Mudra is a technical term used in both YOGA and Indian dance. In yoga the mudras are particular hand gestures or bodily attitudes that have spiri-tual or yogic meaning or purpose. In Indian dance the mudras are hand gestures accompanied by particular bodily stances. For example, in BHARATA NAT YA M, the Indian national dance, mudras are used to communicate the moods of characters and their dramatic interactions.
Further reading: Mudras in Symbols: Bharatnatya Man-ual Primer (Madras: Centre for Promotion of the Tradi-tional Arts, 1988); Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha (Bihar: Bihar School of Yoga, 1999).
See pancha makara.
Encyclopedia of Hinduism. A. Jones and James D. Ryan. 2007.