Natraj or Shiva as an artifact in Ananda Comaraswamy’s “The Dance of Shiva”

Ananda Kentish Comaraswamy was an extraordinary geologist, art scholar, collector, curator and philosopher. The essay “The Dance of Shiva” became the title piece of a collection of fourteen essays in 1918. The essay tries to explain the significance of the image of Nataraja, or the dancing Shiva. The dancing Shiva is a magnificent conception, both dynamic and controlled at the same time. This image is one of the greatest masterpieces of Indian art. Comaraswamy helps us to understand it better.

He starts by explaining one of the many names and aspects of Shiva – Nataraja or the master of the dance or the king of actors. He mentions three dances of Shiva- the evening dance at Kailasa, the Tandava, and finally the Nadanta dance at Chindambaram. It is one of the last that he focuses, because it is this dance that is depicted in the Nataraj Bronzes.

The legend behind this dance is that of the submission of the Rishis in the Taragam forest. These Rishis did not accept the divinity of Shiva, but are worsted in the fight. Shiva’s victory over Rishis suggests the victory of higher over the lower. The malignant dwarf underfoot may be taken to represent the ego.

Shiva with four arms, braided hair, Ganga in his locks on which rests the crescent moon, adorned with both men’s and women’s ornaments, left foot upraised and right hand in the abhay or reassuring gesture, thus represents a whole philosophy. The dual nature of Shiva, how he is both male and female, the skull of Brahma, the Ganga in his locks, the drum all these have stories and myths behind them.

The meaning behind the iconography of the dancing Shiva has, thus became an artifact in Komaraswamy’s essay.