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CHAPTER VIII THE ASANAS AND MUDRĀS
Among all great religions of India, certain symbolic positions of hands and legs form prominent parts of poses in spiritual contemplation. They are believed to be aids to mental concentration. The Hatha Yoga or the primary culture of the body combined with will-force has as its subject these Mudrās and Asanas in a general sense. It is well-known that the Indian Yogis practise the various Asanas to gain some control of the body, proceeding as they do, towards the Rāja Yoga or Higher mental culture. The Jaina Tīrtharkaras were also essentially Yogis on one hand and teachers of religion on the other. Hence, the explanation of the Yogic Asanas and Mudrās, as found in the sculptures of the Jainas, their followers and attendants. In this respect, however, the Jaina Iconography presents some novel features. For some of the Asanas, for example, the Kāyotsarga, are distinctly of Jaina origin.
Five kinds of Asanas may be differentiated. These are the Paryanka, Ardhaparyanka, Vajra, Khadgāsana and Vira.1 They are also known as Mokşāsana or the postures assumed by a Jina at the time of the salvation or on the way to attaining it. There is, further, another Asana called the Bandhurāsana, which has been defined as the easy posture, the assumption of which makes the mind motionless.? Now, let us describe the Asanas individually.
Paryańkāsana or Saṁparyaṁkāsana
Glossed as Padmāsana, which, in the Jaina Yogic texts, is 1. Vide the text
पर्यङ्कमर्धपर्यत वज्र वीरासनं तथा । सुखारविन्दपूर्वं च कायोत्सर्गश्च सम्मतः ।।
Jñānārnava (Nirnayasāgara Press), p. 278 २. येन येन सुखासीना विदध्युनिश्चलं मनः । तत्र देव विधेयं स्यान्मुनिभिर्बन्धुरासनम् ॥
Ibid., p. 278.
