Shiva as Lord of Dance
Shiva Nataraja is a religious sculpture of the Hindu god Shiva as Lord of the Cosmic Dance. According to the Metropolitan Museum , “sculptures of Shiva dancing survive from at least as early as the fifth century,” but this specific icon is from the 11th century. The iconography of Shiva Nataraja evolved under the rule of the Chola dynasty in southern India (ca. 860-1279). It is currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue in Gallery 240 in New York, New York.
Technical Evaluation[]
The copper alloy sculpture stands at a height of 26 7/8 in. (68.3 cm) with a diameter of 22 1/4 in. (56.5 cm). Each bronze sculpture cast during the Chola period in the Tamil Nadu region of south India was unique. The Chola period was a time for artistic advancement, especially in the field of bronze metalwork [www.khanacademy.org]. Artists would have used the “lost-wax (cire perdue) process, in which molten metal is poured into a hand-fashioned clay mold that is later broken apart to yield the final work of art,” [http://www.asia.si.edu/bronzeCasting.asp ]. Through the Chola dynasty’s expansion into Sri Lanka, artists had access to copper reserves in the southeast [www.khanacademy.org ].
While each Shiva Nataraja sculpture was unique (depending in part on the skill of the artist), there was a sacred text of guidelines to follow in creating icons. Sculptures of Hindu deities were based on precise measurements from the ancient Indian manual of visual depiction, the Shilpa Shastras (The Science or Rules of Sculpture) [www.khanacademy.org ]. The Shastras recommended parts of nature as models for different body parts: a bull’s head was the ideal male torso, the damaru drum was the female equivalent, and bamboo shoots were models for arms [http://www.asia.si.edu/imageDesign.asp]. According to the Freer Sackler Smithsonian, “the goal of the shilpa shastras was not to communicate how to achieve a realistic human form but the idealized, divine body prized in Indian art.” Sculptors designed these images as portable vehicles “for Shiva’s divine power and physical presence to be shared with his devotees,” [http://www.asia.si.edu/shiva.asp ].
The sculptor of this specific Shiva Nataraja is unkown. R.H. Ellsworth, Ltd. donated the sculpture in honor of Susan Dillon to the Met in 1987.
Local Historical Context[]
Coomaraswamy established the traditional interpretation Nataraja in 1948. He said the iconography represented Shiva’s “mastery over the cosmic cycle and his promise to enlighten the faithful” [see Kaimla, pg. 5]. Kaimla argues the increase in sculptural representations of Shiva as Lord of Dance during the 10th and 11th centuries also signifies the growth of Chola patronage and their expansion as a dynastic power [see Kaimla, pg. 2].
“As the family and state deity, Shiva was the most important authority in the religious, political, and cultural world of the Cholas and their subjects. [http://www.asia.si.edu/origins.asp ] The height of the dynasty’s power was in the 11th century. Though the dynasty ended in 1279, Hindu cultured flourished under its rulers for 300 years. According to Columbia Encylopedia, “its greatest architectural monument is an 11th-century temple at Tanjore, which was dedicated to Shiva in celebration of a military victory,” [see Chola, pg. 1].
Sculptures of the Shiva Natajara like the one on display at the Met would have occupied temples such as the one at Tanjore. The Chola dynasty was an age of temples; according to the Freer Sackler Smithsonian, “Temples functioned both as centers of religious life and practice and as hubs of economic, political, and social activity.” However, these icons were not meant to remain always inside.
As early as the seventh century, processions of Hindu dieties played a large role in Indian culture. With the developments in bronze metalworking in the eleventh century, processions became absolutely critical as the practice of darshan, the “means of acquiring a glimpse of the divine and… of receiving into one's view the divine as presented,” became more and more important in Hindu worship [see "Darshan", pg. 81].
Because some members of society did not have the means to visit temples or were barred from the temple altogether (because of his or her caste), the ability to see these “mobile embodiments of the gods ” outside of the temple became absolutely critical for a large portion of Indian society.
"Portable bronze images were seen as vehicles for Shiva's divine power and physical presence to be shared with his devotees.”[[ [1] | ]][1] As destroyer, creator and the symbol of power for the state and Chola family, this 11th century Shiva Nataraja would have been highly revered and worhsipped in Southern India.
World-Historical Significance []
On a world-scale Hinduism is unique in its representation of the deities its followers worhsip; the sculptures of Hindu gods are the divinities themselves, unlike Christian and Buddhist icons. Hindu sculptors present ideal, oftentimes sensual, representations of the Hindu gods. Hindu sculptures of the gods in the 11th century and today "are treated like members of royalty, with all of the accompanying delights," [http://[2] [www.asia.si.edu/indianart/belief]]. This practice of puja is similar to the ancient practices of the Mesopotomians; temples are homes of the gods, and it is the duty of followers to dress, bathe and worship these powerful beings. The Hindu religion did not transcend the culture of India to become a universal religion, but the image of Shiva Nataraja spread from southern India throughout the rest of the country in the centuries following the collapse of the Chola dynasty.
"Nataraja's significance has expanded beyond the Cholas' religious, political, and cultural understandings of the deity. It is now layered with many more meanings, including Tamil identity, the origins of Indian dance, and—more broadly—India itself." [http://www.asia.si.edu/explore/indianart/origins.asp]
Suggested Bibliography[]
"Chola." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia , 6th Edition (April 2016): Literary Reference Center, EBSCOhost.
Coomaraswamy, AK, The Dance Of Shiva: Fourteen Indian Essays, n.p.: New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1991., U of Georgia Catalog, EBSCOhost.
"Darshan." Enyclopedia of Religious Phenomena (September 2008): 81. Supplemental Index, EBSCOhost.
Kaimal, Padma. "Shiva Nataraja: Shifting Meanings of an Icon." The Art Bulletin, 1999., 390, JSTOR Journals, EBSCOhost.
"Shiva." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia , 6th Edition (April 2016): Literary Reference Center, EBSCOhost.
Bronze Casting, http://www.asia.si.edu/explore/indianart/bronzeCasting.asp
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja), http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1987.80.1/
Image Design, http://www.asia.si.edu/explore/indianart/imageDesign.asp
Lost-Wax Process, https://www.britannica.com/technology/lost-wax-process
Processional Images, http://www.asia.si.edu/explore/indianart/processional.asp
Puja, https://www.britannica.com/topic/puja
R.H. Ellsworth, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/arts/design/robert-h-ellsworth-whose-life-was-devoted-to-chinese-art-dies-at-85.html
Shiva as Lord of the Dance, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/south-asia/hindu-art/a/shiva-as-lord-of-the-dance-nataraja
Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja) http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/39328
The Age of Temples, http://www.asia.si.edu/explore/indianart/ageOfTemples.asp
The Origins of Shiva Nataraja, http://www.asia.si.edu/explore/indianart/origins.asp