Amidst a life-sized ringlet of flames, on the back of a lotus on an engraved quadrilateral plinth, the Lord Nataraja breaks into tandava on the back of the avidya-roopi Apasmara. Note the uniqueness of the handiwork with which this murti has been executed. The shape of the handsome, wide-set eyes. The density of His snake-like locks flying about His head and shoulders from the momentum of His tandava. The lifelike language of His body.
All of this puts together the undying image of the Nataraja. He is the divine revealer of the art of nata (which translates to dance, but refers to the performing arts in general), over which He is king (‘raja’). Nataraja is the most popular, the most widely recognised roopa (form) of the great Lord Shiva. Presiding deity over cosmic annihilation, He is said to accomplish this through tandava, the name given to the passionate, wrathful dance He breaks into. The murti that you see on this page captures the beauty of this tandava.
The iconography of Nataraja remains uniform throughout the subcontinent. This Nataraja murti has been handpicked from the studios of South India, of which the medium of bronze is a dead giveaway. The South has a rich bronze sculptural tradition, dating back to the time of the Pallavas and the Cholas. The sharp curves that define His body and the electric blue undertones of His naked complexion are highly characteristic of bronze.
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