Śivasaṃhitā 4.26

The text introduces a new section here with the heading mahāmudrākathanam, ‘exposition of the Great Mudrā’. The narrative voice—presumably Śiva addressing his consort—declares he will reveal this practice in ‘this tantra that is very dear to me’ (tantre’smin mamavallabhe). The affective possessiveness with which the deity refers to the text confers sacred authority on what follows.

Mahāmudrā (‘Great Seal’ or ‘Great Gesture’) is one of the most significant mudrās in classical Hatha Yoga. Pravakṣyāmi is first-person singular future of pra-vac, ‘I shall speak’, ‘I shall declare’; it marks the solemn opening of a teaching. Vallabha means ‘beloved’, ‘dear’, situating the transmission within the devotional framework of the Śiva-Śakti dialogue characteristic of tantric texts.

This sectional heading is typical of śāstric literature, where internal titles (adhikāra or kathanam) organize the text and facilitate memorization and oral transmission. Mahāmudrā also appears in the Haṭhapradīpikā (III.10–18) and the Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā (III.6–8), allowing comparison of practice variants across texts.