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Matsya

Saṃyuta Hasta - Double Hand Gestures

Bharata Natyam
Elizabeth Kelly

Descriptions and Meanings

1100 CE - 1200 CE
The Mirror of Gesture (AD) - Ananda Coomaraswamy

Image:

Bharata Natyam
Elizabeth Kelly

Description:
No verse annotation

Matsya (fish): Pataka hands face downwards, the thumbs and little fingers extended.

Meaning:
No verse annotation:

fish

Based upon:
Patāka (flag): the thumb bent to touch the fingers, and the fingers extended.

Patāka - No verse annotation

According to another book, the thumb is bent against the base of the forefinger and the palm and fingers extended. When Brahma, the Shaper, went to Parabrahma, as he saluted him with the cry of “Victory!” he held his hand like a flag, since when it has been called the “flag hand". It is the first of all hands, it originates from Brahma, its colour is white, its sage Siva, its race Brahmana, its patron deity Parabrahma.

Patāka - No verse annotation
Not included elsewhere

1100 CE - 1200 CE
Nandikeśvara's Abhinaya Darpaṇam, 3rd edition (AD) - Dr. Manomohan Ghosh

Image:

Bharata Natyam
Elizabeth Kelly

Description:
1:196

Matsya. When one hand is placed on the back of another and the two thumbs are out-stretched, the hand is called Matsya.

Meaning:
1:197:

It is used to denote a fish.

No dependencies
Not included elsewhere

1100 CE - 1200 CE
Abhinaya Darpanam of Nandikeswara (AD) - P.S.R. Apparao

Image:

Bharata Natyam
Elizabeth Kelly

Description:
8:489

When the palm of a Pataka hasta is placed on the back of other Pataka hasta and the thumbs and the little fingers are outstretched, it becomes Matsya hasta (matsya=fish)

Meaning:
8:489:

Matsya hasta is used to denote a fish.

Based upon:
When the thumb is bent and other fingers are close to one another and stretched, it is Patāka hasta.

Patāka - 7:223-229 When the thumb is bent and its tip is at the root of the forefinger and the palm and the four fingers are streched, it becomes Patāka hasta. The additional point in the present definition is - that the tip of the thumb should be at the root of the forefinger.

When the thumb is bent and its tip is at the root of the forefinger and the palm and the four fingers are streched, it becomes Patāka hasta. The additional point in the present definition is - that the tip of the thumb should be at the root of the forefinger.

Patāka - 7:230-242
Not included elsewhere

Related Combinations

1100 CE - 1200 CE
Nandikeśvara's Abhinaya Darpaṇam, 3rd edition (AD) - Dr. Manomohan Ghosh

No associated images

Contents:
1:216

Matsya: Show the Matsya hands on the same level with the shoulders. This is called the hands of the Matsya-Avatara.

Matsya