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Both hands cupped in the lap, right resting on left, thumb tips touching.
Also known as: Meditation gesture, Samadhi mudra, Dhyanamudra
Dhyana mudra is the meditation gesture: both hands lie in the lap with the right resting on the left, palms upward, and the tips of the thumbs touching to close a shallow oval. It marks a figure as absorbed in meditation rather than teaching or reassuring, and it is the gesture most often seen on seated figures in museum galleries. The touching thumbs are the identifying detail — hands merely folded in the lap are a different, less specific pose.
Is frequently shown with an object resting in the upturned palms — an alms bowl most often — which does not change the gesture but does change what the figure is doing.
Contexts: Religion
Two open hands lying one above the other in the lap, palms turned upward, with the tips of both thumbs meeting to enclose a shallow oval space.
Both are hand gestures in the same iconographic vocabulary.