Mudrā
Mudrā, “seal, sacred sign”
Grammar: feminine noun: a seal, a sign; in the rites, a sacred gesture of the hands.
Meaning: a gesture formed with the hands and fingers in pūjā (worship), homa, snāna (the ritual bath) and dīkshā (initiation). The Agni Purāṇa says the mudrās bring about the presence (sānnidhya) of the devatā. The word also names a coin and, in the teaching on poetry, a figure of speech; those are other meanings.
In the scriptures: the Agni Purāṇa gives the marks of the mudrās, and then shows them at work in nearly every rite it teaches.
The marks of the mudrās. Nārada Maharshi teaches the marks of the mudrās, which bring about the presence of the devatā. Three mudrās are common to all the vyūha forms of Bhagavān Vishṇu: the añjali, the joined palms held near the heart, the first mudrā; the vandanī, the second; and the hṛdayānugā, the third. In the description that follows, the añjali is the left fist with the thumb standing upward, the vandanī the right thumb bent and bound, and the hṛdayānugā the thumbs of both fists standing upward. Eight uncommon mudrās are formed by releasing in order the little finger and the others, and they are applied in order to the eight bījas taught before. For the ninth bīja the three fingers up to the little finger are bent with the thumb and held upward, facing forward. In the Varāha-mudrā the left hand is turned over and slowly bent upward. For the aṅgas there are eight mudrās: each finger of the left fist is shown bent in turn, then the same with the right hand, the thumb of the left fist standing. Done in this way, the mudrās bring mudrā-siddhi, success in the mudrās (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 26).
In the pūjā of Bhagavān Vishṇu. In the rule of pūjā that Nārada teaches, the hands are purified by showing the astra and vyāpaka mudrās; then one shows the mudrā, remembers Bhagavān Vishṇu, does japa a hundred and eight times and worships (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 23). In the homa of the Pavitrāropaṇa, the worshipper draws three lines pointing east and three pointing north in the kuṇḍa, washes them with arghya water and shows the yoni-mudrā, and then, contemplating Agni as his own ātmā, installs Agni in the kuṇḍa; later, meditating, he offers fifteen samidhs with the mushṭi-mudrā, the fist (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 34). In the middle form of the pūjā of the Śālagrāma, after the nyāsas, three mudrās are shown, those of Vishvaksena, the cakra and Kshetrapāla, and this completes the pūjā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 47).
In the bath and the pūjā of Bhagavān Śiva and Sūrya. In the rite of bathing, the kalaśas are placed with the kumbha-mudrā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 69). Parameśvara teaches Skanda the vidhi-snāna: with the hṛdaya mantra and the aṅkuśa-mudrā, the goad gesture, one draws a tīrtha such as the Sarasvatī and with the saṃhāra-mudrā sets it in the water nearby; one closes the openings of the head with the sammukhīkaraṇa-mudrā, bathes standing in the water with both hands joined in the kumbha-mudrā, and after the bath withdraws the tīrtha with the saṃhāriṇī-mudrā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 72). In the pūjā of Sūrya, the upacāras are offered while showing the bimba-mudrā; then in the directions from the east the dhenu-mudrā is shown for the heart, head, śikhā and kavaca, the gośṛṅga-mudrā, the cow’s-horn mudrā, for the eyes, and the trāsalī-mudrā for the astra. At the close, saying “Śiva-Sūrya”, the worshipper places the withdrawn tejas of Sūrya in his heart-lotus with the saṃhāriṇī-mudrā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 73).
In the pūjā of Bhagavān Śiva which Maheśvara teaches Skanda, water for the arghya is taken with the saṃhāra-mudrā and touched to the head; the worshipper shows the kūrma-mudrā and meditates on his own ātmā in the heart-lotus; he shows the mahā-mudrā and with pūraka meditates on Śiva in the heart; the arghya is made amṛta with the dhenu-mudrā and sprinkled all round, and covered with the bīja huṃ or with the matsya-mudrā. With the āvāhanī-mudrā and oṃ hāṃ hauṃ śivāya namaḥ Bhagavān Śiva is invoked onto the mūrti; with the sthāpanī-mudrā he is established, with the sannidhāpanī-mudrā brought near, and with the sannirodhanī-mudrā made to stay unmoving on the mūrti. With the khaḍga-mudrā, the sword gesture, the vighnas (obstacles) are driven away. Then the worshipper shows the liṅga-mudrā and bows. The sādhaka who desires bhoga releases the arghya water into the hand of Bhagavān Śiva that shows the vara-mudrā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 74). In the homa, the ājya is awakened with the dhenu-mudrā, two things are held in the śaṅkha-mudrā, and at the close, with oṃ ha astrāya phaṭ and the saṃhāra-mudrā, the presences are withdrawn and held in the heart (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 75). After the pūjā of Caṇḍa, the worshipper withdraws all into himself with the saṃhāra-mudrā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 76).
In the Pavitrārohaṇa and dīkshā. With the liṅga-mudrā the kalaśa and the vardhanī are joined (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 78). In the samaya-dīkshā the caru is made amṛta with the dhenu-mudrā, and with the saṃhāra-mudrā the guru makes himself one with Bhagavān Śiva and holds the śishya in his heart-lotus (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 81). In the saṃskāra-dīkshā the guru draws out the śishya’s jīva with the saṃhāriṇī-mudrā and places it in his own heart with pūraka; then with the udbhava-mudrā and the ātma-mantra he places it in the womb of Devī Vāgīśvarī, and later brings it back with the udbhava-mudrā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 82). In the nirvāṇa-dīkshā the Śakti on the disciple’s head is brought with the saṃhāra-mudrā and joined into the thread, and the separated jīva-caitanya is placed in the thread with the same mudrā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 83). Each kalā-pāśa, from the Nivṛtti kalā onward, is drawn with the aṅkuśa-mudrā and pūraka, taken with the saṃhāra-mudrā and kumbhaka, and placed in the kuṇḍa with the udbhava-mudrā and recaka (Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 84–85). The bound consciousness of the disciple is freed with the jyeshṭhā-aṅkuśa-mudrā and placed with the vāmā-udbhava-mudrā in the womb of the Devī (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 85); in the same way it is placed in the womb of Devī Vāgīśvarī (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 86).
In vāstu-pūjā and pratishṭhā. To the Dauvārika devatā, the door-keeper, a twig of a milky tree is offered while showing the dhenu-mudrā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 93). In the pratishṭhā, Bhagavān Śiva is worshipped in the kalaśa and the astra on the fixed seat, and both are touched with the udbhava-mudrā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 96).
In the Umā-pūjā and the Mṛtyuñjaya pūjā. Parameśvara teaches that manifest or unmanifest mudrās are shown to Devī Umā. In offering the āsana the padma-mudrā is shown; in worshipping Bhagavān Śiva the liṅga-mudrā, also called the Śiva-mudrā; the āvāhanī-mudrā is shown to both; and the śakti-mudrā is named yoni. In the homa for Mṛtyuñjaya, with the praṇava, the mūrti and the mūla mantra, the kumbha-mudrā is shown, and bathing Mṛtyuñjaya with the kumbha-mudrā gives health, prosperity and long life (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 326).
In the marks of the mūrtis. The mūrti of Vāsudeva holds the śaṅkha or shows the varada-mudrā, the gesture of granting; Vishṇu on Garuḍa shows the varada-mudrā in one of his right hands; and the Buddha, of peaceful form, shows the varada and abhaya (fearlessness) mudrās (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 49). The Sandhyā Devī, meditated on at midday as Vaishṇavī Śakti and in the evening as Rudra Śakti, holds the abhaya-mudrā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 72). The nine śaktis of the lotus of Bhagavān Śiva hold cāmaras and show the varada and abhaya mudrās, and Mahādeva’s right hands hold the śakti, ṛshṭi, śūla and khaṭvāṅga and show the varada-mudrā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 74).
Related terms: Nyāsa · Pūjā · Dīkshā · Āvāhana · Dhenu-mudrā · Liṅga-mudrā · Yoni
Other meanings
Mudrā has more than one meaning in the Purāṇas and Itihāsas. Besides the meaning above, it names those listed here, each with where it is told.
- Mudrā, the coin: Mudrā is also a coin: a lakh of mudrās is the reward of the warrior who kills the enemy king. Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 242
- Mudrā, the figure of speech: Mudrā is one of the nine śabdālaṅkāras (figures of sound): that which, by a special intention, makes the poet’s śakti manifest and gives ānanda. Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 342
Sources
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 23, 26, 34, 47, 49, 69, 72–76, 78, 81–86, 93, 96, 242, 326, 342