Hindu Statue Seats, Postures and Mudras

Hindu deity statues carry the same kind of coded detail as Buddha statues, but built from different elements: a seated posture (asana, often padmasana or lotus position), specific hand gestures, and - unlike Buddhist iconography - attributes held in extra pairs of arms and a vahana (animal vehicle) associated with the deity, such as Ganesha's mouse or Shiva's bull Nandi.

The comparison with the Buddha Statue lesson earlier in this grade is deliberate: same underlying question (how does a sculpture encode meaning through pose and gesture), two different visual systems answering it. Being able to state that comparison directly is worth more in an appreciation answer than describing either tradition alone.