Lord Shiva, in his guise as Nataraja, is Shiva's form as a cosmic dancer in a circle of fire, which represents his triple role as creator, preserver, and destroyer.
A particular dance associated with him "Ananda Tandava" translates to "Dance of Bliss;" "tandava" means "the fierce dance" and "Ananda" means "bliss," the two words together imply the idea of a paradoxical dance that begins in fierceness and then transformed into one of bliss.
Shiva is depicted as a four-armed figure dancing within a ring of fire, with his right leg raised and gently crossing in front of the body and his left foot firmly placed on the body of a dwarf.
Shiva's back right-hand holds the damaru, and the front right hand is in the Abhaya mudra. The back left-hand carry Agni (fire) in a vessel, and the front left hand is held across his chest in the gajahasta, with wrist limp and fingers pointed downward toward the uplifted left foot. His figure is encircled by a ring of flames, the prabhamandala.
Shiva Nataraja's dancing with its rhythm and movement take on symbolic importance, with rhythm reflecting the pattern of the primal energy of the cosmos and movement reflecting the most primal act of existence with the belief that life is movement. There is a vast complexity to Shiva Nataraja's cosmic dance traditionally represented by 108 poses, but, only this four-armed version with the right leg crossing in front of the image represent Shiva Nataraja.
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