The Divine Dancer

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IN 1963 we published a short monograph containing a summary of what Sri Ranga Guru had told us about the inner meaning of the image of Națaraja. We were happy to see that it was well received in knowledgeable circles.

The few hundred copies which we then printed were all soon sold out and there has been for quite some time now a demand for the book. We were reluctant to re-print the same book because subsequent to its publication Sri Ranga Guru had done intensive research into the various aspects of the cult of Nataraja and collected valuable material on the same. With so much fresh material on hand, it appeared to us not quite proper to re-issue the earlier monograph. Owing to certain reasons, we could not take up the task of writing the book for a number of years after the demise of Sri Ranga Guru in 1969. At long last we have, by the grace of the Guru, been able to accomplish that task and thereby give a concrete shape to one of his wishes.

Needless to say that we have allowed ourselves to be guided by the notes left behind by Sri Ranga Guru. We have constantly turned to them for information and suggestions. In fact, our endeavour has been to give a running and readable account of the material that he had collected. Of course, it was not an easy task. For, he had his own way of jotting down notes.

THE sculpture of Națaraja has evoked greater curiosity and interest in the minds of scholars and art- lovers all over the world than that of any other deity of the Hindu pantheon. The four-armed god dancing in ecstasy on the back of a prostrate demon has intrigued them and challenged them to read his secret. Many are the scholars who have taken up the challenge and made determined efforts to unravel the secret of the deity. Among them, such distinguished names as those of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy and Heinrich Zimmer come prominently to mind. With the help of the extensive devotional literature which has grown around the deity over long centuries, they have made a bid to put their fingers upon the hidden meaning of Nataraja. And their interpretations have by and large been accepted by scholars and art-lovers. They are undoubtedly sound so far as they go, and have been responsible not only for creating but sustaining a lasting interest in the subject. Yet, it cannot be said that they have covered all the esoteric aspects of Nataraja or all the areas to which His sculpture points. After reading them, one is left with the feeling that there is still scope for making a more complete, comprehensive and definitive study of the sculpture and its meanings, and that an organic explanation of the same remains a desideratum.

As far as we can remember, it was in 1950 that the attention of Śri Ranga Guru was turned towards this divine image. Being the great master of yoga that he was, he saw in a moment the nature of the truth that is embodied in the image. He not only saw the divine truth that lies at the core of the image but also the manner in which the objects and ornaments that are there on the image on the one hand and the motions and gestures displayed by the organs of the Deity on the other signify and point to that high beatific state of spiritual knowledge and bliss in which that truth is seen and known. As time passed, he came to be possessed by the subject completely. When our brochure on Naţaraja embodying the gist of his discoveries on the subject was published in 1963, his enthusiasm increased ten- fold and he planned to write a detailed book on it. He worked untiringly towards that end and even paid a visit to Madras and Chidambaram on an information- gathering mission. With his unusually sharp eyes, he noted details of the famous Thiruvalangadu image of Nataraja at the Madras Museum that remain unnoticed by even professional art-critics. At Chidambaram, he culled from the temple-priests much useful information on the mode of worship followed in the famous temple. His researches had already made him aware of the connection between the central truth which Națaraja points at and such arts as music and dancing. He had also made a thorough investigation into the relation between Națaraja and grammar. He knew the inner meaning of the ancient saying that the fourteen aphorisms on which Paņini's treatise on grammar is based emanated from the hand-drum of Nataraja.

The account which he was thus able to give of the image in particular and of the cult of Națaraja in general was at once illumining and convincing. But owing to some reasons which we need not go into here, he was unable to put in black and white his momentous discoveries. Of course, he did not keep them to himself either. He explained them to his disciples and made them know and appreciate the deep spiritual meanings that are built into every limb and organ of the divine sculpture. We were also among those privileged to hear his inspired expositions of the hidden mysteries of Națaraja. Sitting at his feet, we learnt of the secrets of this image which brings transcendental truths of far- reaching singificance within the reach of ordinary men and women.

When we noticed that he was unable to write his projected book, we offered to take it up and do it. He was kind enough to agree to our request. He said, "I shall try to write it in the course of the next few months. If by November (that was in 1964) I find that I cannot do it, I shall send all my notes to you by post. You write the book". He did not write the book nor did he send his notes to us. Then followed his sudden and untimely death in 1969. We got busy with the more urgent task of writing his life, and that made us to be away from the subject. But circumstances have again conspired to make us return to the subject after the lapse of many years and pay, though belatedly, the debt of gratitude which we owe our revered Guru.