Handmade Antique Black Om Nataraja Brass Statue
by Kapil Goel DirectorExotic India Art is an E-commerce platform dealing with
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Nataraja is the most
popular representation of the Hindu God Shiva. In Sanskrit, Nata means dance
and raja means Lord Shiva,
therefore, is the 'King of Dancers'.
To understand the concept
of Nataraja
we have to understand the idea of dance itself. Like yoga, dance induces
trance, ecstasy, and the experience of the divine. In India consequently, dance
has flourished side by side with the terrific austerities of meditative yoga
(fasting, absolute introversion, etc.). Shiva, therefore, the arch-yogi of the
gods, is necessarily also the master of the dance.
Shiva Nataraja was first
represented thus in a beautiful series of South Indian bronzes dating from the
tenth and twelfth centuries A.D. In these images, Nataraja dances with his
right foot supported by a crouching figure and his left foot elegantly raised.
A cobra uncoils from his lower right forearm, and the crescent moon and a skull
are on his crest. He dances within an arch of flames.
Om Nataraja Brass Statue |
These iconographic details of Nataraja have the following significance:
The upper right-hand holds
an hourglass drum which is a symbol of creation. It is beating the pulse of the
universe. The drum also provides the music that accompanies Shiva's dance. It
represents sound as the first element in an unfolding universe, for sound is
the first and most pervasive of the elements. The story goes that when Shiva
granted the boon of wisdom to the ignorant Panini (the great Sanskrit
grammarian), the sound of the drum encapsulated the whole of Sanskrit grammar.
The first verse of Panini's grammar is called Shiva sutra.
The hourglass drum also
represents the male and female vital principles; two triangles penetrate each
other to form a hexagon. When they part, the universe also dissolves.
The opposite hand, the
upper left, bears on its palm a tongue of flames. Fire is the element of
destruction of the world. According to Hindu mythology at the end of the world,
it will be the fire that will be the instrument of annihilation. Thus in the
balance of these two hands is illustrated a counterpoise of creation and
destruction. Sound against flames, ceaselessness of production against an
insatiate appetite of extermination.
The second right hand is
held in the Abhaya pose (literally without fear) and so a gesture of
protection, as an open palm is most likely to be interpreted. 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. Interestingly, 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.
Shiva dances on the body of a dwarf apasmara-Purusha (the man of forgetfulness) who embodies indifference, ignorance, and laziness. Creation, indeed all creative energy is possible only when the weight of inertia (ignorant darkness) is overcome and suppressed. The Nataraja Brass Statues image thus addresses each individual to overcome complacency and get his or her 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.
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Created on Feb 19th 2022 04:18. Viewed 244 times.