Varadamudra

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

File:British Museum Asia 45 (cropped).jpg, Sri Lanka, 8th century CE. With her right hand, the bodhisattva makes Varadamudra, the gesture of charity or gift-giving, while her left hand may originally have held a lotus.]]

File:Prince of Wales Museum Bombay si0089.jpg making varadamudra. Pala period, 12th century.]]{{Short description|Hand gesture in Indian religions}}

The Varadamudra ({{Langx|sa|वरदमुद्रा|translit=varadamudrā}}) or Abheeshta Mudra is a mudra, a symbolic gesture featured in the iconography of Indian religions. It indicates a gesture by the hand and symbolises dispensing of boons.{{Cite book |last=Bautze |first=Joachim Karl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZzBEVLSAC0C&pg=RA1-PA15 |title=Iconography of Religions |date=1994 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-09924-1 |pages=15 |language=en}} It is represented by the palm held outward, with the fingers outstretched and pointing downwards. Sometimes, the thumb and the index finger meet, forming a circle.{{Cite book |last1=Jr |first1=Robert E. Buswell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXN2AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA960 |title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism |last2=Jr |first2=Donald S. Lopez |date=2013-11-24 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-4805-8 |pages=960 |language=en}}

The Varadamudra and the Abhayamudra are the most common of several other mudras seen on divine figures in the art of Indian religions.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}