NATARAJA – A SYMBOL OF INDIAN CULTURE

 

The most wonderful thing about being a Plastic Surgeon is the variety of people who come to meet me searching for a way to improve their quality of life. They come from all spheres of life – farmers, factory workers, artists, painters, software engineers, bee keepers, perfume manufacturers, sportspersons, politicians, lawyers, chefs……….you name it. Once I have understood what is in their mind or body that is bothering them, if I am able to be of use to them we invariably become friends. After satisfying them I try to quench my own curiosity of knowing the world they come from. Then we talk, often very long, and they become my source of knowledge, telling me about subjects I have never even dreamt of. In my previous blogs I have shared with you a few of these nuggets: https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2021/06/honey-natural-vs-commercial.html

https://surajitbrainwaves.blogspot.com/2017/10/you-smell-great.html

 

This time I am going to tell you about an interaction I had with a person who teaches Indian Classical Dance in Europe. Our discussion on Indian dance forms and today being Shivratri it somehow led to Nataraja and then it was Diwali fireworks for my ignorant mind. I was mesmerized by her knowledge of the richness of our cultural heritage that ‘Nataraja’ depicts and am convinced that people like her are the best ambassador that our country can ever have to introduce us to the outside world. The term ‘Vishwa Guru’ now carries a whole new meaning for me. So let me tell you about Nataraja.

The word “Nataraja” is from the Sanskrit “Nata,” meaning “act, drama, or dance,” and “Raja” which translates to “king or lord.” Roughly translated, “Nataraja” means “King of dance” or “Lord of dance.” The title is said to be associated with Shiva’s fame as the “King of Actors” or “Lord of Dancers.”

The two most common forms of the Hindu deity’s dance are the gentle form called the Lasya, which is related to the creation or origin of the cosmos, and the energetic dance form called the Tandava, tied with the destruction of the world views. The Lasya and the Tandava are just two facets of Lord Shiva’s nature—He who destructs in order to create, demolishes in order to construct better again.

As a symbol of Shiva Nataraja is a brilliant invention. It combines, in a single image, Shiva's roles as creator, preserver, and destroyer of the universe and conveys the Indian conception of the never-ending cycle of time. Although it appeared in sculpture as early as the fifth century, its present, world-famous form evolved under the rule of the Cholas. Shiva's dance is set within a flaming halo. The God holds in his upper right hand the damaru (hand drum that made the first sounds of creation). His upper left hand holds agni (the fire that will destroy the universe). With his lower right hand, he makes abhayamudra (the gesture that allays fear). The dwarf like figure being trampled by his right foot represents apasmara purusha (illusion, which leads mankind astray). Shiva's lower left hand, pointing to his raised left foot, signifies refuge for the troubled soul. The energy of his dance makes his hair fly to the sides. The symbols imply that, through belief in Shiva, his devotees can achieve salvation.

History

The oldest free-standing Nataraja stone sculptures to date are statues built by the Chola queen Sembiyan Mahadevi in the 10th century. This resulted in the Nataraja symbol’s great significance, becoming a royal emblem for the Chola dynasty. The dancing Shiva came to be a part of religious festivals and processions in this era, continuing long after. Nataraja is an extraordinary iconographic representation of the rich and diverse cultural heritage of India, it was developed in southern India by 9th and 10th-century artists during the Chola period (880-1279 CE) in a series of beautiful bronze sculptures. By the 12th century AD, it achieved canonical stature and soon the Chola Nataraja became the supreme statement of Hindu art

Since the 12th century, Indian scholars have studied and interpreted the details in the Nataraja, not only for its symbolic meaning but its theological essence as well. One of the earliest known artworks featuring Nataraja was discovered in the archaeological site at a village in Odisha, dating to around the 6th century CE. It includes an inscription mentioning a Shiva temple in the Saivacaryas Kingdom. Literary proofs show that the bronze sculpture of Shiva’s Ananda-Tandava was first featured between the 7th and mid-9th centuries CE. Sculptures in reliefs featuring the classical form of Nataraja can be found in many cave temples across India. A red Nataraja statue carved in sandstone said to date back from the 9th to 10th century was discovered in Madhya Pradesh state in Central India. It is now being showcased at the Gwalior Archaeological Museum. Another Nataraja artwork was discovered in the Himalayan region. Here Shiva is depicted in a somewhat different iconography and dance pose. Nataraja symbols have also been found in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat.

In the medieval era, texts and symbols depicting the dancing Shiva were also discovered in the Indian states of Bengal and Assam, as well as Nepal. In these archaeological discoveries, Shiva is shown as dancing on Nandi the bull, his animal vehicle (“vahana”).

The essence of Nataraja

This cosmic dance of Shiva is called 'Ananda-tandava,' meaning the Dance of Bliss, and symbolizes the cosmic cycles of creation and destruction, as well as the daily rhythm of birth and death. The dance is a pictorial allegory of the five principle manifestations of eternal energy—creation, destruction, preservation, salvation, and illusion. Thus the dance of Shiva also represents his five activities: 'Shrishti' (creation, evolution); 'Sthiti' (preservation, support); 'Samhara' (destruction, evolution); 'Tirobhava' (illusion); and 'Anugraha' (release, emancipation, grace).

The significance of the Nataraja sculpture is said to be that Shiva is shown as the source of all movement within the cosmos, represented by the arch of flames. The purpose of the dance is to release men from illusion of the idea of the "self" and of the physical world. The cosmic dance was performed in Chidambaram in South India, called the centre of the universe by some Hindus. The overall temper of the image is paradoxical, uniting the inner tranquility, and outside activity of Shiva. As Nataraja Shiva represents apocalypse and creation as he dances away the illusory world of Maya transforming it into power and enlightenment. 

Details in Nataraja:

The fiery ring surrounding Shiva, prabha mandala, represents the universe with all its illusion, suffering and pain.  The outer edge is fire the inner edge the waters of the oceans.  Many Nataraja statues have multiple levels of fire and water. Shiva dances inside an elliptical arch of flames, which denotes the cosmic fire that both creates and consumes everything in cyclical existence. The fire is also symbolic of the evils and joys of daily life, as well as its heat, warmth, and light. The arch of fire—the prabha mandala—comes out on each end of the two mythical water beasts called the makara.

Nataraja has four arms. In the upper right hand Shiva holds an hour glass shaped drum or damaru. The drum represents the rhythmic sound to which Nataraja dances and ceaselessly recreates the universe. The lower right hand is in the abhaya-mudra (the "fear not" gesture, made by holding the palm outward with fingers pointing up). This is a hand raised in blessing, betokening preservation. 

The upper left hand carries agni (fire) in a vessel or in his hand. The flames represent the destructive energy with which Nataraja dances at the end of each cosmic age, cleansing sins and removing illusion. The lower left hand is across the chest in the gahahasta (elephant trunk) pose, with the wrist limp and the fingers pointed downward toward the uplifted foot in assurance that Siva's grace is the refuge for everyone, the way to liberation. The lower left hand gestures toward that holy foot.

The uplifted left foot, grants eternal bliss to those who approach him. It is revealing grace, which releases the earthly soul from all worldly bondages (maya-moha). The right leg, representing obscuring grace, stands upon Apasmarapurusha (the demon symbolizing desires), a soul temporarily earth-bound by its own sloth, confusion and forgetfulness. This foot treads firmly upon the dwarf of ignorance, allowing the birth of knowledge. The uplifted left leg is revealing grace, which releases the mature soul from bondage. 

Nataraja dances above the body of the demon, Apasmara, whom he has killed; in this role he is called Natesa.  Apasmara (or Muyalaka in Tamil), the dwarf demon, represents 'tamas' or ignorance and nonsensical speech. That is why  Lord Shiva is also known as 'Hara', which means destroyer of Tamas'.

Shiva's unkempt hair, a symbol of a rejection of society, shows him to be an ascetic. They are loose and whirling in thin strands as he dances, spread like a fan at the back of his head. This is suggestive of the wild and ecstatic nature of his dance as his locks whirl around in his dancing frenzy.

To Shiva’s right is the personification of the holy river Ganga as a goddess, locked in with one of his flying hair strands near his brows. This symbolism is a representation of the danger of the mighty river connected with a calm one as the rebirth of life. The goddess of the Ganges is here shown nesting in Shiva's dreadlocks.  The river Ganges that flows in Nataraja's hair originally flowed in heaven. When the heavenly Ganges was needed on earth, she was unwilling to fall to earth because she realized that her fall from heaven would be too much for the earth to withstand. Shiva as Nataraja agreed to break the violent power of the sacred Ganga's fall by catching her in his tangled hair, breaking the fall with his hair on its way to the Himalayas and Northern India.

The crescent moon in his matted hair keeps Kama, the god of nightly love, alive. Through the waxing and the waning of the moon Shiva creates different seasons and rejuvenates life. 

Nataraja wears a snake coiled around his upper arms and neck symbolizing the power he has over the most deadly of creatures. Snakes are also used to symbolize the Hindu dogma of reincarnation. Their natural process of moulting or shedding their skin is symbolic of the human soul’s transmigration of bodies from one life to another. Hindus believe that the soul or ‘aatma’ is immortal. When the body dies the ‘aatma’ returns to ‘paramatma’ of God only to return in a new body, as if moulting of the snake’s skin!

Nataraja wears the skin of a tiger. 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. As he dances the world in and out of existence, Shiva maintains a stoic face, representing his neutrality of being in complete balance. As he dances the world in and out of existence, Shiva maintains a stoic face, representing his neutrality of being in complete balance.

The Nataraj Statue at CERN, Geneva

In 2004, a 2m statue of the dancing Shiva was unveiled at CERN, the European Center for Research in Particle Physics in Geneva. A special plaque next to the Shiva statue explains the significance of the metaphor of Shiva's cosmic dance with quotations from Capra: "Hundreds of years ago, Indian artists created visual images of dancing Shivas in a beautiful series of bronzes. In our time, physicists have used the most advanced technology to portray the patterns of the cosmic dance. The metaphor of the cosmic dance thus unifies ancient mythology, religious art, and modern physics."