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Essay name: Hastalaksanadipika a critical edition and study

Author: E. K. Sudha
Affiliation: Government Sanskrit College (Tripunithura) / Department of Sanskrit

This is an English study on the Hastalaksanadipika—a manual depicting the Mudras (gestures) of the Kerala theatre. It is a very popular text supposedly dating to the 10th century A.D. This study also touches the subject of Krsnanattam, Kathakali and Kutiyattam—some of India's oldest theatrical traditions in Kerala.

Chapter 6 - Background of evolution of language of gestures

Page:

26 (of 34)


External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)


Download the PDF file of the original publication


Copyright (license):

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)


Warning! Page nr. 26 has not been proofread.

This comparison is done by Mr.Clifford R.Jones. The comparison drawn between Anusvāramudra of Ṛgvedic reictation and Muṣṭi of the HLD according to Mr.Clifford R.Jones does not seem to be logical. If this sort of comparison is to be accepted, there are many more gestures which could be compared. For example, Nakāramudra of Ṛgveda - if the thumb is moved to the tip of the middle finger it would form Bhramara of the NS and the AD used in Kathakaḷi, not mentioned in the HLD. Hrasvikaraṇamudra - Like Bana of the BRB with semi-pronation movement. TANTRIC MUDRĀS OF KERALA As an extension of the Vedic mudrās, the Tantric tradition of Kerala also accepted a system of gestures. If Vedic mudras were intended to the correct implication of the meaning while chanting, the Tantric mudrās were used to please the deities at the time of worship. The mudrās formed the medium to communicate with the proposed powers. The ultimate aim is to please the deity. That is why the word mudrā got its name which is really meaningful. As mentioned elsewhere in the thesis, mudra is मोदनात� सर्वदेवाना� द्रावणात� पापसन्ततेः � तस्मात� मुद्रेति सा ख्याता सर्वकामार्थसाधिनी ।। [modanāt sarvadevānā� drāvaṇāt pāpasantate� | tasmāt mudreti sā khyātā sarvakāmārthasādhinī || ] Tantric mudrās are highly symbolic. One mudrā can comunicate a lot of meaings. Each mudrā is a complete perfect entity. By closely examining the Tantric mudrās one could see the pattern in which a mudrā 200

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