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Essay on Buddha Mudras
Images of the Buddha were produced from the fifth century onwards. The sacred nature of the representation is reflected in the artistic goal of creating an aura of equanimity, perfection, and holiness. The large number of rules governing the execution of a portrayal or a statue requires an erudite understanding of Buddhist symbolism. Any Buddha figure made by a skilled artist exhibits a multitude of characteristics that communicate subtle meanings and intentions to the viewer. The most important of these characteristics are perhaps the mudras, or hand gestures, of the Buddha. These well-defined gestures have a fixed meaning throughout all styles and periods of Buddha images.
With the onset of Buddhism, many mudra practices were absorbed into the culture. Common hand gestures are to be seen in both Hindu and Buddhist iconography. An example would be the outward-facing open palm known as Abhay (without fear) mudra, a gesture meant to dispel the fear of the devotee. The utmost diversity of mudras appears in Indian traditional dance, recognized as bharata natyam. Mudras used in dance are called hasta-mudras and increase to comprise movements of the wrists, elbows, and shoulders in addition to gestures made with the fingers and palms.
The majority of these mudras are formed as variations on four fundamental hand positions: flat palm, cupped palm, closed fist, and fingers and thumb together. Indian treatises have classified 32 major hand positions with about 500 unlike meanings. These gestures represent gods, demons, emperors, flowers (there are more than 60 lotus flower mudras), rivers, mountains, sunsets, birds, and such feelings as love, wonder, surprise, worry, and hate. Mudras may have originated in memorization techniques of priests as they recited the Veda, the most ancient sacred texts of Hinduism. The pose of the thumb and fingers enabled the priests to keep track of verse numbers, time, and cues for various ritual acts.......
