Visual Analysis For Shiva As Lord Of The Dance

Running head: VISUAL ANALYSIS 1

Visual Analysis for Shiva as Lord of the Dance

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VISUAL ANALYSIS 2

Visual Analysis for Shiva as Lord of the Dance

Apart from standing out as one of the world’s largest religions, Hinduism is arguably

the greatest belief system of the people of India. Most Hindus believe in deities and divinity

that are formless but all powerful and manifest themselves as gods and goddesses. Shiva is

one such deity. It is often referred to using very many different names, and it manifests itself

in several forms. Shiva as Lord of the Dance is a complex object with several aspects,

functions, and meanings attached to it.

Shiva as Lord of the Dance represents the deity Shiva as a god of dance as he

performs his dance of paradise. According to Hindus, Shiva first performed the dance to save

a group of elders who had broken from Hinduism and started practicing a different form of

religion (Asia Art, 2002). In an attempt to challenge his might, the sages gave Shiva three

creatures, a snake, a tiger, and dwarf demon, and asked him to destroy them. Shiva

overpowered all of the three, and that is why in the sculpture, he is seen standing on a dwarf’s

back while wearing a tiger skin on his body and a snake belt around his waist (Asia Art,

2002). The three creatures are a symbol of the ignorance and untamed minds that Shiva had

to destroy to bring back the sages back to the accepted religion—Hinduism (Khalid, 2015).

After subduing the evil spirits, Shiva began to perform the furious dance as a way of

demonstrating his power and role as the destroyer of universe and creator of life.

Many Hindus, especially those from South India, regard the Shiva as Lord of the

Dance sculpture as sacred and an inhabitant of the deity Shiva (Kumar, 2001). Worshipers go

places where the object is, pray to it, believing that the god and they see each other. The

sculpture, especially during festivals, according to Asia Art (2002), can be taken out and

carried out in processions as a way of showing devotion and honor to it.

The main message that the sculpture conveys is the victory that Hindu’s gods have

over what other religions that believers of Hinduism regard as misleading and inferior

VISUAL ANALYSIS 3

(Khalid, 2015). Devotees of the object believe that Shiva danced after he subdued the

creatures that those who had begun practicing an unorthodox form of Hinduism used to

challenge his power (Asia Art, 2002). After he destroyed the “evil” creatures, he broke into a

dance to mark the victory and show those who had begun disintegrating from Hinduism that

the religion and Hindu deities had the power to create and destroy the universe and

everything life in it.

The sculpture was created for the first time during the Chola era of 880 to 1279

B.C.E. in South India (Asia Art, 2002). The era marked the period of great Hindu devotion in

the region. The Chola leaders had great respect and devotion to Shiva, and in particular, in his

role as the Lord of Dance (Das, 2016). As a result, they ordered the creation of the first

sculpture of Shiva to be made in bronze in the deity’s honor as the god of dance.

At the same time, the formal and iconographic components on the object serve

various purposes. The dance signifies the victory the god Shiva has over other “deceptive”

religions(Das, 2016). The dancing pose where Shiva’s right leg is rested on dwarf-demon

symbolizes the immense power that the deity has over ignorance. The multiple hands are a

sign of Shiva’s multiple abilities to create, destroy, save, and reassure (Das, 2016). The

clothing and jewelry represent power and devotions the object has from its believers.

Concisely, Shiva as Lord of the Dance is a Hindu sculpture that has religious

significance to those who believe in Hinduism. The object first functioned in South India,

where it was taken to represent the god Shiva with power to destroy and create life. Since its

creation, the sculpture has a served as one of the main Hindu deities, believed to have power

over “deceptive” religions.

VISUAL ANALYSIS 4

References

Asia Art. (2002). Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Shiva Nataraja). Retrieved from

http://sites.asiasociety.org/education/AsianArt/slideshow3.htm

Das, S. (2016). Nataraja symbolism of the dancing Shiva. Retrieved from

https://www.thoughtco.com/nataraj-the-dancing-shiva-1770458

Khalid, F. (2015). Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Nataraja). Retrieved from

http://smarthistory.org/shiva-as-lord-of-the-dance-nataraja/

Kumar, N. (2001). Shiva as Nataraja – Dance and destruction in Indian art. Retrieved from

http://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/nataraja/

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