One of the most striking features of Indian classical dance and dances of Thailand,^[1] Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and the Malay world is the use of hand gestures. Speaking in dance via gestures in order to convey outer events or things visually is what mudras do. To convey inner feelings, two classifications of mudras (hand or finger gesture) are used in Indian classical dance, Thai dances, Cambodian dances, Lao dances, Burmese dances and Malay dances, and are a prominent part of the dancer's vocabulary.

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The Abhinaya Darpa (a descriptive primer for dancers) mentions that the dancer should sing the song by the throat, express the meaning of the song through hand gestures, show the state of feelings in the song by eyes, and express the rhythm with his or her feet.

From the Natya Shastra, a text on the arts, this quotation and translation is often quoted by Indian classical dance instructors:

"Yato hastastato drishtihi"..."Where the hand is, the eyes follow"

"Yato drishtistato manaha"..."Where the eyes go, the mind follows"

"Yato manastato bhavaha"..."Where the mind is, there is the feeling"

"Yato bhavastato rasaha"..."Where there is feeling, there is mood/flavour, sweetness (i.e., appreciation of art; aesthetic bliss)"

So vast are the subtleties expressed in the hand gestures of hasta that the vastness of what being human entails, and perhaps even what the entire universe contains, might be expressed by the dancer.

Hence as 'hasta' form a distinct coded language which brings a unique poetic element while performing, so too when abhinaya (traditional facial expressions), pose (attitude), and rhythm complete the language, the dancer may express practically anything and everything to an attentive audience.

• List of gestures
• List of Indian dances
• Adavu