History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.280

v7.c92.280

The Jñānārṇava Tantra (IV. 31-47 and 51-56 and XV. 47-68) names over thirty mudrās, several of which bear the same names as those in Nityāṣoḍaśikārṇava, are defined in a similar way and are quoted by Bhāskararāya in his commentary on the latter work. In these circumstances the author proposes to name and describe first of all the nine mudrās of the Śāradātilaka.¹⁸¹² (1) Āvāhanī mudrā consists in folding both hands in a hollow and filling the hollow completely with flowers; (2) sthāpanī is the same as āvāhanī but the folded hands are held upside down; (3) the 'sannidhāpana-mudrā' occurs when the two hands are formed into a closed fist, are joined together with only the thumbs raised up; (4) 'Sannirodhanī' means the same as the preceding but with the thumbs closed inside the fist; (5) the mudrā is called 'Sammukhīkaraṇī' when the two closed fists are held upwards; (6) 'Sakalīkṛti' mudrā is the action of making the nyāsa of the six limbs on the limbs of the (image of) the *devatā* (deity worshipped), (7) the 'Avaguṇṭhana' mudrā consists in closing the fingers held straight and turned downwards and waving the hand round (the image); (8) 'Dhenumudrā' (a complicated pose) is formed by putting the right small finger over the right ring finger, intertwining the former with the left ring finger, the left small finger as it is, to be intertwined with the right ring finger, the left ring finger is to be passed over the left middle finger and the left thumb, and to be intertwined with the right hand middle finger brought to the right side of the left index finger and the right hand index finger to be joined with the left hand middle finger, (9) Mahāmudrā is constituted by intertwining the thumbs of both hands and holding the other fingers straight.