The Marvel of Hands
The Marvel of Hands
A face like the moon, hands like lotus stalks, feet like blossoms, eyes like water lilies, a nose like a champak flower — poets have long described women in countless such ways. Today’s modern women show great enthusiasm for beauty parlors. In earlier times, attention was given only to the face and hair. But now, equal importance is being given to hands and feet as well. Women get waxing done on their hands, apply cream massages, clean their nails, and apply nail polish. They adorn their palms with beautiful henna designs in various patterns. So lavishly do they decorate their fingers and wrists with gold ornaments that one might wonder whether God gave women hands solely for the purpose of beautiful adornment.
But the significance of hands does not end there. These hands possess far greater and more extraordinary powers. A single gentle touch of those bangles-adorned hands can convey a beautiful feeling that hundreds of words cannot. Such is the immense power residing in a woman’s bangle-clad hand.
When a mother places her hand on her child’s head and strokes it for a few moments, the joy it gives the child cannot be matched even by pouring out love through endless words. Whether it is a husband and wife, friends, or lovers — rather than showering affection through words alone, placing a hand on someone’s shoulder is enough to awaken emotions that words simply cannot express. Love and affection provide human beings with mental happiness and strength. Having deep love within oneself is not enough — it finds its true fulfillment only when the person it is meant for can feel it. And for that, the golden hand serves as a wonderful medium.
The Touch of a Hand — Like Medicine
Many mothers scold or strike their children. After correcting a child’s mistake through anger or punishment, merely speaking to them lovingly is not sufficient. When you draw them into your arms and stroke their head — making it clear that they are forgiven — the punishment yields its true results, and any lingering resentment in the child dissolves away.
A child feels nothing but fear toward an adult who only punishes and never embraces. Therefore, alongside discipline, it is essential to draw the child close with loving hands. Once we understand how to use our hands in human relationships, their immense power becomes immediately apparent. When we seek easy and meaningful outcomes, the touch of a hand works as wonderfully as medicine.
“Bangles grace the wrist, and shyness graces the cheek” — so a poet once described a woman. That bangle-clad hand is a source of joy to the husband and a source of warmth and intimacy to the child. Women must perform all kinds of household work with their hands, and in doing so, those hands may lose their delicacy. To restore their beauty, decorative items are used. And yet, the very hands that discipline the children are the same hands that comfort and cradle them — this dual art comes naturally to a woman.
Researchers have found that a woman’s touch evokes a stronger response than a man’s. It is the woman who nurtures children most tenderly. When a mother holds her little one close, those innocent hearts forget everything. A man is moved and enraptured — such is the power in a woman’s hand.
There is even psychological evidence that a divine, nature-given energy flows outward from the fingertips. The psychologist Kenelworth wrote: “There is no divine power greater than the human being. In nature, the human being is himself a divine force — not the outwardly visible human, but his inner consciousness. That inner consciousness is expressed through his actions.” In nature, a woman embodies love, sacrifice, patience, skill, family dignity, and tradition all at once. With love, she draws her children close, and through gentle persuasion, she shapes them into capable and educated individuals, teaching them good conduct.
The Science of Hands
The fingertips are richly endowed with nerve endings and play the primary role in the sense of touch. Among all bodily organs, they are among the most important in conveying spatial awareness. Like other paired parts of the body, each hand is controlled by the opposite side of the brain. Handedness — the preference for one hand over the other — reflects the way the brain functions.
The human hand is composed of the wrist, the palm, and the fingers as its principal parts. Our two hands are made up of bones, joints, muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and more. There are 27 bones in the human hand, of which 14 are the phalanges of the fingers. The metacarpal bones connect the fingers to the wrist.
Whatever physical task we wish to perform, we accomplish it through our hands. They make possible not only powerful tasks but also delicate and artistic ones. Through the extremely sensitive nerves at the fingertips, signals about the sense of touch are transmitted to the brain. Just as with other limbs, the hands are controlled by the opposite side of the brain.
Handedness
Handedness refers to the difference between the right and left hands in performing fine motor tasks. Those who perform tasks more easily with the right hand are called right-handed; those who use the left hand with greater ease are called left-handed. A very small number of people can use both hands equally well — they are called ambidextrous.
The Hand in Indian Culture
The hand holds a uniquely exalted place in Indian culture. Upon waking at sunrise, people offer a prayer: “Karaagre vasate Lakshmi, Karamadhye Saraswati, Karamoole tu Govinda — Prabhaat kare darshanam” — meaning, Lakshmi resides at the tip of the hand, Saraswati in the middle, and Govinda at the base. Many believe that by reciting this, the entire day will bring goodness.
In Hindu marriage, Panigrahanam is a central and sacred ceremony. Paani in Sanskrit means hand, and grahanam means to accept or hold. It is a great tradition that binds husband and wife together, with the solemn promise never to let go of the hand one has held for life.
The actions we perform determine whether our hands carry a positive or negative character. The charity we give passes through our hands. For some, a hand raised becomes an Abhayahastha — a hand of protection for the needy. For others, it may become the destructive hand of Bhasmasura. Yet the Amritahastha — the hand of those with a genuinely good heart that wishes well for others — remains forever cherished in memory.