Cast and then finished by hand with good details. n this form Lord Siva is depicted in his famous Ananda Tandava dancing pose, with one leg in the air and he has four arms . Nata means "dance" and raja means "king." Thus he is known as "king of the dance." Lord Siva is depicted dancing on a dwarf named Apasmara, who is said to represent ignorance or false ego, which makes souls forget their true identity. Nataraja destroys false ego. He is encircled by a ring of flames and is holding a drum. One of his hands is in the Abhaya Mudra posture ("Fear not, I will protect you"). One time, Siva went to a forest to subdue ten thousand holy men. The holy men became angry and sent a tiger to kill him, but Siva subdued the tiger and used its skin as a cape. The sages then sent a poisonous snake, which he restrained and used as a garland. They then sent a black dwarf armed with a club. Lord Siva danced on the dwarf's back with his leg in the air. This dance was so splendid that the holy men had to accept Lord Siva as their master. Another story about Nataraja is that Kali (Parvati) was once the patron goddess of the Tillai Forest (what is now the city of Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu). Lord Siva came to this forest to dance for two of his devotees Patanjali and Vyaghrapada. They worshiped the svayambhu-linga, a self manifested Siva-linga. Kali did not like him being there, so she challenged him to a dancing contest and the loser would have to leave the forest. Lord Vishnu was the judge. Their dancing went on for some time and during this time they were equal in their dancing, but then Siva did a dance where he lifted his leg over his head. This dance is called the Ananda Tandava. At this point Kali knew she could not win and so she left. The Sabhanayaka Nataraja Temple in Chidambaram is the original temple dedicated to the Nataraja form (Celestial Dancer) of Lord Siva. The Nataraja deity there has been the model for innumerable bronze statues of Siva performing this dance. |
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