Dakshinamurty

About Dakshinamurty

Dakshinamurty is Shiva as a young teacher seated under a banyan tree, facing south, instructing four white-bearded sages — the Kumaras — without speaking a word. His right foot pins down Apasmara, the dwarf of forgetfulness; his left rests on his thigh. One hand holds the chin mudra: thumb touching forefinger, the silent sign that the individual self and the absolute are one. His other hands cradle a rosary, a palm-leaf book, and a veena. Adi Shankara's eight-verse Dakshinamurty Stotram fixes him at the center of Advaita teaching with the Upanishadic line Tat Tvam Asi — You are That. Students invoke him on Thursdays before opening their books.