Unknown Artist
Today let's move to India, and start from the basics. Dhyana mudra is a sacred hand gesture or seal, used during yoga and meditation practice as a means of channeling the flow of vital life force energy known as prana. It is one of the most commonly known and widely practiced hand gestures, found across several religious and spiritual traditions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and yoga.
The meditating Buddha we present today comes from the coastal town of Nagapattinam in southern India, which was, as a result of settlers from Srivijaya (Indonesia), one of the few places where Buddhism was still flourishing in the 12th century. The Buddha—with his elongated earlobes, the wheel marks on his palms, the urna between his brows, and the cranial protuberance covered with snail-shell curls—is seated in the posture of meditation, with his hands resting on his lap, wearing a seemingly diaphanous monastic garment. As in other images from Nagapattinam, a flame emerges out of the Buddha’s cranial protuberance, probably signifying wisdom. This monumental granite sculpture originally would have graced a monastic site at Nagapattinam, which is also well known for its Buddhist bronzes. The Tamil inscription covering its back is no longer legible.