hindu-cosmosWe're still mapping where this idea was first discussed. Key passages and related ideas below.
Tattva 23 — Grasping (Pāṇi)
The power to grasp: the subtle faculty of handling and manipulation.
Pāṇi is the capacity for grasping — the subtle power of handling, holding, and manipulating, associated with the hands. The second of the five action-faculties, it is one of the basic ways the embodied self does things in the world. As a tattva it is the grasping-power itself, working through the organ of the hand.
Key passages(3)
High
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
High
Moderate