nataraja
नटराज naṭarājaThe Lord of the Dance: Shiva shown dancing within a ring of flame, holding drum and fire, enacting the creation and dissolution of the cosmos.
Where this term appears
- How to Read a Murti Deities
…serpent; and a figure caught mid-dance in a ring of flame is Shiva as Nataraja.
- Lila: The World as Divine Play Essentials
Shiva is the great dancer, Nataraja, the lord of the dance, and his dance is the cosmos.
- The Chola Age and the Temple as Institution History
But the supreme achievement of the whole tradition is the figure of Shiva as Nataraja , the Lord of the Dance.
- The Pancha Bhuta Sthalam: Five Element Temples Temples
And yet Chidambaram is also the home of the most famous image in all of Shaivism, for here Shiva is Nataraja , the Lord of the Dance, performing the Ananda Tandava , the dance of bliss, in the golden hall.
- The Tamil Stream: Sangam, Bhakti, and the Temple South History
…of the gods to be carried in procession, and the greatest of these is Nataraja , Shiva as the lord of the dance, ringed in fire, one foot raised, the drum of creation in one hand and the flame of dissolution in…
- What are Mudras? Lineages
Finally, the richest single case of hands-as-language in all of Indian art is Shiva as Nataraja , the Lord of the Dance, whose four hands are a complete sentence.
- Who is Shiva? Deities
The Naṭarāja , "Lord of the Dance," is the signature bronze of the Chola dynasty, cast roughly between the tenth and thirteenth centuries by the lost-wax method, and elevated under royal patronage, with the gre…
- Dakshinamurti: Shiva as the silent guru Deities
He is worth pausing on, because the same dwarf appears under the foot of Nataraja, Shiva as the cosmic dancer, and the difference is the whole point.