Mudras in Buddhist and Hindu Practices: An Iconographic Consideration

by Fredrick W. Bunce

Mudras occupy an important place in Buddhist and Hindu religious practices as these signify special meanings, associated with specific divinities and rites, which cannot be represented any other way.

This book is a dictionary of mudras, deity-centred, rite-centred, yogic-centred, and so on – illustrating each with a simple drawing drawn generally from the perspective of one holding the mudra. It contains detailed notes that give numerous references to literary and other sources that reveal a lot about the mudras – their descriptions in the texts, rites associated with the mudras in the texts as well as the varied interpretations of a number of mudras in the different texts.

The book also has an introduction on Hindu and Buddhist mudras that goes into iconographic features associated with deities along with the technical descriptions and the subcategories and further divisions into which mudras are arranged. It scrutinizes the work done by a number of scholars on the subject to throw further light on the subject. The volume will prove indispensable to all students and scholars who are engaged in study of Hindu and Buddhist religious traditions and practices.

About the Author:

Fredrick W. Bunce, a Ph.D. (Comparative Arts) from the Ohio University Athens, Ohio, USA, is a cultural historian of international repute. Now Professor Emeritus of Art, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana, he has lectured at learned forums and published on a variety of art-related themes. And has held many a solo exhibition at different art galleries, art museums and universities; besides his participation in the artist’s guild/faculty/other ventures of the kind. A scholar with varied intellectual/research concerns – notwithstanding his specializations in iconography, particularly Oriental and Buddhist Arts, Professor Bunce has been legitimately honoured with certain notable awards/commendations, and is listed in Who’s Who in American Art and also the International Biographical Dictionary: 1980-present. Among his published books are: Encyclopaedia of Buddhist Deities (2 Vols.); Encyclopaedia of Hindu Deities (3 vols.); Dictionary of Buddhist and Hindu Iconography; and Yantra of Deities and their Numerological Foundations, all published by D.K. Printworld.