Use of hand gestures in Indian classical dances

By Subashini Pathmanathan

All Indian and oriental Classical dances are mostly based on Natya Sathra.

The muthras or hand gestures in Bharatha Natyam and some of the other South Indian classical dance forms play important role. The word muthras or hasthas generally means the figure works of the fingers.

The muthras are generally divided into two major categories. One is single hand muthras, and other one is double hand muthras. Number of muthras; generally differ from text to text. Generally there are 28 single hand muthras, and 23 double hand muthras. Two or three different types of muthras are illustrated under one name.

In Sanskrit the muthras are called Hasthas, and single hand muthras are called Asamutha Hasthas, and double hand muthras are called Samutha Hasthas. Yet the total number of muthras differ from text to text.

Classical Indian dancer

In some texts the total numbers of single hand muthras are about thirty to thirty three and the double hand muthras are nearly about 23. Even the muthras are referred as Kai Ammaithi in Tamil. Both these single hand muthras and double hand muthras are further divided, into two different categories.

One is Ellil hand muthras, (beauty hands, or grace hands).And other is Thollil hand muthras (working hands), to illustrate the meaning of the songs. Ellil hand muthras are used only in adavus (steps).This category of Ellil hand muthras are only used in the nirtha division of dance.

That's why these hands are often called nirtha muthras or nirtha hasthas. These hands do not reveal any meaning but add beauty to the hands. More or less altogether 13 muthras are included in this category, including some single hand muthras, and some double hand muthras.

The muthras used for abinaya are called Nirthiya hasthas, or Nirthiya muthras. In this category all the single and double hand muthras are used.

Each muthras has numerous usages. The usages of each muthras are clearly described in various ancient texts. Yet in Bharatha Natyam and in other South Indian classical dances we still use these muthras with the same sense and effect with the same prescribed illustrations in texts.

In these classical dance forms certain muthras (hand gestures) are firmly established for certain concepts like asuras, devas, different deities, mother, father, uncle aunt, different planets and the ten incarnations of lord Vishnu.

In the Indian classical dance forms Kathakali, Kuchupidi, Oddissi, and Mohini Attam use the same hasthas, or muthras.Only a restricted number of muthras are used, in some Indian classical dance forms among all these classical dance forms, Bharatha Natyam and Kuchupidi use the maximum number of muthras.

Normally the role of muthras is not clearly and firmly demarcated within a chosen limit. Practically the use of muthras is totally depended on the imaginative creativity of each individual artiste, and the personal ability of the artiste, and how the artiste interprets the meaning of the songs.

In Kathakali the muthras are used on the basis of the ancient text Hastha Lakshana Deepika. Altogether more or less 24 fundamental muthras are used in Kathakali. Like most of the other Indian classical forms, in Kathakali the meaning of the songs, (moods and emotions) are illustrated, expressed and interpreted through facial expressions and hand gestures (hasthas).

In Oddissi, like Bharatha Natyam, hasthas or hand gestures are used in pure nirtha and nirthiya. Abinaya Darpana is the ancient Sanskrit text believed to be written by Nanthikeswarar which is the main source to learn the hand gestures.

Beside this, various treatises are available to provide, valuable information regarding the hand gestures. Like Bharatha Natyam, and Kathakali, Oddissi, also derives its hand gesture sources from Abinaya Darpanam, to some extent, but mostly it derives from Abinaya Chandrika.

The Andhra Pradesh classical dance form Kuchupidi, has its close links with Tamil Nadu classical dance form Bharatha Natyam. Hence both these classical dance forms use the hand muthras extensively in nirtha and nirthiya. Kuchupidi is more drama based classical dance form, which uses more realistic expressions in the dance, while interpreting the meaning of the theme of the songs through facial expression and hand gestures.

Mohini Attam which is another attractive classical dance form is a fusion of Bharatha Natyam and Kathakali; it also uses the same hand gestures to a great extent. Many times various varieties of folk dances are used in numerous traditional hand gestures to interpret the meaning of the songs.

Another division of hand gestures is called sculptural muthras. These sculptural hasthas (gestures) or sculptural muthras look almost similar to dance muthras. Even the dance muthras derive their source from the sculptural muthras. But essentially and basically the usage of the sculptural muthras differs from the dance muthras.

The gopura temple sculptural muthras are used to interpret the meaning of the epics, and religious puranas. Meanwhile in dance the poses and abinaya are used to interpret the meaning of the songs through muthras. The sculptural muthras are carved in stones, or made out of combined mixture of cement; hence the shapes are quite different from the natural dance hand muthras.