Our traditional scriptures called the gestures ‘Hastabhinaya’. Hastaabhinaya is showing emotions through different mudras of hands. These mudras can be made with only one hand or both hands.
Two types of hand gestures:
Asanyukta hasta
Sanyukta hasta
ASANYUKTA HASTA: ONE HAND GESTURES
Single hand gestures or mudras of single hand are known as ansyukta hastas.
In Nandikeshwar’s Abhinaya Darpan These are:
1.PATAKA 15.PADAMKOSH
2.TRIPATAKA 16.SARPASHIKSH
3.ARDHPATAKA 17.MRIGASHIRSH
4.KARATRIMUKH 18.SIMHAMUKH
5.MAYUR 19.LANGULA
6.ARDHCHANDRA 20.ALAPDAMA
7.ARAAL 21.CHATURA
8.SHUKTUNDA 22.BHARMARA
9.MUSHTHI 23.HANSASYA
10.SHIKHAR 24.HANSPAKSHAy
11.KAPITH. 25.SANDANSH
12.KATAKAMUKH 26.MUKUL
13.SHUCHI. 27.TAMARCHUDA
14.CHANDRAKALA 28.TRISHULA
There are 28 hand gestures in Abhinaya Darpan while in Natya Sastra there are only 24.
SANYUKTA HASTA: TWO HAND GESTURES
Combined hand gestures are those which are made by the combination of both hands and are known as Sanyukta Hasta
1.ANJALI 13.CHAKRA
2.KAPOTAc 14.SAMPUTA
3.KARKATA 15.PASHA
4.SWASTIKA 16.KILIKA
5.DOLA 17. MATSYA
6.PUSHAPPUTA 18. KURMA
7.UTSANGA 19.VARAHA
8.SHIVALINGA 20.GARUDA
9.KATKAVARDHAN 21.NAGABANDH
10.KARTARISWASTIKA 22.KHATWA
11.SHAKATA 23.BHERUNDA
12.SHANKHA 24.AVAHITTA