Dance of Shiva in The Golden Temple

27 January 2002, 09:58pm IST
Karan Singh.

Whenever the golden temple is mentioned, we tend automatically to think of the beautiful harmandir sahib in amritsar which is known worldwide by that name. however, there is another golden temple down south - the great nataraja temple at chidambaram in tamil nadu. this temple figures prominently in tamil shaivite literature and is considered to be one of the most holy spots dedicated to lord shiva, next in importance to mount kailash itself. numerous miracles have been associated with this temple in the centuries since it was constructed by the chola kings. its four magnificent gopurams or ornate towers, great temple tank with colonnades and the sanctum sanctorum covered with solid gold make it a truly unique place of worship. the concept of nataraja, lord of the cosmic dance, is a most profound one. it portrays the deity not as a static entity but in a kinetic form, which could reflect equally the great inter-galactic dance of the galaxies or the sub-atomic dance of the neutrinos. in his right hand lord shiva holds the drum, representing the great sound - the logos, from which all creation springs; the big bang from which time and space both flash into being. in his left hand is the eternal fire, representing destruction that is the inevitable counterpart of creation. had there only been these two symbols, the individual soul would have no locus standi. but there are two more arms, signifying more truths. the third hand, raised in the gesture of benediction, reassures the devotee, telling her not to be afraid, and the fourth points to his upraised foot as the path to salvation. shiva dances on a small dwarf-like figure which represents our individual ego. he is surrounded by a nimbus of light symbolising the vast unending cycles of time. from his matted locks the ganges flows down to irrigate the earth, while the crescent moon shines in all its glory. in one ear he wears a ‘male’ earring and in the other a ‘female’ one, symbolising the concept of ardhanarishwar, the creative fusion of the male and female entities into a single divinity. the snakes twined around his arm represent the kundalini power that resides at the base of the human spine - which, when aroused, leads to the transmutation of consciousness. this image of nataraja is surely one of the greatest artistic creations of the human race. if a single image had to be chosen out of the vast profundity of indian iconography to represent the quintessence of our cultural heritage, it would surely have to be the nataraja. there are beautiful hymns in tamil in praise of the lord of chidambaram, many of which are depicted through the dance form, bharatanatyam. one hymn that particularly describes his ecstatic dance is called nadanam aadinar written by the poet gopalakrishna, and it runs as follows: "so, in the golden hall, danced the divine one, / with celestial exquisiteness. long long ago, in kailash, his home in the north, / he asked the rishis to assemble at tillai on the / day sacred to the guru in the month of tai, that they / might witness his wondrous dance. the eight spheres of the universe trembled. adi shesha, upon whose head rests the world, swayed / in fear and shook the earth. from the storm-tossed waters of the ganga fountains / gushed forth. then the assembled devas chanted praise to the lord and gopalakrishna sang with joy in his heart. ornamented with hooded serpents, the hair of shiva / swayed as he danced. and his dance brought the world to salvation". there are several different kinds of tandavas, notable among them being the anand tandava, the dance of bliss and the vinasha tandava, the dance of destruction. the world today is experiencing a great deal of unhappiness and pain as a result of widespread unrest, violence and conflict. some of us would naturally hope and pray that the lord is inclined to the anand tandava rather than the vinasha tandava at this critical juncture in human history. perhaps it is our vanity or ego that causes us to believe that this is a critical juncture - for the shiva within us, there is no time or space. in fact, it is our conceptualisation of these two artificial constructs, that the tandava seeks to destroy.