Defining Features of the Statue:  One form of the Hindu god Shiva, Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Shiva Nataraja), is particularly associated with the reign of the Chola rulers of South India. According to one myth, Shiva visited a group of sages in order to punish them for the inadequacies of their devotion. In an attempt to resist Shiva, the sages threw weapons at him: a tiger, snakes, fire, a drum, a skull, and the demon of ignorance. Shiva subdued all of these. As a result, Shiva as Lord of the Dance is shown standing atop a demon dwarf and wearing snakes around his arms and shoulders and a striped garment, the remnants of the tiger, around his hips. In his upper left hand he holds the fire and he uses the drum, seen in his upper right hand, to beat the rhythm of his victory dance. The fire and Shiva's dancing pose also refer to his role as the creator and destroyer of the universe. Above Shiva's right hand is a small image of Ganga, the personification of the Ganges River, with her hands in the gesture of prayer (anjalimudra). This figure refers to the story of how the Ganges River, which originally flowed in the heavens, came to flow on earth. When the gods permitted it to come down, in answer to the prayers of a yogi, Shiva agreed to break the crushing fall of its descent to earth by catching it in his hair.

About the Pose of the Sculpture:  The symbolism of Siva Nataraja is religion, art and science merged as one. In God's endless dance of creation, preservation, destruction and paired graces is hidden a deep understanding of our universe. Aum Namah Sivaya.  Bhashya Nataraja, the King of Dance, has four arms. The upper right hand holds the drum from which creation issues forth.  The lower right hand is raised in blessing, betokening preservation.  The upper left hand holds a flame, which is destruction, the dissolution of form.  The right leg, representing obscuring grace, stands upon Apasmarapurusha, a soul temporarily earth-bound by its own sloth, confusion and forgetfulness.  The uplifted left leg is revealing grace, which releases the mature soul from bondage.  The lower left hand gestures toward that holy foot in assurance that Siva's grace is the refuge for everyone, the way to liberation.  The circle of fire represents the cosmos and especially consciousness.  The all-devouring form looming above is Mahakala, "Great Time."  The cobra around Nataraja's waist is kundalini shakti, the soul-impelling cosmic power resident within all.  Nataraja's dance is not just a symbol.  It is taking place within each of us, at the atomic level, this very moment.  The Agamas proclaim, "The birth of the world, its maintenance, its destruction, the soul's obscuration and liberation are the five acts of His dance." Aum Namah Sivaya.

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