Hastas are Hand gestures or symbols. They are of 2 kinds.
1. Asamyutha Hastas or One handed Gestures.
2. Samyutha Hastas or Two Handed Gestures.
Hastas can be used to convey an idea, thought or feeling to the viewers in conjunction with the lyrics (sahitya) of a song, or they may just add beauty to a movement. The latter are called Nritta Hasta. These are the ones that we will use in the adavus.
Asamyutha Hastas: The One- Handed Gestures
Here are the 28 Asamyutha Hastas according to Natya sashtra. the following chart gives a picture and name of a particular Asamyutha Hasta. Please have a look at them.
Samyutha Hastas- The Two- Handed Gestures
Here are the 24 samyutha Hastas
Each of these hastas have a meaning and each of them can be used to denote a lot of emotions, nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives.