Hands

views updated

HANDS

HANDS are a key factor in what it means to be human, because they interact with the intelligence in probing, manipulating, and transforming matter for cultural ends. The hands are also the most expressive and versatile members of the body for symbolic and ritual gestures and tasks, whether social, religious, or magical. Hands give and receive, grasp and relinquish; they strike, protect, punish, and caress. Hands beckon, greet, and wave goodbye; they warn, admonish, and direct; they also pull apart and dismantle, heal and repair, assemble, divide and gather.

As Symbols of Deity

The Qurʾān speaks of God's hand bestowing bounty and blessing as well as exercising power over all things (67:1). The hand is mentioned often in the Bible as a symbol of God's power and guidance. In Hindu iconography, some representations of deity—preeminently Śiva Nāṭarāja, lord of the dance—have multiple hands and arms, symbolizing omnicompetence; this meaning is further enriched by the precise symbolism in Hindu thought of fingers, palms, and other parts of the hand.

In religious iconography overall, hands occur in a wide variety of gestures. For example, Christ as cosmic ruler is depicted with raised right hand, palm facing outward in a gesture of benediction and peace. Images and pictures of the Buddha feature various mudrā s, that is, signs or gestures made by the hands—such as the "fear not" position, which resembles the blessing of Christ. Other mudrā s include extending the hand toward the ground to call the earth to witness and "preaching the Dharma," both hands raised in front of the chest. Even in aniconic Islam, the talisman known sometimes as the ʿHand of Faṭimahʾ is a prominent anthropomorphic symbol of divine protection. Depending on whether one is Sunnī or Shīʿī, the fingers represent either the Five Pillars of Islam (shahādah, "testifying" to the unity of God and the apostlehood of Muhammad; śalāt, "ritual prayer"; zakāt, "almsgiving"; śawm, "fasting"; ḥajj, "pilgrimage") or the five holy personages (Muḥammad, Faṭimah, ʿAlī, Ḥasan, and Ḥusayn).

The frequent attribution of hands to deity in religions both ancient and contemporary bears witness to a peculiar anthropomorphic persistence. In the Hindu religion, the arms and hands of Śiva seem furthermore to challenge the preeminence of the primordial and creative word, which is also at the core of creation in the Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Similarly, although God is depicted as creating by means of speech in both the Bible and the Qurʾān, in both he is also represented as having created humankind, alone among creatures, with his hands. "When thy Lord said to the angels, 'See, I am creating a mortal of a clay. When I have shaped him, and breathed my spirit in him, fall you down, bowing before him!' Then the angels bowed themselves all together, save Iblīs; he waxed proud, and was one of the unbelievers. Said he, 'Iblīs, what prevented thee to bow thyself before that I created with my own hands?'" (Qurʾān 38:72–76). Regardless of whether this passage is interpreted literally or symbolically, it testifies to a special link between God and humankind in which spirit, clay, and molding hands figure centrally.

Worship, Prayer, and Meditation

The most general use of hands ritually is in prayer. In the Christian tradition, many Protestants hold the hands palm to palm with fingers interlocked, as did ancient Romans and Sumerians. Roman Catholics have often preferred to place the palms together with fingers pointing upward, a position found also in Hindu and Buddhist piety. Romans and Greeks prayed to the deities of the underworld with hands pointing downward. Many peoples touch altars and shrines with their hands while praying for blessings. Ancient Christians in the catacombs are known to have prayed with arms and hands stretched out to the sides in imitation of crucifixion. In Muslim petitionary prayer (duʿāʾ), the hands are held out in front of the body with palms open upward; after the words have been uttered, the palms are rubbed across the face. The clapping of hands in praise was known among the ancient Hebrews and Egyptians, and it is still practiced in certain ritual contexts by Africans, Chinese, and Japanese. The Sioux were known to raise their arms with the palms of the hands turned toward a sacred presence, after which they would lower the hands toward the earth. Raising the hands has sometimes been a gesture of adoration of deity, for example, when the priest raises the Host and the chalice during the celebration of the Christian Eucharist. Ancient Egyptians raised both hands with palms facing the shrine.

The Hindu and Buddhist ritual hand gestures known as mudrā s are the most highly elaborated in religious history. Mudrā as a sacred hand language is widely employed in the ritual, dance, drama, and iconography of South and Southeast Asia. The great Vajrayāna stupa of Borobudur, in Central Java, contains hundreds of sculptures and reliefs portraying Buddhas whose hands form mudrā s symbolizing the whole range of Buddhist teachings.

Blessings, Oaths, and Consecrations

The use of the hand in blessing is widely known. In the Bible, the hand is raised over or toward those to be blessed (Lv. 9) and sometimes placed on the head of a person (Gn. 48:14). A central Christian blessing is the sign of the cross made with the hands, a gesture performed slightly differently by Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox: The former move the hand from the forehead to the breast and then from the left to the right shoulder, whereas the latter perform the final motion from right to left shoulder. The hand is also used in Christianity to sprinkle holy water, to baptize either by sprinkling or pouring, and to anoint.

The laying on of hands in ordinations and other forms of consecration is known from the Bible and other sources. A similar gesture was performed in ancient Egypt, where the gods were believed to lay their hands on the head of the new pharaoh. In some Christian groups, for example, among Baptists, a "right hand of fellowship" is extended by the members of the congregation to newly baptized communicants.

A very prominent and widespread category of hand gestures has existed in connection with oath taking; among these are raising the hand, touching a sacred object (e.g., Bible, altar, scepter, weapon), clasping hands, pointing at a holy thing, and touching one's own breast. In medieval Islam, new caliphs were acknowledged and legitimized by the bayʿah, a survival of an ancient Arabian oath of allegiance symbolized by raising the right hand and then clasping the hand of the ruler or his designated representative, with God as witness.

Apotropaic and Magical Uses

The sign of the cross has been made for a great variety of reasons, not the least of which has been to ward off demons and other evils. Another potent hand gesture has been the sign of the "horns," a fist with the index and little finger extended, thought to be efficacious against harmful spells and persons. Alternatively, a person who felt threatened by an occult danger might extend all the fingers of a hand toward the antagonist (real or imagined) and say, "Five in the eye!" This archaic apotropaic gesture of the Mediterranean Basin is often expressed in North Africa and Egypt by means of a talisman in the shape of a hand or by grains of wheat.

Positive and negative imprints of human hands, for example, in red ochre, appear frequently in prehistoric cave art as well as in many contexts since. Such imprints are often thought to protect against the evil eye and other misfortunes.

Magical healing often features hand gestures and touches. Christ is reported to have healed by his touch (see, e.g., Mt. 9:20). Royal personages have also been known to heal with their hands, as for example the British monarch Charles II's famous cures of scrofula. Even the hands of dead persons have been used in healing as well as in other magical operations.

Decoration of the hands, such as by tattooing, is known widely. Men of the Mentawai Islands, near Sumatra, tattoo their hands in order to wipe out the evil influences of blood spilled in their village. Coptic Christians in Egypt have traditionally worn on the back of the hand or on the wrist a tattooed cross, employed for identification as a Christian in case of death among strangers in that predominantly Muslim country. At festive times, such as Arabian tribal weddings, women sometimes color their hands with henna. In many parts of India as well, women decorate their hands with henna on festive occasions. Hands are also frequently adorned with rings, intended for protection as well as for fashion. In Java, men wear rings set with various stones believed to act as powerful amulets against harmful spirits and spells as well as against more tangible dangers such as poisonous snakebite. Javanese men commonly allow their thumbnails to grow very long in imitation of a mythical hero, Warkudara, who persisted steadfastly in all endeavors and could not be cheated. He is depicted in shadow puppetry (wayang kulit) with bladelike thumbnails, symbols of his valor and fighting skills.

Ritual Avoidances and Mutilations

Washing the hands has been a widespread symbol of cleansing the self of sin and guilt, and a symbol of ritual purity generally. Veiling the hands has also been practiced, usually because their uncleanness in the presence of sacred things threatens the efficacy of ritual. Sometimes covering the hands has symbolized a person's inferior social or ritual status.

The left hand is widely considered to be unclean, and performing a task or keeping something in place with this hand is generally considered inappropriate. The reasons are probably not so simple as that the left hand is reserved for humble tasks, such as the toilet; perhaps such use is recommended because the left hand and the left side of the body generally are thought to be inherently inferior to the right. The predominance of the right hand among all peoples is well known, and even when a child's natural preference may be for the left hand, he or she is often trained to use the right hand instead. The auspicious character of the right hand is maintained in the English word dexterous (Lat., dextra, "right"); the word sinister (Lat., sinistra, "left"), too, speaks for itself.

In predominantly Muslim regions such as Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as in other Islamic countries, the right hand is used for greeting, gesturing, handing over or receiving objects, and touching others. It is considered extremely rude as well as inauspicious to use the left hand for any of those functions. In the Qurʾān, God is said to give, on Resurrection Day, each person's book of deeds either into the right hand, symbolizing salvation, or into the left, indicating damnation (69:19). When eating, especially from a common dish, Muslims use only the right hand. According to the Islamic sharīʿah, or law, the strict punishment for the habitual thief is amputation of the right hand, which precipitates a shameful condition that persists for life and in certain social groups condemns the guilty person to eating alone.

Prehistoric imprints of human hands sometimes show loss of fingers or joints, evidence perhaps of ritual deformation of the hand, either undergone voluntarily or performed as a punishment on captured enemies; both forms are known in ethnography. The severed hands or fingers both of dead persons, such as those killed in battle or by execution or assassination, and of children who died in the womb or at birth have been thought to possess extraordinary powers and therefore have been used in a variety of magical rituals by witches, medicine men, conjurers, and others. American Indians used to wear the hands or fingers of vanquished enemies as powerful medicine. In West Africa, the hand or finger of a deceased relative was often kept as a potent ingredient in magical charms and spells. There are many other magical and superstitious ideas and practices that involve the hands and that have only remote relevance, if any, to religious belief and symbolism, but closer connections with the hands' quite remarkable profane qualities and abilities: One example is chiromancy, the practice of "reading" the hand and especially the palm for purposes of divining the future fate of an individual—a tradition based upon the belief that the hand is the person in miniature.

Bibliography

J. A. MacCulloch's article entitled "Hand," in the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, edited by James Hastings, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1913), offers much factual material drawn from many periods and places. For a useful research tool, consult Betty J. Bäuml and Franz H. Bäuml's A Dictionary of Gestures (Metuchen, N. J., 1975); see pages 120–196 for a lengthy discussion of the hand together with a multilingual bibliography for additional sources.

La main (Paris, 1968) by Jean Brun offers a sumptuously illustrated and provocative essay on the hand. Also highly recommended is E. Dale Saunders's Mudrâ: A Study of Symbolic Gestures in Japanese Buddhist Sculpture (New York, 1960). Finally, Robert Hertz's "The Pre-Eminence of the Right Hand," in Right and Left: Essays on Dual Symbolic Classification, edited by Rodney Needham (Chicago, 1973), pp. 3–31, should be consulted.