p.279

            Dr.  Otto  Francke,  in  ZDMG, 46, 1892,  has  an
        elaborate  article  entitled  Mudra  = Schrift  (oder
        Lesekunst)?, in which he tries to prove that mudda in
        the Milindapanha  (where  it must  be  confessed  the
        word  has  been  unsuccessfully  translated  by  Rhys
        Davids, SBE 35, pp.  6, 91, 247 means script, or when
        cited  with lekha, in lists of the sippas, as reading
        in  distinction  from  writing;  and  he  draws  some
        far-reaching conclusions.

            This view scems to me very far-fetched  and quite
        implausible;  it would never have occurred  to anyone
        familiar  either with Indian  dramatic  technique  or
        with  Indian  iconography.  As a matter  of fact, the
        interpretation of the Sinhalese commentator quoted in
        SBE 35, p.  91, note (hastamudra sastraya) is at once
        correct  and  intelligible;  a rendering  mudrd="sign
        language" or "hand.  gesture " is appropriate  to all
        the passages of the Milindapanho  in question, and we
        know from other  sources  that in early  India a sign
        language  of  the  hands  was  considered  an art  or
        acciomplishment  with which an eduested person should
        be familiar.

            To make assurance  doubly  sure we have  a Jataka
        passage in


                           p.280

            which  the term  is illustrated  by examples.  In
        Jataka  546 (Cowell's  translation,  VI, p.  364)  we
        find the following  (I quote  the quite  satisfactory
        rendering  of Cowell  and  Rouse):  The  Bodhisattva,
        seeing  a woman  suitable  to be his wife, reflected,
        "'Whether  she be unwed or not I do not know;  I will
        ask her by hand gesture (hatthamuddaya) and if she be
        wise  she will understand.'  So standing  afar off he
        clenched his fist (mutthim).  She understood  that he
        was asking whether  she had a husband, and spread out
        her hand " to signify that she had not a husband.

            It need only be remarked  that in abhinaya  books
        (see, e.  g., in my Mirror of Gesture, p.  30) one of
        the meanings  of the sikhara  hand, which is the same
        as the musti  hand, but  with  the  thumb  raised, is
        precisely " husband." The outspread hand (pataka hand
        of the abhinaya books) can well be understood to mean
        "empty";  the nearest  meaning  given in the Abhinaya
        Darpana  is "having  no refuge," which  would  not be
        inapplicable  to  the  case  of  a  woman  without  a
        husband.  So it is evident  that the Bodhisattva  was
        already  using an established  and conventional  sign
        language  of the hands, and this is what mudda  as an
        art  or  accomplishment, always  means.  Nata-sutras,
        which  must have dealt with the expression  of ideas,
        etc., by means  of formal  gesture, are mentioned  as
        early   as  in   Panini.   Needless   to   say,  this
        conventional  sign language  of the hands, whether in
        actual  use by living persons, or in the more limited
        range of iconographic  usage, must have been based on
        a natural and spontaneous  language of gesture;  even
        today the common  mudras of the hieratic art, e.  g.,
        vyakhyana   mudra  (often   called  vitarka)  can  be
        observed  in the course of a conversation, whenever a
        point is made.

            I append  a list of some other references  to the
        language  of gesture: Dracott, Simla  Village  Tales,
        pp.  47, 50;  Folk-lore,  30.  312  (a  note  on  the
        language  of  gesture) ;  Hodson,  T.  C.,  Primitive
        Culture of India, p.  61;  Indian Antiquary, 22.  21;
        Katha Sarit Sagara, Tawney's  translation, I, p.  44;
        II, p. 235; Knowles, Folk-Tales  of Kashmir, pp. 215,
        220 Parker, Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, II, p.  24,
        III,  p.  343;  Penzer, N.  M., The  Ocean  of  Story
        (Kathasaritsagara), I, pp.  46, 80-82; Stokes, Indian
        Fairy Tales, pp. 207, 208; Swynnerton, Romantic Tales
        from the Panjab  with Indian  Nights'  Entertainment,
        pp. 329, 392;     Vetalapancavimsati,     story    1;
        Vimanavatthu-atthakatha, p. 209, cited by K. Mitra in


                           p.281

            JBORS, 12, 1926, p.  161; Venkatasubbiah, A., The
        Kalas, Madras 1911, p.  18; Woodward, F.  L., Kindred
        Sayings,  IV,  p.  267, note  1,  muddika,  explained
        tentatively  as " reader of symbolic gestures" though
        it must be admitted  the sense here seems  to require
        some kind of enumerator.
                                   ANANDA K. COOMARASWAMY.
          Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.