Śākta Mudrās

This project mainly focuses on the performative function of hands called mudrās, as they occur across the continuum of Kerala Śākta tantrism. Śāktism denotes a network of goddess traditions encompassing fierce (Kālīkula) and mild (Śrīkula) forms of goddess worship and is often considered as one of the major branches of Hinduism. On a broader level this project seeks to explore the ways in which body-symbolism (particularly hand gestures) have emerged in Śākta traditions and how this practice has become ‘performative’ by applying a semiotic approach.  

Beyond general observations, this study will address and identify principles that have governed mudrā practice in Śākta traditions, its interpretations, training and performance. More importantly, the present study is committed primarily to the task of analysing and describing the relationship between ritual words – mantra and performative hand gestures – mudrā. The doyen of tantric studies, André Padoux has pointed out the desirability of a semiological study to find out the relation between mantra and mudrā in tantra and identified this as a desideratum in Tantric Studies (Robert A. Yelle: Semiotics of Religion (Bloomsbury, 2013), p. 90). This study shall be the first to investigate the connection between mantra and mudrā by studying a variety of philosophical (mantroddhāra), critical (mantravichara) and practical (nyāsa and mudrā) concepts in tantra. Thus, this exposition will bring to light epistemological, ontological and semiological intertwinings in tantra, aiming to establish mudrā as an effective tool in the production and reception of meaning. By first grounding this study into two main Śākta traditions – Śrīkula and Kālīkula rituals of Kerala – this research will clarify and re-validate canonical boundaries of mudrā practice in South Indian Śākta traditions. 

Foundational to this study is the critical analysis of tantric texts emerged in Kerala in both Sanskrit and vernacular (Malayalam). One of the ancient Sanskrit texts, Śeṣasamuccaya is still a significant source of knowledge in understanding the multiple and complex performative layers of Kerala Śākta tantrism. This work particularly was developed and deployed to contour a coherent system of Śākta cult and even have dedicated chapters on discreet rituals of Kālīkula, such as Rurujith vidhāna. A very careful sifting of this text along with other vernacular texts and manuscripts in Malayalam will be conducted to explore implicit philosophies, explicit structure, methodology and techniques of rituals. 

Moreover, a more nuanced understanding of the concepts and commentaries in these texts, that concern mudrā practice, will be gained by observing ritual practices within lineages of different tantric practitioners. Using lived experiences of tantric practitioners and their embodied techniques, this method will augment the understanding gained through textual study. Consequently, this study will map out a new avenue of research where it will explore presentation of Śākta rituals in ancient Kerala tantric texts and how these are interpreted through practice within lineages of tantric practitioners in Kerala. This will in turn trace the putative continuity of performative hand gestural practice in the Śākta tradition. As such, this project will try to find connection or even isomorphism between the visual, oral and textual aspects of Kerala Sāktism.

The anthropological observations conducted during this research, will be documented in the form of visual footages. This project will film a wide range of ritual preparations and performances and the output will be fully edited and narrated documentary film/s which will be accessible to both academic and a wider non-academic audience. This methodology of using visual media for the presentation of data and research findings, is mainly adopted in this project for the preservation, interpretation and representation of tantric heritage in Kerala.