The Development of Hindu Iconography c14.41.2

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;