The Hastalakshanadipika

OVERVIEW

The Hastalakshanadipika is an anonymous Sanskrit text of uncertain date and origin. The better part of the text concerns gesture language. Click on the sign below to go to the many gesture illustrations found therein.

Near the end of the work published here is a short section (Part III) concerning chanting and rhythmic tempos (svaras and talas) used in kutiyattam. Strangely this latter section is incomplete and found in only one version of the works consulted for this edition.

The Hastalakshanadipika is important because it was and still is used by kutiyattam, as well as kathakali and artists of other genres of performance in Kerala, as a reference to their gesture languages. Whether it was the only source for the gesture language in all the genres of performance in the state is not clear. What is clear is that the gesture code of kutiyattam artists more nearly conforms to the gestures in the text than does that of the kathakali artists and perhaps those of the other genres.