Agni Purāṇa
341 - Description of the actions and movements of the limbs
Agni said:
1. The exertion of the body is regarded as the particular gesture relating to the limbs and subordinate limbs and as their action. The former generally relates to women.
2-5a. It is (divided) into twelve1-sportiveness, playful gesture, cessation (of care in dress etc.), amorous play or movement, amorous agitation consisting of laughter, weeping, etc., involuntary expression of affection towards the lover, repulse of lover's caresses, indifference towards a beloved object (bibboka), that which arises from tenderness (lalita), affected by passion or emotion, pleasure-giving pastime and amorous sport. Sportiveness (is) the imitation of the gesture of the beloved person in a hidden abode. Playful gesture is said by good people as exhibiting some peculiarities a little. Kilakiñchita is the combination of laughter, weeping and the like. Bibboka is some kind of perturbation. Lalita arises from tenderness.
1. The text explains only five among these.
5b-6a. The head, hand, chest, side, loin and foot (are) successively (known) as the limbs and the creeper-like (tender) eyebrows and the like as the minor limbs.
6b-7a. (There cannot bc) the use of the limbs and minor limbs without the exertion born of effort. It is straight and indirect sometimes.
7b-9a. The head is known (to move) in thirteen ways -trembling,shaking, gentleshaking (dhūta), violentshaking (vidhüta), excessive movement (parivāhita), agitated, tossed, graceful, contracted, turned round, raised upwards, bent downwards and rolling,
9b. The movement of the eyebrowshould be known as sevenfold (such as) lowering, knitting etc.
10. The glance (is said) to be threefold as being related to the sentiment, the permanent (feeling) and the transitory (feeling). It is divided into thirtysix kinds, among which eight arise from sentiments
11. The function of the pupil is ninefold-moving, rolling and the like. (The actions of) the nose are known to be six. (Those of) respiration are said to be nine.
12. The actions of the lower lip are of six kinds. The actions of the chin are of seven kinds. Those of the face beginning with perturbation are of six kinds. (The actions of) the neck are known as of nine kinds.
13-19a. The hand is employed as unfolded and folded by the character. Onc banner, three banners, scissor-edge, halfmoon, opening up, parrot-beak, fist, pinnacle, wood-apple, club edged (?), needle-pointed, lotus bud, snake-hood, deer-head, kangulaka, alapadma, round pillow, bee, swan-mouth, swan-wing, pincers, blossom, spider and cock are the twentyfour of the unfolded hands. Those of the folded hands are thirteen-slightly folded or open pigeon, crab, svastika. Katakavardhamana1, asanga2, nishadha, swing, flower-casket, crocodile, elephant tusk, bahistambha3 and vardhamana.
1. The text reads kataka and vardhamana. Cf. NSIX. 8-10 reading these two as one.
2. utsanga (lap). Cf. NS IX.
3. Cf. NS IX. given as avahittha (dissemination of internal feeling).
19b-20. The chest may be of five kinds, such as a little curyed and straight4 etc. The belly is threefold-not very slender, slenders and full, The actions of the sides are five. The actions of theshank are also five. The action of the feet in dance and the like in a drama is known to be manifold.
4. The text wrongly reads nartana, Cf. VS IX.
5. The text reads khanda for khalla in NS X.
Summary of chapter 343 of the Agni Purāṇa is as follows:
The figures of speech that operate primarily at the level of sound (śabdālaṅkāra) are catalogued. The five varieties of anuprāsa (alliteration and sound-echo) — madhurā, lalitā, prauḍhā, bhadrā, and paruṣā — are explained by examples. The elaborate citrabandha (picture-poem) tradition is described: the sarvato-bhadra (readable in all directions), the kamala-bandha or padmabandha (lotus-shaped text in four, eight, or sixteen petals), the cakra-bandha (wheel-shaped poem with four or six spokes), the muraja-bandha (drum-shaped), and the gomūtrikā (zigzag cow-urine pattern). Weapon-shaped and geometric bandhas are also mentioned, revealing how the Agni Purāṇa treats the visual arrangement of text itself as a sacred art.
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