What is the significance of ‘abhaya mudra’, invoked by Rahul Gandhi in Parliament

• Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, invoked the abhaya mudra, the gesture of the raised open palm that is commonly understood as conveying reassurance and a freedom from fear.

Mudras in Buddhism

• In the Buddhist context, Mudras refers to “hand and arm gestures made during the course of ritual practice or depicted in images of buddhas, bodhisattvas & tantric deities.
• For about 500 years after the Buddha, who lived in the 6th or 5th Century BCE, the person of the great teacher was not depicted in the form of an image or sculpture.
• At Sanchi, for instance, the Buddha is symbolised by a vacant throne or a footprint.
• The earliest depictions of the Buddha in physical form date to roughly around the turn of the first millennium.
• Depictions started appearing in the Gandhara art from the northwestern edge of the Indian subcontinent (present day Pakistan and Afghanistan), which drew on Hellenistic influences, and later in the art of the Gupta period, in the Gangetic plains.
• In the earliest depictions of Buddharupa, four mudras can be found: the abhaya mudra, or “gesture of fearlessness”; the bhumisparsha mudra, or “Earth-touching gesture”; the dharmachakra mudra, or “gesture of the wheel of dharma”; and the dhyana mudra, or “gesture of meditation”.
• With the evolution of Mahayana (Greater Vehicle) and Vajrayana (Thunderbolt Vehicle) Buddhism, and the proliferation of Buddhist artwork outside India, hundreds of mudras entered Buddhist iconography.
• In tantric Buddhist traditions, the mudras came to be associated with dynamic ritual hand movements, where they “symbolised material offerings, enacted forms of worship, or signified relationships with visualised deities”

Gesture of fearlessness

• The abhaya mudra is described by Buswell and Lopez as one “typically formed with the palm of the right hand facing outward at shoulder height and the fingers pointing up
• In some cases, both hands may simultaneously be raised in this posture in a “double abhayamudra”.
• In Buddhist tradition, the abhaya mudra is associated with the Buddha immediately after he obtained Enlightenment, “portraying a sense of the security, serenity, and compassion that derive from enlightenment”.
• According to Buddhist legend, Devadatta, a cousin and a disciple of the Buddha, upon not being granted the special treatment he expected, plotted to harm the Enlightened One.
• He fed a wild elephant intoxicants and drove her on the Buddha’s path.
• As the disciples scattered before the charging animal, the Buddha raised his hand in the abhaya mudra of love and kindness.
• The elephant is said to have calmed down immediately, gone down on her knees, and bowed her head to the Buddha.
• This is why the abhaya mudra is also seen as a “gesture of protection” or “gesture of granting refuge”.

Abhaya mudra in Hindu religion

• Over time, the abhaya mudra appeared in depictions of Hindu deities, and the Buddha himself was absorbed into the Hindu pantheon as the ninth avatar of the Puranic god Vishnu.
• Hindus came to regard the Buddha as an avatar of Vishnu between AD 450 and the sixth century.
• The first mention of the Buddha avatar came in the Vishnu Purana (400-500 CE).
• As multiple traditions, practices, and cultural influences mingled in the great melting pot of the Hindu religion, manifestations were seen in art and visual depiction of gods.
• The abhaya mudra was seen in the depictions, most commonly of Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, and Lord Ganesha.