The Secret Language of Hands in Indian Iconography

There is no one key to unlocking the mysteries of India, a nation at once so traditional and so dynamic, so anarchic and so arresting. But mudra, the gestural vocabulary used in imagery, dance, and yoga, can help. With root meanings in a verb that can signify cleansing and purification as well as satisfaction and delight, mudra is used in Indian rhetoric to denote “the expression of things by their right names.”
 More concretely, a mudra is a seal or an emblem. As a system of hand gestures, it can sum up a god’s or goddess’s character—or a dancer’s mood—in a moment of concentrated symbolism and meaning.