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鈥攁 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鈥攕ome of India's oldest theatrical traditions in Kerala.
Chapter 6 - Background of evolution of language of gestures
4 (of 34)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
LIST OF RG VEDA MUDR膧S 1. Hrasvamudr膩 - Mudr膩 for short (hrasva) syllables. All fingers are 2. extended in all joints and all fingers except the thumb are in apposition with each other. Eg:-Dev膩sy脿, Asavi, G膩yata M奴rdhanyamudr膩 - Mudr膩 for retroflex (m眉rdhanya). Consonants, viz, ta, tha, da, dha, na, sa and la followed by short vowel or e. Ring finger flexed at metacarpophalangeal joint and first interphalangeal joint, extended at last interphalangeal joint, all other fingers extended and separated from each other. Hand in supination. Eg:- Rak峁, Trini, Ai岣穉 (RV.10.95.18), K膩ne (RV. 10. 155.1) The same mudr膩 is used for syllables ending sya or sva unless they are accented with svarita. Eg:-irusya, Kr峁噓sva For syllables ending with sya or sva and marked with svarita, the Hrasvamudra is used. Eg:- Amu峁a 3. Gh艒samudr膩 Mudra for unaspirated consonants with a voice - (ghosa), viz: gha, jha, dha, dha, bha and ha. All joints extended except metacarpophalangeal joints of little, ring and the middle fingers which are flexed. Hand in semipronation. Eg: Gha, Adhi, Tastambha, Abhi, Nahi. 188
