Standing Buddha with the right hand in the gesture of 'dispelling fear'

Statue of Buddha standing on a tripartite lotus throne, with his right hand in the Abhaya mudra (a hand gesture dispelling fear of death). Thai Buddhist altars often feature a pair of statues side by side or on either side of the main figure with the gestures of 'dispelling fear' and 'calming the ocean'. The pair of this figure is also in our collection ( HFM_56.88 ). The mudras are symbolic hand gestures, partly deriving from Indian yoga exercises and partly from the hand gestures of dance dramas of the same origin. The tongue of flame usually present in the iconographic tradition is missing from the top of the statue's protuberance.