Author: Fredrick W Bunce
Publisher: D K Printworld
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 376
ISBN/UPC (if available): 812460312X
Description
Mudras occupy an important place in Buddhist and Hindu religious practices as these signify special meanings, associated with specific divinities and rites, which cannot be represented any other way.
This book is a dictionary of mudras in Hindu and Buddhist religious practices that lists the various mudras — deity-centred, rite-centred, yogic-centred, and so on — illustrating each with a simple drawing drawn generally from the perspective of one holding the mudra. It contains detailed notes that give numerous references to literary and other sources that reveal a lot about the mudras — their descriptions in the texts, rites associated with the mudras in the texts as well as the varied interpretations of a number of mudras in the different texts.
The book also has an introduction on Hindu and Buddhist mudras that goes into iconographic features associated with deities along with the technical descriptions and the subcategories and further divisions into which mudras are arranged. It scrutinises the work done by a number of scholars on the subject to throw further light on the subject. The volume will prove helpful to all students and scholars who are engaged in study of Hindu and Buddhist religious traditions and practices.
Contents
LIST OF FIGURES
USER’S GUIDE
PREFACE AND INTRODUCTION
Mudras
A to Z
Addendum
Notes
Bibliography
Appendix A
Descriptive Term Designations
Appendix B
Thai Postures of the Lord Buddha
Appendix C
Mudra List
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS