The Development of Hindu Iconography c14.44

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