Shiva ~ also known as Nataraja, the Lord of the Dance.

Shiva the Hindu god of destruction is also known as Nataraja, the Lord of the Dance. Like yoga, dance induces trance, ecstasy and the experience of the divine.

The most common figures depict a four-armed Nataraja. These multiple arms represent the four cardinal directions. Each hand either holds an object or makes a specific mudra (gesture).

The upper right hand holds a hour-glass drum which is a symbol of creation. It is beating the pulse of the universe. The drum also provides the music that accompanies Nataraja’s dance.

The opposite hand, the upper left, bears on its palm a tongue of flames. Fire is the element of destruction of the world. It is also the symbol of passion.

The second right hand is held in the abhaya pose (without fear) and so a gesture of protection. It depicts the god as a protector.

The left leg is raised towards the right leg and reaches across it; the lower left hand is stretched across the body and points to the upraised left foot which represents release from the cycle of birth and death.

The hand pointing to the uplifted foot is held in a pose imitative of the outstretched trunk of an elephant. 

In Sanskrit this is known as the ’gaja-hasta-mudra’ (the posture of the elephant trunk), and is symbolic of Ganesha, Shiva’s son, the Remover of Obstacles.

Nataraja dances on the body of a dwarf apasmara-purusha, the man of forgetfulness, who embodies indifference, ignorance and laziness.

Creation is possible only when the weight of inertia is overcome and suppressed. The Nataraja image thus addresses each individual to overcome complacency and get his or her own act together.

The ring of fire and light, which circumscribes the entire image, identifies the field of the dance with the entire universe. The lotus pedestal on which the image rests locates this universe in the heart or consciousness of each person.

The hands of Shiva represent the Human Faculties of the Imagination (Creation, Spirit, Vishnu), Control (Destruction, Thinking, Compression, Shiva), Desire (Agni, Fire, Sensing &Acting, Expansion) and the Emotions (Soul, Ganesha, Motivation, Removing Obstacles).