The Dance of Shiva as represented in the Nataraja form is a wonder of the aesthetic world. Dr Ananda Coomarasamy says: The Indian Nataraja may well be claimed as the clearest, most logical and impassioned statement of the conception of life as an eternal Becoming." The Nataraja typifies the universe in the action of creation and destruction. "This is his dance in the last night of the world when the stars fall from their courses and all is reduced to ashes, to be ever rekindled, ever renewed by the boundless power of the Lord . The Dionysian frenzy of his whirling dance presents affirmation of the eternal, unseen spectacle of the dynamic disintegration and renewal, birth and death, of all cosmic matter in every second as in every kalpa of time. "

Ananda Coomarasamy, seeing beyond the unsurpassed rhythm, beauty, power and grace of the Nataraja, wrote of it "Whatever be the origins of Shivas dance, it became in time the noblest image of activity of God which any art or religion can boast of."

Sir Jacob Epstein (1880-1959), leading English Sculptor, has written about Shiva Nataraja: Shiva dances, creating the world and destroying it, his large rhythms conjure up vast eons of time, and his movements have a relentless magical power of incantation. Our European allegories are banal and pointless by comparison with these profound works, devoid of the trappings of symbolism, concentrating on the essential, and the essentially plastic. The Hindu Agamas describe seven dances of Siva. They are 1) Ananda Tandava 2)Sandhya Tandava 3) Uma Tandava 4)Gauri Tandava 5)Kalika Tandava 6)Tripura Tandava 7)Samhara Tandava.

Siva is the Divine Dancer, visualized in terms of motion and vibration, who in 108 varies movements interprets the mathematical Law of the Universe.

The Natya Sastra or the Science of Dance enumerates 108 modes of dances and all these are found sculptured on either side of the doorway of Cidambaram Temple, Tamilnadu, India. One who wants to know the secret of the Universe is advised to go to the Cidambaram Temple situated in Tamilnadu, India where Lord Nataraja is the presiding deity.

One who understands the Dance of Shiva Nataraja could easily understand the mysteries of the Universe.

Santhanam Nagarajan

S. Nagarajan has worked in a reputed automobile firm for over thirty years. As Research and Development Manager, he has designed special vehicles such as O B Vans, mobile homes, EMI/EMC Shielded shelters etc. He has written more than 1300 articles in 16 magazines and published 18 books. He is revealing Eastern Secret Wisdom through T.V. Programmes, magazine articles, seminars, courses. He is conducting one day courses on Self Improvement, Creativity, Feng Shui, Pyramid,Sri Yantra etc. His email address is: snagarajans@gmail.com. He has covered various subjects in his wide range of articles which include Mantras,Yantras, Yoga, Meditation, Astrology, Astronomy, Space Science, Science and Spirituality, Hollywood cinema, Womens? progress, Aura, Significance of Colours, Reincarnation, Divine Geometry, Power of Prayer etc He invites readers to send their views so that a healthy Readers? Forum could be created. As an ardent seeker of Truth, he has collected scientific experiments on mantras, mind ,Auto suggestion etc He has written many articles on para psychology. His articles on Yoga, laughter, efficacy of mantras and sound, Hypnotism, Tele Kinesis, Power of Prayer, Vastu and Feng Shui, Auto suggestion, Success Formula, Out of Body Experience etc are regularly appearing in ezinearticles.com. So far more than forty articles have been published in ezinearticles.com. Interested website designers are invited to create an exclusive website to promote eastern wisdom based on the scientific experiments carried out by scientists and also to exchange views.