The Development of Hindu Iconography c14.28

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.