South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c12.s2.77

c12.s2.77

Some of the purely artistic positions of the hand are: the simhakarna (Plate I, No. 1), the kataka (Plate IV, No. 4a), the katiga “hand resting on the waist” (Plate IV, No. 6), the position in which the hand hangs down freely “like the tail of a cow” (Plate I, No. 2), the placing of the kūrpara by Siva on the head of the bull (Plate III, No. 9), the gajahasta of Natarāja (No. 19) and the position in which Siva as Bhikshātana touches the mouth of the antelope (Plate III, No. 17).² Some other significant positions of the hand are those known as sūchi “the pointing finger” (Plate III, No. 13 and Plate IV, No. 23), tarjani “the threatening finger” (Plate III, Nos. 18 and 26) and the vismaya “wonder” (Plate III, Nos. 15 and 22 and Plate I, No. 4). The three latter are generally found in the figures of Siva and of guardian deities.