Editing Nataraja (section)

==Symbolism==
[[File:Chidambaram Shiva.jpg|thumb|An 1820 painting of Nataraja in a temple chariot.]]
The dance of Nataraja is revealed in a story mentioned in the ''Koyil Puranam''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Coomaraswamy |first=Ananda Kentish |url=http://archive.org/details/danceofsivafourt01coomuoft |title=The dance of Siva; fourteen Indian essays |date=1918 |publisher=New York Sunwise Turn |others=Robarts - University of Toronto |pages=57–58, 65}}</ref> The symbolism has been interpreted in classical Indian [[Shaiva Siddhanta]] texts such as ''Unmai Vilakkam'', ''Mummani Kovai'', ''Tirukuttu Darshana'' and ''Tiruvatavurar Puranam'', dating from the 12th century CE ([[Chola empire]]) and later, and include:<ref name="rao227" /><ref name="coomarados">[http://www2.hawaii.edu/~freeman/courses/phil300/18.%20The%20Dance%20of%20Shiva.pdf The Dance of Shiva], Ananda Coomaraswamy</ref><ref>[https://www.worldhistory.org/article/831/ Shiva Nataraja, lord of the dance] Encyclopedia of Ancient History (2013)</ref>
* He dances within a circular or cyclically closed arch of flames (''prabha mandala''), which symbolically represent the cosmic fire that in Hindu cosmology creates everything and consumes everything, in cyclic existence or cycle of life. The fire also represents the evils, dangers, heat, warmth, light and joys of daily life. The arch of fire emerges from two ''[[Makara (Hindu mythology)|makara]]'' (mythical water beasts) on each end.
* He looks calm, even through the continuous chain of creation and destruction that maintains the universe, that shows the supreme tranquility of the [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Atma]].<ref name="erec_ed_gov">{{cite book|first1=Carole|last1=DeVito|first2=Pasquale|last2=DeVito|title= India - Mahabharata. Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminar Abroad 1994 (India)|year=1994|publisher= United States Educational Foundation in India|language=en|page=5}}</ref>
* His legs are bent, which suggests an energetic dance. His long, matted tresses, are shown to be loose and flying out in thin strands during the dance, spread into a fan behind his head, because of the wildness and ecstasy of the dance.
* On his right side, meshed in with one of the flying strands of his hair near his forehead, is typically the river [[Ganges]] personified as a goddess, from the Hindu mythology where the danger of a mighty river is creatively tied to a calm river for the regeneration of life.

* His headdress often features a human [[skull]] (symbol of mortality), a [[lunar phase|crescent moon]] and a flower identified as that of the [[entheogen]]ic plant ''[[Datura metel]]''.
*Four-armed figures are most typical, but ten-armed forms are also found from various places and periods, for example the [[Badami Caves]] and [[Ankor Wat]].
* [[File:Shiva Nataraja, Southern India, Tamil Nadu, Chola dynasty, detail, 900s-1100s with later alterations, cast bronze - Portland Art Museum - Portland, Oregon - DSC08479.jpg|thumb|Detail of Chola bronze|218x218px]]The upper right hand holds a small drum shaped like an hourglass that is called a ''{{IAST|[[ḍamaru]]}}'' in Sanskrit.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Alice Boner|author2=Sadāśiva Rath Śarmā|title=Silpa Prakasa Medieval Orissan Sanskrit Text on Temple Architecture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=itQUAAAAIAAJ |year=1966|publisher=Brill Archive|pages=xxxvi, 144}}</ref><ref>For the [[damaru]] drum as one of the attributes of Shiva in his dancing representation see: Jansen, page 44.</ref> A specific hand gesture ([[mudra]]) called ''{{IAST|ḍamaru-hasta}}'' (Sanskrit for "{{IAST|ḍamaru}}-hand") is used to hold the drum.<ref>Jansen, page 25.</ref> It symbolizes rhythm of creation and time.
* The upper left hand contains ''[[Agni]]'' or fire, which signifies destruction.
* A cobra uncoils from his lower right forearm, while his hand is in the [[Abhayamudra|''abhaya mudra'']] gesture as a sign to not fear
* The lower left hand is bent downwards at the wrist with the palm facing inward, we also note that this arm crosses Naṭarāja's chest, concealing his heart from view. It represents tirodhāna, which means “occlusion, concealment.”
* The face shows two eyes plus a slightly open third on the forehead, which symbolize the triune in [[Shaivism]]. The eyes represent the sun, the moon and the third has been interpreted as the inner eye, or symbol of knowledge (''jnana''), urging the viewer to seek the inner wisdom, self-realization. The three eyes alternatively symbolize an equilibrium of the three [[Guṇa]]s: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.
* The dwarf underneath his foot is the demon ''[[Apasmara]] purusha'' or Muyalaka, who symbolizes ignorance which Nataraja destroys.
* The slightly smiling face of Shiva represents his calmness despite being immersed in the contrasting forces of universe and his energetic dance.<ref name="jharle309">{{cite book |author=James C. Harle |title=The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent |url=https://archive.org/details/artarchitectureo00harl |url-access=registration |year=1994 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-06217-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/artarchitectureo00harl/page/309 309]–310}}</ref>
[[File:Shiva Nataraja (BM).JPG|thumb|The oldest known Tamil bronze Nataraja, 800 AD, [[British Museum]]<ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1969-1216-1 British Museum Collection]</ref>|273x273px]]Padma Kaimal questions some of these interpretations by referring to a 10th-century text and Nataraja icons, suggesting that the Nataraja statue may have symbolized different things to different people or in different contexts, such as Shiva being the lord of cremation or as an emblem of Chola dynasty.<ref>Padma Kaimal (1999), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3051349 Shiva Nataraja: Shifting Meanings of an Icon], The Art Bulletin Volume 81, Issue 3, pages 390-419</ref> In contrast, Sharada Srinivasan questions the link to Chola, and has presented archaeological evidence suggesting that Nataraja bronzes and dancing Shiva artwork in South India was a [[Pallava]] innovation, tracing back to 7th to 9th-centuries, and its symbolism should be pushed back by a few centuries.{{sfn|Srinivasan|2004|pp=432-450}}