Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c74.s3.24

v2.c74.s3.24

**Dharmacakra** :—It is characteristic of Buddha images alone. It symbolises the first preaching of the Law by the Master at Sarnath, ‘thus figuratively speaking, setting thenceforward the ‘Wheel of the Law’ in motion. It is also used in the representation of the Great Miracles at Śrāvastī. The Gandhara images, in the opinion of Dr. Bannerjea (D. H. I. p. 256) could not give an authentic representation of this pose. ‘But in the truely Indian images of Buddha from the Gupta period onwards, the Dharmacakra-mudrā is invariably presented in the manner shown in Fig. 4, Plate III of this book’. Dr. Bannerjea further remarks—‘this hand-pose is nothing but the combined representation of jñāna and vyākhyāna-mudrās, the left hand being in the former and the right in the latter’.