiro Yakho (Kubera, the king of the Yakṣas and the guardian of the northern quarter) is depicted in Bharhut with his hands in this pose (Pl. II, Fig. 19); many more are the Yakṣa, Nāga, and human votaries that are shown with their hands in the devotional attitude. This is the most correct attitude of a devotee, and sometimes this pose alone enables us to distinguish the chief deity from one subordinate to him. Thus, Nandin, originally Śiva himself in theriomorphic form and afterwards his mount, is carved exactly like Śiva in late mediaeval and modern reliefs of southern India; the only distinction lies in the fact that his ‘front’ hands are in the *namaskāra* pose (the ‘back’ hands, like those of Śiva, carry *paraśu* and *mṛga*) while Śiva’s ‘front’ hands are shown in the *abhaya* and *varada* poses.

c14.11

¹ I have not made any distinction between añjali-, vandanī- and namaskāra-mudrās; the last denotes also the action of touching the forehead with folded hands. The idea of reverence is present in everyone of these terms.

c14.12

¹ Excavations at Harappa, p. 294, Pl. LXXVI.

c14.13

Dhyāna-, yoga-, or *samādhi-mudrā* is that particular pose in which ‘the palm of the right hand is placed in that of the left hand and both together are laid on the crossed legs of the seated image’ (Rao). Thus, it is specially associated with a seated figure and is one of the most correct attitudes for the practice of *dhyāna-yoga*. One of the earliest descriptions of the correct pose of a *yogī* is to be found in the *Bhagavadgītā*, which says that the *yogī* should be ‘steady, holding his body, head, and neck balanced and motionless, fixing his gaze on the end of his nose, and looking not about him.¹ *Sāmaññaphalasutta*, one of the early Buddhist texts, also gives us a clear idea about the sitting posture of a yogī in these words: ‘*nisīdati pallaṅkaṃ ābhujitvā ujuṃ kāyaṃ paṇidhāya parimukhaṃ satiṃ upaṭṭhapetvā*’, i.e., ‘(he) sits bending (the legs) crosswise (i.e., he sits cross-legged) on a raised seat, with erect body and setting up his memory (i.e., of the object of thought) in front.’² But it is noteworthy that in such descriptions there is not the least allusion to the pose of the hand, which, as the Indus Valley seals show, was different. The prototype of Śiva-Paśupati shows his hands stretched sideways over the knees; this is also a yogic pose and ascetics seated entranced in this manner can be found in India even now.³ The earliest approach to the *dhyāna-mudrā* of the texts, as explained by the quotation from Rao, is to be found in the figure of a deity seated on a lotus seat, appearing on certain copper coins of Ujjayinī, that can be dated in the 2nd-3rd century B.C. (Pl. II, Fig. 16).⁴

c14.14

¹ *Bhagavadgītā*, VI, 13: *Samam kāyaśirogrīvam dhārayannacalam sthiraḥ | Samprekṣya nāsikāgram svam diśaścānavalokayan*. The translation given above is taken from W. D. P. Hill's edition of the *Bhagavadgītā*, p. 157.

c14.15

² *Dīgha-Nikāya* (P.T.S. Ed.), Vol. I, p. 71. It was R. P. Chanda who first drew our attention to this passage as well as the Gītā one, in order to explain the peculiar look and attitude of the mutilated limestone statue found at Mohenjo-daro as well as the three- or one-faced deity on seals, already noted; *A.S.I.A.R.*, 1929-30, pp. 191-92. Śaṃkara in his commentary on the Gītā passage quoted above says that the phrase about ‘fixing his gaze on the tip of his nose’ is figuratively used and it really means ‘fixing the eyesight within.’ Hill, however, observes that ‘there is no doubt that the physical posture was literally recommended.’

c14.16

³ The description of Śiva practising *dhyānayoga* in the *Kumārasambhava*, gives us a full idea of the hand-pose. The passage reads: *Paryaṅkabandhasthirapūrvakāyamṛjvāyatam saṃnamitobhayāṃsam | Uttānapāṇidvayasamniveśāt praphullarājīvamivāṅkamadhye*. The *āsana* is the same as *padmāsana* where the legs are interlocked on the seat, the upper part of the body remains straight and well spread, both the shoulders being bent a little; the palms turned upwards are placed on the lap like a full-blown lotus. The fixing of the eyes on the tip of the nose is beautifully expressed by Kālidāsa in the following verse (III, 47): *Kiṃcitprakāśastimitogratārair-bhrūvikriyāyā virataprasaṅgaiḥ | Netrairavispanditapakṣmamālair-lakṣyīkṛtaghrāṇamadhomayūkhaiḥ*.

c14.17

⁴ Coomaraswamy found in it one of the earliest representations of Buddha in the *dhyāna* pose, but it may as well stand for Śiva, the great Yogī. The coin device is very much blurred and it is not sure whether the palms of the forearms flexed inwards near the waist actually joined each other on the lap; my drawing is based on the obverse of Fig. 10 in Plate X of Cunningham's *Coins of Ancient India*.

c14.18

In Gandhāra some of the numerous Buddha figures are shown with their hands in this pose; its association with asceticism (tapas) is characteristically emphasised in the figures of Buddha practising asceticism in the collections of the Peshawar and Lahore Museums.¹ The red sandstone figure of Pārśvanātha from Mathura, now in the collection of the Lucknow Museum, shows the jina seated erect with his legs crossed and his hands in the dhyāna-mudrā; it belongs to the early Kushan period.² Many images, Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jain, of the Gupta age, as well as of the early and late mediaeval periods, show this pose, two Yogāsana-Viṣṇu figures in the Mathura Museum characteristically portraying it.³

c14.19

¹ H. Hargreaves, Handbook to the Sculptures in the Peshawar Museum, Pl. 3. Cf. also statuette No. 1550 in the Mathura Museum; this Gandhāra stone figurine showing the ascetic Buddha is said to have been found at Maholi village about 100 years ago; V. S. Agrawala, Handbook of the Sculptures in the Curzon Museum of Archaeology, Muttra, p. 52, Pl. XXII, Fig. 43.

c14.20

² Coomaraswamy, H.I.I.A., Pl. XXIII, Fig. 86.

c14.21

³ V. S. Agrawala, op. cit., Pl. XXII, Fig. 45.

c14.22.1

Two other mudrās which are also found in the iconographic art of ancient and mediaeval India have been named by T. A. G. Rao as jñāna- and vyākhyāna-, vitarka- or cin-mudrā. Rao says that, in the former, ‘the tips of the middle finger and of the thumb are joined together and held near the heart, with the palm of the hand turned towards the heart.’ Fig. 2 in Plate III of this book illustrates this pose. The ‘front’ right hand of the figure of Nārāyaṇa in the Nara-Nārāyaṇa relief at Deogarh shows it; but it can probably be traced to a period far earlier than the Gupta age.⁴ Drawing No. 1 in Plate III is based on the figure of Ajakālaka Yakṣa in Bharhut with his right hand in the same characteristic pose; the standing male figure in the representation of a donor couple (or are they Yakṣa and Yakṣiṇī?) in a part of the Bharhut railing has his left hand shown in the same pose, but it must be observed that in both a lotus flower is placed between the tips of the thumb and the index finger.¹ We are not certain, however, whether this typical pose was known under that name as early as the 2nd century B.C.; as regards the things held by the hands, it should be noted that different objects, such as a lotus flower, a rosary, a bowl, etc., are sometimes placed in them even when they typify some particular pose (for example, in some Dhyānī Buddha figures, an alms-bowl is placed on the hands showing dhyāna-mudrā).

c14.22.2

The cinmudrā is described by Rao thus,—‘ the tips of the thumb and the forefinger are made to touch each other, so as to form a circle, the other fingers being kept open. The palm of the hand is made to face the front.’ The hand in this pose is usually raised upwards near the breast and it appears that this is the exact counterpart of jñāna-mudrā. Rao remarks about it that it is the ‘ mudrā adopted when an explanation or exposition is being given; hence it is also called vyākhyāna-mudrā and sandarśana-mudrā ’ (Pl. III, Fig. 3). The extreme right section of a large panel in the Cave temple of Rāmeśvara at Ellora depicts Subrahmanya teaching his father Śiva the significance of Om; the right hand of the polycephalous god is shown in the vyākhyāna pose, a rosary being shown in the palm.² The two-armed figure of Nara in the Deogarh relief just referred to shows his right hand in the same pose, a rosary being also placed in the hand. One of the earliest representations of a teacher expounding his lessons or doctrines is to be found at Bharhut where the sage Dīrghatapasvī is shown in the attitude of instructing his pupils; he is sitting at ease on a raised seat facing his four disciples seated below in a reverential attitude; his left hand rests on his knee while his right hand is raised towards his breast with the thumb and index fingers projecting outwards, the other fingers being bent inwards.

c14.22.3

It is true that the tips of the thumb and the forefinger are not joined together, but they also characteristically portray the expounding pose.¹ A reference now to the *dharmacakra-mudrā*, though it is usually associated with the Buddha images and not with those of any Brahmanical deity, will be of some interest. The particular pose symbolises the first preaching of the law by the Master at Sārnāth, thus, figuratively speaking, setting thenceforward the ‘Wheel of the Law’ in motion; it was also used in the representation of the Great Miracle at Śrāvastī. The Gandhāra artists were never sure about the mode in which it was to be depicted; sometimes the right hand of the Buddha was placed on the rim of a wheel on stand, at other times the hand, seemingly in the *abhaya* pose, was used to serve the purpose, while more frequently it was depicted in a manner that was not at all suggestive of any clear idea (the right hand with fingers flexed inward was placed near the breast, the left hand with its fingers drawn together touching it from below). But in the truly Indian images of the Buddha from the Gupta period onwards, the *dharmacakra-mudrā* is invariably presented in the manner shown in Fig. 4, Plate III, of this book. A glance at the drawing will at once show that this hand-pose is nothing but the combined representation of *jñāna*- and *vyākhyāna-mudrās*, the left hand being in the former and the right in the latter.

c14.22.4

The ideology here is thus characteristically expressive: Buddha in the act of expounding the true knowledge which he had himself first obtained through his efforts.²

c14.23

⁴ T. A. G. Rao, op. cit., Vol. II, Pl. LXXI. Rao wrongly described this relief as the Jñāna-Dakṣiṇāmūrti of Śiva; Yarde first corrected this mistake and identified the two ascetic figures seated side by side as Nara-Nārāyaṇa on the basis of the Viṣṇudharmottara.

c14.24

¹ For Ajakālaka figure, see B. M. Barua, Bharhut, Bk. III, Pl. LVII, Fig. 61; for the figure of the donor (?) couple at Bharhut, cf. Coomaraswamy, H.I.I.A., Pl. XII, Fig. 44.

c14.25

² T. A. G. Rao, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 350, pl. CV. The centre and left sections of the panel portray the incidents connected with the marriage of Śiva with Pārvatī.

c14.26

¹ B. M. Barua, *Bharhut*, Book III, Pl. LXXVIII, Fig. 104; the inscription above reads: *Dīghatapasi sise anusāsati*, i.e., ‘Dīghatapasvī instructs his disciples.’ Fig. 18 in Pl. II of this book is based on the Bharhut figure of Dīghatapasvī.

c14.27

² This interpretation of the *dharmacakra-mudrā* was first suggested by me in my article on ‘The Webbed Fingers of Buddha’, published in the *Indian Historical Quarterly*, Vol. VI, 1930, p. 722, f. n. 4.

c14.28

The *kaṭyavalambita*- or *kaṭisaṃsthita-hasta* is the pose in which ‘the arm is let down so as to hang by the side of the body, and the hand is made to rest on the loin, indicating thus a posture of ease’ (Rao); but the hand is usually bent a little at the elbow and placed on the upper part of the waist. This is one of the commonest poses in which the left hand of a standing image is shown (in seated images also, this pose is frequently met with). Figures 19, 20, 21, 22 and 28 in Plate I of this book illustrate the manner in which it appears in the representation of deities on early Indian coins. Figure 28 is sketched from a punch-marked coin in the Purnea hoard, Fig. 19, from Śiva on some coins of Wema Kadphises, Fig. 20, from Śiva-Viśvāmitra on Dharaghoṣa's silver coins, Fig. 21, from Śiva Chatreśvara on some Kuniṇḍa coins, Fig. 22, from Lakṣmī on the unique coin with the legend 'Pakkaḷavadidevata' grouped by the numismatists in the Indo-Scythic series (both the obverse and reverse devices of this coin with the reverse legend meaning 'the city deity of Puṣkalāvatī' are reproduced in Pl. IX, fig. 7; in association with the bull described as Tauros-Uṣabhe, i.e., Vṛṣabha in the obverse legend, she may also be identified as Pārvatī, the consort of Śiva shown here as a humped bull). The goddess appearing on some copper coins of Azes, identified by me as Durgā Siṃhavāhinī or Ekānaṃśā, shows this characteristic pose (Pl. IX, Fig. 5; the humped bull on the reverse side of this copper coin undoubtedly stands for her consort Śiva in his theriomorphic form). Varāhamihira described the image of Ekānaṃśā as kaṭisaṃsthitavāmakarā sarojamitareṇa codvahati, i.e., 'with her left hand placed on her waist while the other (right) hand holds a lotus flower' (Bṛhatsaṃhitā, p. 780). The standing images of Buddha, the Nāgas and various other divinities, of the early Kushan and subsequent periods found at Mathura and adjacent places very frequently display this attitude; the Katra, Anyor and Mankuwar images of seated Buddha also show the same pose. Coomaraswamy was fully justified in remarking that this pose along with the raised right hand was the iconographic pose par excellence in ancient and mediaeval India. Figure 14 in Plate II of this book, based on the device of a Mathura coin, shows that perhaps the order was sometimes, though very rarely, reversed. Figure 1, in Plate IV, is sketched from the usual pose appearing in many Brahmanical images. A brief reference to the kāyotsarga pose which is usually adopted in the representations of the Jinas will not be out of place here. In it the hands are shown hanging straight down the side of the body without the least bend in any of the limbs; this is described by Varāhamihira as ājānulambabāhu, i.e., ‘the arms long enough to reach the knees’ (this is one of the characteristic signs of great men and divine beings). R. P. Chanda was the first to note the portrayal of this pose on some Indus Valley seals (cf. the seal with the epiphany of the tree-spirit, discussed by me in chapter V, reproduced here in Plate VII, Fig. 3); Fig. 13, in Plate II, sketched by me from a punch-marked coin device, also portrays the same hand pose.

c14.29.1

Kaṭaka- or siṃhakarṇa-hasta denotes that particular pose wherein ‘the tips of the fingers are loosely applied to the thumb so as to form a ring or, as somewhat poetically expressed by the latter name, so as to resemble a lion’s ear’ (Rao). As Gopinath Rao has rightly understood, this pose is very useful in the depiction of goddesses in one of whose hands fresh flowers are often inserted; it is thus very common in the iconographic representation of divinities. One of the earliest instances of this posture is to be found in the figure of Sirimā devatā at Bharhut where her right hand holding a lotus flower (partially broken) shows it, her left hand hanging stiffly by her side. Daṇḍahasta or gajahasta has got the technical sense of the arm thrown forward (sometimes across the body), appearing like a straight staff or the lolling trunk of an elephant (Pl. III, Fig. 8). The palm in this drawing seems to be in the vaināyakī mudrā; in the well-known Naṭarāja images of Śiva, this mudrā is clearly recognisable. This pose is usually met with in images of gods or goddesses shown in the dancing attitude. Śiva Naṭarāja dancing vigorously on the back of Mūyalaka or the Apasmāra puruṣa, Nṛtya-Gaṇapati, Kṛṣṇa Kāliyadamana, dancing Cāmuṇḍā and such other images have one of their hands in this pose. The figure of the danseuse on the right side in drawing No.

c14.29.2

22, Plate II, has her right arm stretched forward in a manner somewhat different from the above, but it can justifiably be described as another variety of the same pose. Several other dancing Apsarasas in Bharhut have one of their hands extended in a different manner, but all illustrate the idea of the stretching of a staff or an elephant trunk. The significance of *sūcīhasta* has already been explained by me; it is comparatively rare in iconographic art (Pl. IV, Fig. 6, but it should be shown upside down). Another very suggestive hand-pose is the *tarjanī-hasta*, where the projected forefinger of the right hand points upwards (in the *sūcī*, it usually points downwards, the hand being held down), ‘as if the hand is warning or scolding another’ (Rao). A person while threatening or admonishing another very often holds his hand in this position, and so there is a characteristic conformity here between the actual practice and artistic representation (Pl. IV, Fig. 6). In Vajrayāna sadhanas, Mārīcī and several other goddesses are very often described as *tarjanī-pāśahastā*, i.e., ‘with a hand holding a *tarjanī-pāśa*’. It is not meant hereby that the deity holds a noose (*pāśa*) in one hand while another is shown in the *tarjanī* pose, but the epithet really means that the noose which is meant for chastisement is placed in the same hand which is shown in the threatening pose; this interpretation is actually borne out by the images of the above goddesses.

c14.29.3

One of the earliest representations of this particular *hasta* is to be found in a Jātaka relief on one of the coping stones at Bharhut; this scene has been tentatively identified by B. M. Barua as illustrating the Gahapati Jātaka (Fausboll, 199). The standing figure on the right side in this section of the coping, none other than the Bodhisattva himself, is threatening and admonishing with the projecting forefinger of his raised right hand another male figure, shown seated below, cowering; a female figure is seen peeping out of a hut, to whom the seated figure points with both hands (the pose in which the latter’s hands are shown can with some justification be called *sūcī*).¹ The right hand of Sudarśanā Yakṣiṇī in Bharhut seems to be in a pose practically similar to the tarjanī (Pl. II, Fig. 23). Barua is not quite accurate in his description of the Yakṣiṇī when he writes ‘the four fingers of her right hand are bent towards the palm, while, the thumb remains stretched out’; his plate (op. cit., Vol. III, Pl. LXIV, Fig. 74) as well as my drawing definitely shows that three fingers only are bent inwards, both the forefinger and the thumb remaining stretched upwards.

c14.30

¹ For the story and illustration, *cf.* B. M. Barua, *Bharhut*, Bk. II, pp. 105-106, Vol. III, Pl. LXXXVI, Fig. 102. Barua thus describes the attitudes of the two male figures in the scene: the seated man ‘with downcast eyes is pleading his

c14.31

T. A. G. Rao rightly observes that ‘vismaya-hasta indicates astonishment and wonder. In this pose the forearm is held up with the fingers of the hand pointing up and the palm turned away from the observer’ (Pl. IV, Fig. 4). The relief illustrating the Caṇḍeśānugrahamūrti of Śiva in the Kailāsanātha temple at Conjeevaram, belonging to the Pallava period, shows the father of Caṇḍeśa ‘fallen on the ground, with his left hand held in the vismaya pose’ (for the story and its illustration, cf. Rao, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 209 and Pl. XLIX, Fig. 2). It will be of use to refer here to Fig. No. 3 in Plate IV of this book; the drawing is based on a railing pillar relief of the Śaka-Kushan period in the collection of the Mathura Museum. A male figure is shown standing with the index and middle fingers placed on his chin. The figure has been rightly identified by V. S. Agrawala and B. S. Upadhyay as the young hermit Ṛṣyaśṛṅga; they observe, ‘This mudrā is indicative of astonishment (vismaya) and reflection (vitarka). The eyeballs are turned upwards and the whole expression is one of deliberation in which an awareness of the immediate surroundings is absent. Satisfaction beams on the face.’ The story of Ṛṣyaśṛṅga is often narrated at length in the Brahmanical and Buddhist literature and the most suggestive moment in it is that in which the young Brahmacārī beholds a maiden for the first time; the artist has chosen this moment and has very

c14.32

innocence by referring to the woman with the forefingers of his two hands directed towards her,’ while the standing one, the owner of the house, ‘is angrily asking the accused to explain his conduct, threatening him with the forefinger of his upraised hand.’

c14.33

effectively portrayed the pleasant wonder of the unsophisticated youth when sex-consciousness dawns in his mind.¹ The hand-poses which are depicted in Figures 6 and 7 in Plate No. III of this book should be studied now. The former figure which is based on the bronze statuette of Harpocrates (thus identified by Marshall) unearthed at Taxila shows the right hand of the child-god raised towards his mouth with the index finger placed on the chin in token of silence. The latter is sketched from a four-armed Viṣṇu image from Khajuraho whose front left hand is shown in a similar pose (the index finger here more suggestively touches the left corner of the lower lip); this is one of the most unique representations of Viṣṇu, and no text is known to me which enjoins that Viṣṇu is to be shown in such a pose. Upadhyay and Agrawala have very correctly drawn our attention in their article mentioned above to the Kumārasambhava passage which describes Nandī guarding the entrance of Śiva's place of meditation: "Nandī posted at the entrance of the bower, having a golden staff resting against his forearm, bade the Gaṇas to observe stillness with a gesture in which a finger of his right hand touched his mouth."² The bronze image of Hanumān, one of the four (the others being of Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa and Sītā) belonging to the temple of Shermadevī in the Tinnevelly district of the Madras State, shows his right hand placed upon the mouth, indicating the attitude of silent respect and ungrudging obedience of the devoted follower.³

c14.34

¹ For the identification of this relief, cf. 'A relief of Ṛṣyaśṛṅga in the Mathura Museum', in J. I. S. O. A., Vol. IV, No. I, pp. 62-4, Pl. XI; see also V. S. Agrawala, Handbook to the Sculptures in the Mathura Museum, p. 42, Pl. XVI, Fig. 53.

c14.35

² Kumārasambhava, III, 41: Latāgṛhadvāragato'tha Nandī vāmaprakoṣṭhār-pitahemavetraḥ | Mukhārpitaikāṅgulisamjñayaiva mā cāpalāyeti gaṇān vyanaisīt. For the Harpocrates figure, cf. Marshall, A Guide to Taxila, p. 79, Pl. XV; according to him, it is a late Hellenistic work. Vögel identified the Ṛṣyaśṛṅga figure as probably a Yakṣa of a fashionable type,' suggesting that its pose resembled that of Harpocrates (Ars Asiatica, Vol. XV, p. 102), but this suggestion was rightly challenged by Agrawala and Upadhyay. For the Khajuraho Viṣṇu, see J. I. S. O. A., Vol. I, p. 103, Pl. XXX.

c14.36

³ T. A. G. Rao, op. cit., Vol. I, Pl. LIV. Another bronze figure of the same monkey-god hailing from Ramesvaram portrays the identical pose.

c14.37

Figure 21 in Plate II of this book is also another unnamed hand-pose where two fingers (index and thumb) are put inside the mouth in order to produce some whistling sound; the left hand is shown in that pose, while the right one waves high one end of the scarf worn by the figure. This drawing is based on a deva figure from Bharhut relief depicting the victory of Buddha over Māra (Barua, *Bharhut*, Bk. III, Pl. XXXVII). Exactly the same posture is shown on similar figures appearing in the scene of Buddha’s birth in numerous reliefs from Gandhāra. The waving of the cloth is called *cellukhepa* in Pāli and is expressive of the great joy of the waver; the pose of the left hand, thus, is also of similar import. Even now boys, who are able to do it, use the above expressive pose to give vent to their joy by whistling. I may say that I have not met with any such pose in my study of the Brahmanical sculptures of different periods.

c14.38

A somewhat detailed account has been given of the various hand-poses which are usually depicted in the images of the Hindu divinities and their attendants. The *bhūsparśa* or *bhūmisparśa* pose, in which the left hand rests on the lap with palm outward and the right with the palm inward touches the seat below, is particularly associated with Buddhist iconography. This pose illustrates the story of Buddha’s calling the earth as his witness for testifying to his right to sit on the Vajrāsana under the Bodhi tree, which was challenged by Māra, just prior to his enlightenment. Grünwedel has remarked that ‘certain hand-postures attached themselves to particular legends and the position of the hands in the chief figure becomes an indication of the legend’ (*Buddhist Art*, p. 177). This observation is mainly applicable to the two, viz., the *dharmacakra*- and the *bhūsparśa-mudrā*; both these were principally connected with Buddhism, and in developed Mahāyāna iconography they were the typical hand-poses of the two Dhyāni Buddhas, viz., Vairocana and Akṣobhya respectively. The nearest approach of the latter pose in Hindu iconography is to be found in the two-armed figure of Nara in the Deogarh relief already noted, where the god is seated in the *ardha*- paryanka fashion on a raised seat with the index and the middle fingers of his left hand touching his seat; but unlike the Buddhist mode of representing the mudrā, we find here the palm of the hand turned outward.

c14.39

A few remarks about the complicated hand-poses which are reproduced by me in Plate V are necessary. I have already shown that these were mainly ritualistic in character, adopted by the sādhaka in the performance of his sādhanā or the bhakta in the worship of the deity of his choice. I have selected at random the eight mudrās from the manuscript text in order to show how the particular poses in which the hands of the sādhaka are shown in the most intricate processes of his sādhanā are in keeping with the ideas contained in the mantras uttered by him in each case. The eight mantras associated with the eight figures are thus laid down in the text: 1. Oṃ vajrānalahandaha-pathamabhañjana hum; 2. Oṃ vajrapāśa hrīṃ; 3. Oṃ vajrapuṣpe svāhā; 4. Oṃ vajradvī(dī)pe svāhā; 5. Oṃ vajrāṅkuśa ja; 6. Oṃ vajranaivedya svāhā; 7. Oṃ sarvvatathāgatasiddhivajrasamaya tiṣṭha eṣastvām dhārayāmi vajrasattva hi hi hi hi humiti; 8. Oṃ sarvvavit vajradhūpe trāṃ. Now, the ideological association of the mudrās numbering 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8 with the different mantras is not difficult to follow; Nos. 4, 5 and 6 in some mystic way may contain the outline representation of a lamp, an elephant-goad and a pot of offering. It may be noted here that the nivedya or naivedya mudrā outlined by Poduval is closely similar to No. 6 in my plate; I may also observe that the Brahman priests, when they dedicate any naivedya (offering) to the deity, usually adopt this mudrā and taking a flower with the tips of the index fingers of the two interlocked hands drop it on the naivedya. The waving flames of fire, the hands tied by a noose (pāśa) and the offering of a palmful of flowers to the deity are characteristically expressed by Figs. 1, 2 and 3; Fig. 7 expresses the invocation of the success attained by all Tathāgatas, symbolised here by the vajra and ghaṇṭā (bell, does it also indicate time?) and asking it to stay with the sādhaka, as he holds these symbols in his hand; Fig. 8 simply shows the incenseburner with smoke issuing from it held in the right hand, the left hand being placed below.¹

c14.40

¹ The text from which these poses as well as the mantras are taken is a late 18th century Vajrayāna manuscript collected by P. C. Bagchi from Nepal. In its colophon I read, ‘Iti śrimacchākyarāja-durgatipariśodhanamukyākhyāna heguri(?) samāpta 1 Samvat 915 pauṣaśukle ekādaśī bṛhaspativāra kunhu(?) 1 Suvarṇapanāri-mahānagare śantighaṭamahāsthāne hemakaramahāvihāraveṣṭita tam lācchito(?) rathyākāvāhārayā(?) śrivajrācārya nāmasaṃgīti nāthaja(?) tha(?) durgatipariśodhana-samādhi-thamanam(?) coyājura(?) śubhaḥ’ The language is corrupt Sanskrit and there seems to be some inter-mixture of Newarī in it. The date 915 Newar Samvat corresponds to c. 1795 A.D.

c14.41.1

The Dhruva-beras or the principal types of Viṣṇu images are grouped under three broad heads, viz., sthānaka (standing), āsana (seated) and śayana (recumbent), in the Vaikhānasāgama text. The images of the other gods and their attendants also are represented in one or other of the first two attitudes, the recumbent ones being very rare. Several varieties of images also are to be found in dancing or flying pose, the latter being mostly used in the representation of such accessories as the Vidyādharas and others. In the case of standing images, different kinds of stance are met with, while there are also numerous varieties of sitting postures in which the seated images are shown. Four different standing poses were usually shown by the Indian iconographer in representing the sthānakamūrtis; they are called bhaṅgas, i.e., ‘flexions’ or ‘attitudes’. These are sama-bhaṅga or samapāda, ābhaṅga, tribhaṅga and atibhaṅga. The first denotes the equipoised body where ‘the right and left of the figure are disposed symmetrically, the sūtra or plumb line passing through the navel, from the crown of the head to a point midway between the heels’ (A. N. Tagore). Thus, the weight of the whole body is equally distributed on both the legs and the poise is firm and erect, there being no bend in the body.

c14.41.2

Many are the Indian images which are shown in this attitude, the most typical being the early and late figures of the Jain Tīrthaṅkaras whose hands also hang straight down by their sides without showing the least bend in them (kāyotsarga). The Brahmanical and Buddhist divinities, when they are depicted in this attitude, usually show various dispositions of their hands, either according to the nature of the ideas expressed by them, or according to the type of the weapon or emblem held by them. Sirimā-devatā and many other Vyantara-devatās on the Bharhut railing stand in the samabhaṅga attitude. Figures 7, 8 and 20 in Plate I (varieties of Śiva on Ujjayinī and Audumbara coins), Figure 6 in Plate XI (Gaja-Lakṣmī on some coins of Azilises), Figure 9 in Plate X (Mahāsena on Huvishka’s coins) and Figure 1 in Plate XI (Gaja-Lakṣmī on a Bhita seal) are shown in the above pose. Ābhaṅga is that form of standing pose in which the plumb-line or the centre line, from the crown of the head to a point midway between the heels, passes slightly to the right of the navel (Tagore). In other words, a slight bend both in the upper and the lower halves of the figure is definitely perceptible in this form. Many also are the Indian images which are represented in this pose;

c14.41.3

Figures 13 and 19 in Plate I (Śiva on some Ujjayinī coins and on some coins of Wema Kadphises), Figures 2 and 8 in Plate XI and 2 in Plate IX (composite god on a nicolo seal, Umā on some coins of Huvishka, a goddess with cakra on Maues’ coins), Figures 15-18 in Plate IX (Śiva on a square copper coin of Maues and on a few coins of Huvishka), Figure 7 in Plate XI on a seal of the Śaka period (it has been identified as Poseidon trampling on a bull-shaped river god), the figures of Skanda-Kumāra and Viśākha on Huvishka’s coins reproduced in Plate X, Figure 6, Gaṅgā and Sarasvatī (?) in Plate IX, Figure 3 and in Plate XI, Figure 3 (Gaṅgā rides on the elephantine Makara on the reverse side of the Tiger-slayer type coins of Samudragupta and Sarasvatī (?) appears on the coins of Narendravinata, a Bengal king of the late Gupta period) all these can be described as standing in the ābhaṅga pose. The tribhaṅga pose has been described by A. N. Tagore as one in which the centre line passes through the left (or right) pupil, the middle of the chest, the left (or right) of the navel, down to the heels. The lower limbs, from the hips to the feet, are displaced to the right (or left) of the figure, the trunk between the hips and neck, to the left (or right), while the head leans towards the right (or left).’ It should be noted that the number of bends in the figure is three and so the name is quite appropriate.

c14.41.4

The pose may not be as common as the other two, but it is also used in the iconographic art of ancient and mediaeval India, especially in the representations of goddesses and other attendants of principal deities. Ṛṣyaśṛṅga on the Mathura railing (Pl. IV, Fig. 3) and the goddess on certain copper coins of Azes, tentatively identified by me as Durgā (Pl. VIII, Fig. 6), are undoubtedly depicted in the *tribhaṅga* pose. *Atibhaṅga* has rightly been described by A. N. Tagore as really an emphasised form of the *tribhaṅga*, the sweep of the *tribhaṅga* curve being considerably enhanced. The upper portion of the body above the limbs below are thrown to right or left, backwards or forwards, like ‘a tree caught in a storm’. This type is comparatively rarely represented in Indian art and is used in the depiction of dynamic action of the divinity; several *ugra* (terrific) forms of Śaiva and Śākta deities and the various *krodha-devatās* of Vajrayāna Buddhism are usually depicted in this manner.

c14.42

Reference may be made here to the *ālīḍha* and *pratyālīḍha* poses in which some *sthānakamūrtis* are shown. *Ālīḍhapada*, which is sometimes loosely called *ālīḍhāsana*, denotes that particular mode of standing usually sideways in which the right knee is thrown to the front and the leg retracted and the left leg is diagonally stretched behind, while *pratyālīḍhapada* is just its opposite; both these attitudes are adopted by persons shooting arrows, and one of the earliest depictions of these poses is to be found in the two arrow-shooting figures of Uṣā and Pratyūṣā, goddesses of dawn, accompanying Sūrya in a pillar of the old stone railing at Bodh Gaya. In a fragmentary Gandhāra relief in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, Sūrya is seated on a chariot and one of the arrow-shooting figures is present, the other being broken. A very early representation of the *pratyālīḍha* pose is outlined in the drawing No. 25 in Plate I, which is based on a figure appearing on some punch-marked coins among the Purnea hoard. Śiva appearing on the Sirkap bronze seal of Śivarakṣita and on some copper coins of Maues (Fig. 5 in Pl. XI and Fig. 18 in Pl. IX) is shown in the same posture, though he is not depicted as shooting arrows. *Tantrasāra* describes the Brahmanical goddess Tārā, ideologically similar to the same goddess in the Vajrayāna pantheon and most probably derived from it, as ‘fierce and standing in the *pratyālīḍha* attitude’ (*pratyālīḍhapadāṃ ghorām*). The standing pose shown in Figure 28, Plate I (drawing from a figurine on a few punch-marked coins in the Purnea hoard) is very interesting. The right knee flexed outwards with the right leg crossing the left leg firmly planted reminds us of the posture in which some Yakṣiṇīs on Bharhut and Mathura railings are depicted; some mediaeval and modern images of Kṛṣṇa in several of his *līlāmūrtis* are also shown in this pose.¹

c14.43

¹ The names of the 4 principal standing poses described above are from A. N. Tagore's ‘*Some Notes on Indian Artistic Anatomy*’ (published by the Indian Socicty of Oriental Art), pp. 11-13.

c14.44

Mention may be made here of the various poses or *sthānas* in which pictures of gods and men are to be shown, according to the *Viṣṇudharmottara*. There is at first a list of nine major *sthānas* detailed in Book III, Ch. 39, verses 1-32. Their names are *ṛjvāgata*, *anṛju*, *sācīkṛtaśarīra*, *ardhavilocana*, *pārśvāgata*, *parāvṛtta*, *pṛṣṭhāgata*, *purāvṛtta* and *samānata*. In verses 40-42 of the same chapter are enumerated as many as thirteen *sthānas* on the basis of the law of ‘fore-shortening’ (*kṣaya-vṛddhi*). These are *ṛjvāgata*, *anṛju*, *madhyārdha*, *ardha*, *ardhārdha*, *sācīkṛtamukha*, *nata*, *gaṇḍaparāvṛtta*, *pṛṣṭhāgata*, *pārśvāgata*, *ullepa*, *calita*, *uttāna* and *valita*. The list may have been added later, for it is clear that it is an enlarged form of the earlier list. The above poses are characterised by the position of the legs and feet which are varied by a series of motions like *vaiśākha*, *ālīḍha* and *pratyālīḍha* (poses peculiar to archers—*Tatra vaiśākhamālīḍhaṃ pratyālīḍhaṃ ca dhanvinām*), *citragomutrakagata* (?) and *viṣama* (peculiar to wielders of sword and shield), *calita*, *khalita* (*valita* ?), *āyasta* (*āyata* ?) and *ālīḍhaikapada* (peculiar in turn to the holders of a spear, a tomara, i.e., an iron club, a stone and a bhindipāla, i.e., a small javelin or dart), savalgita (in a sort of gallop ?—pose peculiar to the persons who hold a wheel, a trident, a mace, a kuṇapa, i.e., a kind of spear). These varieties of the positions of legs and feet are in addition to the two principal groups of standing poses, viz., sama and arddhasama or asama which mean ‘well-planted’ and ‘in motion’ respectively (Samaścārddhasamāḥ pādāḥ susthitāni calāni ca | Samāsamapadasthaṃ ca dvidvidhaṃ sthānakaṃ bhavet). Samapāda is also known as the stance which is pādabhūyiṣṭha (feet firmly and squarely planted?), while the other type (i.e., asama or arddhasama) should be (known as) maṇḍala (in rotatory motion) : Tadgatvā padabhūyiṣṭhaṃ sthānaṃ samapadaṃ smṛtam | Maṇḍalañca dvitīyaṃ syāt. . . . One foot firmly planted, the other shown in moving posture, is really the arddha-samapāda or ekasamapāda, as seems to be the sense in the description of the standing pose of the female figures in the following passage. The author of the Viṣṇudharmottara thus describes the attitude in which the female figures should be shown—‘one of the legs (should be) in the samasthāna (straightly planted), the other in the vidgala (does it refer to the manner of showing one leg crossing the other firmly planted leg?—cf. Fig. 28 in Plate I, it is a female figure as is clear from the big braid behind the head), the body should be shown in a graceful manner, sometimes held by supports, charming with its grace and dalliance, with the front part of the loins being broad and spacious, with one leg firm and well-adjusted—thus should a sage paint a female figure.’¹

First 54 of 150 passages. Read on

Cites (25)