Mudras

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A traditional hand gesture used in spiritual contexts to symbolize various meanings and facilitate meditation practices
2. A specific position of the hands or fingers that conveys symbolic messages in a variety of cultural and religious ceremonies
3. Gestures involving specific positioning of the fingers or hands that represent spiritual ideas or are used in rituals

Etymology: "Mudras" is the plural of "mudra," which comes from Sanskrit "mudrā," meaning "seal." The original sense was literal: a seal or signet, something pressed onto a document or object to mark it as authentic. Over time the word extended from marking objects to marking meaning, and in Indian religious and performing traditions a "mudra" came to be a sealed, stylized configuration of the hands that signals something specific. The link between a seal and a gesture is the key to the word's history. A seal stamps an identity or intent onto something, and a hand held in a fixed shape was understood in a similar way, as a visible sign of a deeper meaning. The same root gives the sense of "closing" or "sealing" that underlies the idea of a hand posture that is held deliberately and kept distinct from ordinary movement.

Synonyms: hand gestures, symbolic gestures