Editing Nataraja (section)

==History==
{{See also|Pancha Sabhai}}
[[File:Asanpat Nataraj (cropped).jpg|thumb|295x295px|Asanpata Nataraja with Naga King [[Satrubhanja]] (261AD) Inscription at Keonjhar district of Odisha 3rd Century AD]]
Stone reliefs depicting the classical form of Nataraja are found in numerous cave temples of India, such  as at the [[Ellora Caves]] (Maharashtra), the [[Elephanta Caves]], and the [[Badami Caves]]  (Karnataka), by around the 6th century.<ref name="harlep126" /><ref name="verma2012p150" /> One of the earliest known Nataraja artworks has been found in the archaeological site at Asanapat village in [[Odisha]], which includes an inscription, and is dated to about the 6th century CE.<ref>Rupendra Chattopadhya et al. (2013), ''The Kingdom of the Saivacaryas'', Berlin Indological Studies, volume 21, page 200; [https://www.academia.edu/es/7571943/ Archive]</ref> The Asanapat inscription also mentions a Shiva temple in the Saivacaryas kingdom.

Literary evidences shows that the bronze representation of Shiva's ananda-[[tandava]] appeared first in the [[Pallava dynasty|Pallava]] period between 7th century and mid-9th centuries CE.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC|title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century|last=Singh|first=Upinder|date=2008|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=9788131711200|pages=642|language=en}}</ref> Nataraja was worshipped at [[Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram|Chidambaram]] during the [[Pallava dynasty|Pallava period]] with underlying philosophical concepts of cosmic cycles of creation and destruction, which is also found in [[Tamil language|Tamil]] saint [[Manikkavacakar]]'s [[Thiruvasagam]].{{sfn|Srinivasan|2004|pp=444-445}}

Archaeological discoveries have yielded a red Nataraja sandstone statue, from 9th to 10th century from [[Ujjain]], [[Madhya Pradesh]], now held at the Gwalior Archaeological Museum.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://doi.org/10.11168/jeb1947.1971.96_L74|doi=10.11168/jeb1947.1971.96_L74|year=1971|volume=1971|last1=山本|first1=智教|title=Catalogue of Antiquities from East Asia in the Museums of art in U. S. A. Europe and India (5)|journal=密教文化}}</ref><ref>{{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/156 156]–157}}</ref> Similarly, Nataraja artwork has been found in archaeological sites in the Himalayan region such as [[Kashmir]], albeit in with somewhat different dance pose and iconography, such as just two arms or with eight arms.<ref>{{cite book|author=Anne-Marie Gaston|title=Śiva in dance, myth, and iconography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OMLu94PYIkoC|year=1982|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=56, 47, 101|isbn=9780195613544}}</ref>
[[File:Temple troglodytique dédié à Shiva (Badami, Inde) (14146091479).jpg|thumb|6th/7th century Nataraja in Cave 1 of [[Badami cave temples]]|left|273x273px]]Around the 10th century, it emerged in [[Tamil Nadu]] in its mature and best-known expression in [[Chola bronze]]s, of various heights typically less than four feet.<ref name="rao227" /><ref name="jharle309" /> Nataraja reliefs are found in historic settings in many parts of South East Asia such as [[Ankor Wat]], and in [[Bali]], [[Cambodia]], and central Asia.<ref name="panthey1987" /><ref name="Banerjee 1969 73–80" /><ref name="Mahadev Chakravarti 1986 178 with footnotes" /> The oldest free-standing stone sculptures of Nataraja were built by [[Chola dynasty|Chola]] queen [[Sembiyan Mahadevi]].<ref name=":1" /> Nataraja gained special significance and became a symbol of royalty in [[Tamil Nadu]]. The dancing Shiva became a part of Chola era processions and religious festivals, a practice that continued thereafter.<ref name="Davis2010p18">{{cite book|author1=Aghoraśivācārya|author2=Richard H. Davis|title=A Priest's Guide for the Great Festival|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ruAfDP0OZyEC |year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-537852-8|pages=15–20, 24–25}}</ref>

The depiction was informed of cosmic or [[Metaphysics|metaphysical]] connotations is also argued on the basis of the testimony of the hymns of [[Tamil people|Tamil]] saints.<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242523462_Shiva_as_%27cosmic_dancer%27_On_Pallava_origins_for_the_Nataraja_bronze Sharada Srinivasan, "Shiva as 'cosmic dancer': on Pallava origins for the Nataraja bronze"], ''World Archaeology'' (2004) 36(3), pages 432–450.</ref>

In medieval era artworks and texts on dancing Shiva found in [[Nepal]], [[Assam]] and [[Bengal]], he is sometimes shown as dancing on his ''[[vahana]]'' (animal vehicle) [[Nandi (bull)|Nandi]], the bull; further, he is regionally known as ''Narteshvara''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Anne-Marie Gaston|title=Śiva in dance, myth, and iconography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OMLu94PYIkoC|year=1982|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=130, 57|isbn=9780195613544}}</ref> Nataraja artwork have also been discovered in [[Gujarat]], [[Kerala]] and [[Andhra Pradesh]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Anne-Marie Gaston|title=Śiva in dance, myth, and iconography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OMLu94PYIkoC|year=1982|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=48–50|isbn=9780195613544}}</ref> In the contemporary Hindu culture of Bali in Indonesia, Siwa (Shiva) Nataraja is the god who created dance.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Fredrik Eugene DeBoer |author2=I Made Bandem |title=Balinese Dance in Transition: Kaja and Kelod |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8-vfAAAAMAAJ |year=1995 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-967-65-3071-4 |pages=ii–iii}}</ref> Siwa and his dance as Nataraja was also celebrated in the art of Java Indonesia when Hinduism thrived there, while in Cambodia he was referred to as ''Nrittesvara''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Alessandra Iyer |title=Prambanan: Sculpture and Dance in Ancient Java : a Study in Dance Iconography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LfTVAAAAMAAJ |year=1998 |publisher=White Lotus|isbn=978-974-8434-12-4|pages=69–70}}</ref>[[File:Shiva's statue at CERN engaging in the Nataraja dance.jpg|thumb|right|Modern statue gifted by India at [[CERN]] in [[Geneva]], [[Switzerland]]]]

In 2004, a 2 meter statue of the dancing Shiva was unveiled at [[CERN]], the European Center for Research in Particle Physics in [[Geneva]]. The statue, symbolizing Shiva's cosmic dance of creation and destruction, was given to CERN by the Indian government to celebrate the research center's long association with India.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/29122/3 |title=Faces and Places (page 3) |website=CERN Courier |access-date=2017-01-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180606115929/http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/29122/3 |archive-date=6 June 2018 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref> A special plaque next to the Shiva statue explains the metaphor of Shiva's cosmic dance with quotations from [[physicist]] [[Fritjof Capra]]:
<blockquote>Hundreds of years ago, Indian artists created visual images of dancing Shivas in a beautiful series of bronzes. In our time, physicists have used the most advanced technology to portray the patterns of the cosmic dance. The metaphor of the cosmic dance thus unifies ancient mythology, religious art and modern physics.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.fritjofcapra.net/shivas-cosmic-dance-at-cern/ |title=Shiva's Cosmic Dance at CERN {{!}} Fritjof Capra |website=fritjofcapra.net |access-date=2017-01-30}}</ref></blockquote>

Though named "Nataraja bronzes" in Western literature, the Chola Nataraja artworks are mostly in copper, and a few are in brass, typically cast by the ''cire-perdue'' ([[lost-wax casting]]) process.<ref name=coomaraswamy18/>

Nataraja is celebrated in 108 poses of [[Bharatanatyam]], with Sanskrit inscriptions from ''[[Natya Shastra]]'', at the [[Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram|Nataraja temple]] in [[Chidambaram]], [[Tamil Nadu]], India.<ref name="Verma2011p19">{{cite book |author=Archana Verma |title=Performance and Culture: Narrative, Image and Enactment in India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iAArBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 |year=2011 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-4438-2832-1 |pages=19–26}}</ref><ref name=rao223>{{cite book |author=T. A. Gopinatha Rao |title=Elements of Hindu Iconography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e7mP3kDzGuoC |year=1997 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0877-5 |pages=223–224}}</ref>