Tribhanga

thumb|Bhutesvara Yakshis (2nd century CE), [[Mathura art]]

Tribhaṅga or Tribunga is a standing body position or stance used in traditional Indian art and Indian classical dance forms like the Odissi, where the body bends in one direction at the knees, the other direction at the hips and then the other again at the shoulders and neck. thumb|Ardhanarishvara, the composite deity of [[Shiva and his consort Parvati. As in other images of this form, the tribhanga is accentuated by the gender differences at hip and shoulders.]] The pose goes back at least 2,000 years in Indian art, and has been highly characteristic for much of this period, "found repeated over and over again in countless examples of Indian sculpture and painting". Indian religions carried it to East and South-East Asia. Like the equivalent contrapposto and "S Curve" poses in Western art, it suggests movement in figures and gives "rhythmic fluidity and ... youthful energy".