Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c74.s2.206

v2.c74.s2.206

It is with this background that the technical Mudrās—hand poses, and the postures of legs—are intimately associated with the figures of gods and goddesses both in painting and sculpture, where the aim of the artist is to provide the mute gods and goddesses, a vehicle of expression through the medium of poses and postures. This suggestiveness, the most vital element in the art, brings life in any artistic expression. Moreover, gestures have played a great part in the development of human civilisation from the linguistic point of view. With the tremendous advancement in power of speech, a rational endowment to mankind, the use of gesture sometimes, in the expression of ideas with more clarity and emphasis, has been in vogue from time immemorial and it is still a civilised sign of an orator, a public speaker, or a lecturer in the class room. A mere gesture with a hand or any other limb of the body suggests volume of ideas otherwise unexpressed or expressed imperfectly. Hence the hand poses, the poses of the body or the postures of legs, in which the art traditions of ancient India make their images express themselves, were long stereotyped here.