This is a postcard from the art gallery at Thanjavur, my present city. Several other bronze statues made in various centuries are at display here.

The two most common forms of Shiva's dance are the Lasya (the gentle form of dance), associated with the creation of the world, and the Tandava (the violent and dangerous dance), associated with the destruction of weary worldviews - weary perspectives & lifestyles. In essence, the Lasya and the Tandava are just two aspects of Shiva's nature; for he destroys in order to create, tearing down to build again.

The sculpture is usually made in bronze, with Shiva dancing in an aureole of flames, lifting his left leg (and in rare cases, the right leg) and balancing over a demon or dwarf (Apasmara) who symbolizes ignorance. It is a well known sculptural symbol in India and popularly used as a symbol of Indian culture.

Check this link of Wikipedia to know more - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nataraja

The Urdhva Tandava pose

One Hindu myth, with deep philosophic symbolism, is a story about Shiva and his wife Parvati. The divine couple spent much of their time sporting in the Himalaya, dallying with and teasing each other.

Once, in the course of their jestful banter, a dance competition was set up to see who could out dance the other.

The heavenly creatures assembled, and while the celestial musicians played divine music, Shiva and Parvati began to dance. As the dance progressed, it was clear that the couple was perfectly matched; anything Shiva did Parvati could equal and the other way around, so the competition proceeded virtually without end.

Finally, the dance dialogue came to a standstill. Shiva, the strident expert of many yogic practices and tantric norms, stood on one leg and lifted the other high above his shoulder. Standing in this Urdhva-tandava stance, clearly meant for competent male dancers, he waited for Parvati to imitate this difficult position. The celestial audience watched in silence, for this was the ultimate challenge. Parvati demurely bowed her head, modesty inhibiting her from imitating his posture, it is believed that the grand Chidambaram temple, at Tamilnadu in South India was the venue of this cosmic dance competition between the god and the goddess.

A central image of the temple is of Natraj, the cosmic dancer, and there is a shrine in the complex dedicated to his wife Shivakamasundari, the beautiful one desired by the Shiva. The gopurams and the temple walls are adorned with myriad dancing figures and musicians celebrating this great event of creation.

Thanks so much for this, Voyager! It is indeed true that India has so many forms of dances and goddesses.

It does ignite my interest to explore more of the dances in India.

India Post, on June 19, 2003, issued a set of three stamps and souvenir sheet to commemorate Government Museum at Chennai. One stamp is featured with Lord Shiva / Nataraja, the Dance God.

painting of Lord Shiva in dancing stance