Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 March 1918 — Oriental Statecraft [ARTICLE]

Oriental Statecraft

The part which gesture plays in Ori- > ental drama is set forth in a recent Hindu volume, which says that there is a fitting gesture to represent every emotion. The gesture, in fact, is described as deaf-and-dumb alphabet of the soul. There are nine movements of the head, corresponding to nine emotions. mentioned by one authority, 24 by another; 28 movements of the single hands, and 24 or 26 of the double hands, etc.; also “hands” denoting animals, trees, oceans, and other things. For example, a certain position of the hands denotes a certain emperor, caste, or planet The translator says rather naively that only a cultivated audience can appreciate Indian “actor’s art.”