The Development of Hindu Iconography c14.9

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.