The Book in the Vaiṣṇava Ācāryas’ Hands

Abstract This paper focuses on images of human Vaiṣṇava figures holding ‎a book in their hands, and the history and ‎significance of this iconographic detail. The paper argues that in Vaiṣṇava South India, the book as an iconographic marker of human figures is a fairly recent development, though its roots can be situated in the period of the Vijayanagara Empire. The paper also demonstrates that while the book itself may appear as a stable iconographic marker, the meanings attached to it for different figures is not, thereby problematising the notion of iconographic code.