Śivasaṃhitā 4.28

This verse completes the postural description begun in the previous verse: while the left heel presses the perineum, the right leg (savyaṃ prasāritaṃ pādaṃ) is extended forward and both hands (pāṇiyugena) grasp it firmly. This bodily asymmetry—one side folded, the other extended—is characteristic of Mahāmudrā and distinguishes it from symmetrical postures like paścimottānāsana.

Savya (‘right’, ‘auspicious’) contrasts here with apasavya from the previous verse, completing the bilateral description of the posture. Prasārita (‘extended’, ‘unfolded’) derives from pra-sṛ, ‘to flow forward’. Pāṇiyuga (‘pair of hands’, ‘both hands’) indicates that both hands work together to maintain traction on the extended foot, creating tension along the posterior chain.

In contemporary practice, this description corresponds roughly to what is known as jānuśīrṣāsana or a variant of paścimottānāsana with one leg bent. In classical Hatha Yoga, however, the external form is secondary; what is essential is the combination of mūlabandha, jālandharabandha, and khecarīmudrā superimposed on this postural base to direct energy upward.