The Nataraj!

Lipika from Hyderabad, India

A brief from Indian mythology:
According to Indian mythology, three Gods(trimurthies- "tri" stands for Three and "murthies" mean idols) are of prime importance.
The trimurthies are the three Gods known as Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. The three gods are responsible for the fate of the universe. Brahma is its creator, Vishnu its preserver and Shiva its ultimate destroyer.

The Nataraj is a representation of Lord Shiva, as the Lord of Dance. Nataraja's dance is a metaphorical representation of human life, wherein the good and the bad eventually get neutralised.

Nataraja holds a small drum (damru) in his upper right hand. His lower right hand shows the fear-negating gesture (abhaya), his upper left hand is in half-moon pose (ardhachandra mudra) which holds a tongue of flame which is the fire (agni) that finally destroys the world and is then quenched in cosmic waters. Thus the hand holding the drum and the one holding fire balance the forces of creation and destruction. The second left arm is held gracefully across the chest (gajahasta mudra) with the hand pointing to the uplifted foot, denoting favour or grace for the devotee. One foot rests on Apasmara or Mauyalka, the embodiment of human cruelty and ignorance.

Surrounding Shiva's figure an immense aureole of flames emanates from him. The value of wisdom, truth and the mantra "om" is depicted through the flames.

3 Feb 2005 8:33am

nadege from Issy les moulineaux, France

Nice photo, thanks forthe explanations.

3 Feb 2005 9:12am

Aaron Schmidt from Paris, France

Excellent eye to put the blue tarp as a background for the picture. Lipika ... does all this information come from your head or do you research online before writing this stuff out? It's impressive either way! Small question: Who's the little guy that Nataraja is standing on?

3 Feb 2005 9:42am

Lipika from Hyderabad, India

To answer Aaron's question...its a mixture of both...:-)
The first two paragraphs are common knowledge that generally most Indians are aware of (Nataraj is a common deity in South India).
The next two paragraphs are from history books. (We were taught in school...but obviously we forget the intricate description once the exam gets over!!!)

The "little guy" that Nataraj is standing on represents "the evil"

3 Feb 2005 10:23am

Shuva from India

regardign the little guy(Apasmara) ...it appears that Aaron does not read the detail description. The question to his answer is in the last line on the second last para of Lipika's comment. I also wonder why did Lipika answer the question rather than pointing to the last para :-).

3 Feb 2005 11:28am

Lipika from Hyderabad, India

Come on...the words - "Apasmara or Mauyalka" are real tongue twister Sanskrit words...so its natural to ignore the rest of the sentence...hence the explanation in simple English :-)

3 Feb 2005 12:02pm

Jason from Atlanta, United States

To create you must destroy - that is why I like Shiva. Nice shot and explanation.

3 Feb 2005 2:14pm

Aaron Schmidt from Enghien, France

Hey, I read all the detailed description! ;-) But words like "Apasmara" and "Mauyalka" kinda get lost in the translation. And also, it doesn't look like he's resting on something ... more like he's crushing the little demon to death. :-)

3 Feb 2005 6:36pm

Prakshalana Bharani from Hyderabad, AP, India, India

Thank you Mr. Jason...the Nataraja Idol is the only symbolic dscription we
have with us to explain the splendid Art,Culture,Music and Langauage of so-called Indus Valley Civilization dates back to 5000-1500 BC. The same
people of that civilization are driven down to South by Persian and Central
Asians so-called Aryans..The Indus People often termed to be vegetarians
with good diction, language mainly Old Sanskruth,in high and Telugu, the
common.The Indus valley People now referred to as Dravidians settled in the South, the only people worship Nataraja and belong to Shivism..We the Indians inherit the name of India or Indus from the Mother Goddess of
Indu..referring to Parvathi, wife of Lord Shiva, the main deity of Indus Valley.. Aryans emrged from North-west and Mongolids from North-east
form the main people in description in creating Ramayana Story after Iliad
the Greek Mythology..Ravana becomes a common enemy of Aryans and Mongoloids, is a strong devotee of Shiva and a musician and dancer too.
He is not Raksha in the old version of political propaganda of Aryan.. Rama was created as foe of Shivism in latter periods..Ravana symbolic to south
is further driven to Sri Lanka... The Nataraja is the strong symbol of the fine art, sculpture, music, dance and the language..it is the One Idol that
depicts entire civilization of Indus Valley..to which we, South Indians mostly
belong...the word Hindu or Sindu are basically Persian and Arabic versions of Indu...most of the Indian rivers are named after Goddess Parvathi..
The Aryans came to India with multiple numbers of Yemen,Saudi, African
Slaves of raw-fleshing eating and canibals...in early periods the Indus Valley People faught with Aryans, Slaves and Mongolids..So Nataraja symbolises of crushing the enemies with victory and dancing by playing
Damura..Natarja Idols are taken to China...The site Harappa, now in Pakistan refers the name of Shiva..With Aryans,slaves and mongoloids
North India become chaotic between 1500-600 BC. Few Indus Valley
People become captives of Aryans become Gurus to them called Aacharya
and taught them the conduct and spirit in Samskruth...The Language Samskruth does not belong to any Aryan but they learned a lot from Vedas
especially Sama Veda emphasing the music, rythm etc..now mostly even
muslim use the same tunes of hypnetic charmns of Indus Valley...

Thank you very much for giving this small space to give the exact History of us, the South Indians in particular Telugu People

29 Dec 2005 1:42pm

Shuva from Hyderabad, India

Thanks Prakshalana for the elaborate description. Its indeed very nice to learn.

30 Dec 2005 12:10pm