Nataraja
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Nataraja (The God of Dance) ,Tamil: கூத்தன் [Kooththan] is the dancing posture of the Hindu god Shiva, who performs his divine dance as a part of his activities of creation and destruction. Nataraja is most often depicted through a statue. The sculpture is usually made in bronze, with Shiva dancing in a aureole of flames, lifting his left leg (and in rare cases, the right leg) and balancing over a demon or dwarf (Apasmara) who symbolizes ignorance. It is a well known scultptural symbol in India and popularly used as a symbol of Indian culture[1]. The form is present in most Shiva temples in South India, and is the main deity in the famous temple at Chidambaram.
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[edit] Properties of the Nataraja form
- The upper right hand holds a small drum shaped like an hourglass that is called a ḍamaru in Sanskrit.[2][3][4] It is called Udukkai in Tamil .A specific hand gesture (mudra) called ḍamaru-hasta (Sanskrit for "ḍamaru-hand") is used to hold the drum.[5] It symbolizes sound originating Creation.
- The upper left hand contains Agni or fire, which signifies destruction. The opposing concepts in the upper hands show the counterpoise of creation and destruction.
- The second right hand shows the Abhaya mudra (meaning fearlessness in Sanskrit), bestowing protection from both evil and ignorance to those who follow the righteousness of dharma.
- The second left hand points towards the raised foot which signifies upliftment and salvation.
- The dwarf on which Nataraja dances is the demon Apasmara, which symbolises Shiva's victory over ignorance.
- As the Lord of Dance, Nataraja, Shiva performs the tandava, the dance in which the universe is created, maintained, and resolved. Shiva's long, matted tresses, usually piled up in a knot, loosen during the dance and crash into the heavenly bodies, knocking them off course or destroying them utterly.
- The surrounding flames represent the manifest Universe.
- The snake swirling around his waist is kundalini, the Shakti or divine force thought to reside within everything.
- The stoic face of Shiva represents his neutrality, thus being in balance.
[edit] Importance to Bharatanatyam
- See also: Bharatanatyam
Within Lord Shiva's dancing manifestation is represented not only all of time and space, but also the primal creative force that is beyond the circle of illusion that mortals live within, all movement and vibration of the universe, and the stillness beyond all existence. The entire form of Nataraja can be seen to mirror the Hindu sacred syllable Aum, thus implying that Lord Shiva's dance of Destruction and Creation is contained within the existential principle of the Divine Sound.
The image of the Lord as the Cosmic Dancer is shown at the Chidambaram temple, an unusual fact as Shiva is depicted in an anthropomorphic form rather than in the typical non-anthropomorphic form of the linga.
[edit] Origin
The visual image of Nataraja achieved canonical form in the bronzes cast under the Chola dynasty in the tenth century AD, and then continued to be reproduced in metal, stone and other substances right up to the present times. The Chola Nataraja is often said to be the supreme statement of Hindu art.
One of the many legends on the conception of Shiva as Nataraja is this one: In a dense forest in South India, there dwelt multitudes of heretical sages. Thither proceeded Shiva to confute them, accompanied by Vishnu disguised as a beautiful woman. The sages were at first led to violent dispute amongst themselves, but their anger was soon directed against Shiva, and they endeavored to destroy him by means of incantations. A fierce tiger was created in sacrificial fires, and rushed upon him; but smiling gently, he seized it and, with the nail of his little finger, stripped off its skin, and wrapped it about himself like a silken cloth. Undiscouraged by failure, the sages renewed their offerings, and produced a monstrous serpent, which however Shiva seized and wreathed about his neck like a garland. Then he began to dance; but a last monster in the shape of a malignant dwarf rushed upon him. Upon him the God pressed the tip of his foot, and broke the creature’s back, so that it writhed upon the ground; and so, his last foe prostrate, Shiva resumed the dance.
To understand the concept of Nataraja we have to understand the idea of dance itself. Like yoga, dance is used to induce trance, ecstasy and the experience of the divine. In India, consequently, dance has flourished side by side with the austerities of meditation (as fasting, absolute introversion etc.). Shiva, therefore, the arch-yogi of the Gods, is necessarily also the Lord of the dance. Dancing is seen as an art in which the artist and the art s/he creates are one the same, thought to evoke the oneness of God and Creation.
Shiva Nataraja was first represented thus in a beautiful series of South Indian bronzes dating from the tenth and twelfth centuries A.D. In these images, Nataraja dances with his right foot supported by a crouching figure and his left foot elegantly raised. A mirrored posture, where his right foot is raised, represents Moksha.
A cobra uncoils from his lower right forearm, and the crescent moon and a skull are on his crest. He dances within an arch of flames. This dance is called the Dance of Bliss, anandatandava.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Shiva as Nataraja - Dance and Destruction In Indian Art.
- ^ Michaels, p. 218.
- ^ For definition and shape, see: Apte, p. 461.
- ^ For the damaru drum as one of the attributes of Shiva in his dancing representation see: Jansen, p. 44.
- ^ Jansen, p. 25.
[edit] References
- Apte, Vaman Shivram (1965). The Practical Sanskrit Dictionary. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. ISBN 81-208-0567-4. (Fourth revised and enlarged edition).
- Jansen, Eva Rudy (1993). The Book of Hindu Imagery. Havelte, Holland: Binkey Kok Publications BV. ISBN 90-74597-07-6.
- Michaels, Axel (2004). Hinduism: Past and Present. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-08953-1.
[edit] External links
- An excellent review of Nataraja symbolism.
- about History and location of Nataraja Temple Cidhambaram.
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