THE DANCE OF NATARAJA

The following is the philosophy, mythological vision and aesthetic features of the sculpture entitled “The Dance of Nataraja”, created by artist Joseph Palackal. At the end of this piece is a link to his website where you can see a video clip with music of the sculpture and still photos. It is a very impressive piece of work. The following text is from the sculptor’s website:-

ON SIVA: - Lord Siva is the most primitive and powerful of all Gods in Indian mythology. He has the entire universe as his body. He is the originator and master of all arts,

including dance and music. Recent researches in nuclear physics reveal the astounding fact that the configuration of electrons is in the shape of the dancing Nataraja.

(B) ON THE DANCE OF NATARAJA: - According to Anandakumaraswamy, the international exponent of dance, there are three forms of the dance of Siva- such as twilight- dance, funeral- dance, and the “nadantha nrutham”. Of the above, the third sort of dance is called “the dance of Nataraja”. There is a mythological story attached to this dance. A group of hermits were doing penance in the “Tharaka” forest. Then Siva and another God of his equal stature by name Vishnu came in disguise to visit them. The hermits, angry that their penance was disturbed, created a tiger from the fire of penance. Siva calmly killed the tiger and wore the tiger-skin around his waist. And he tamed a serpent that came to kill him, and put it around his neck. Then the hermits created a strange giant, called “Muyalakan”. But Siva danced on the back of the fallen

Muyalakan. The serpent Adisesha requested him to let him to see that dance again. In obeisance to that request, Siva did the same dance again at the sacred court at Chithambaram, the place that is considered as center of the universe. It is this dance, which is famous as “the dance of Nataraja”. The magnificent face of “Nataraja” evokes bliss, and also tranquility. The rear side of dancing Siva exudes the charm of dancing movement. The right eye of the figure symbolizes the sun, the left eye the moon. The third eye on his forehead represents knowledge. As knowledge is like flames, the third eye is directed upwards. This eye is said to eradicate lust. The figure has four hands. The curly hair adorned with “Konna Flowers” keeps on vacillating in harmony with the rhythm of dance. Goddess Ganga devi resides on the matted hair of the dancing Siva along with a scull and a serpent. Ganga devi, who is the river Ganga in truth, falls down from his head as holy shower of nectar-like w!
ater to give solace and joy to thousands of suffering souls.

The serpent waves its hood in dancing delight.

There are necklaces on the neck and girdles on the waist. Siva who has worn the sacred thread, is dressed in light waistcloth and fluttering loincloth. There is a drum on the raised right hand. And for counter balance, there are flames on the left hand. The right hand shows the sign of offering refuge. The right leg is trampling on “Muyalakan”. Twenty-one lamps, starting from the seat of lotus and arranged in circular style, spread sacred light and ethereal beauty around the image of Siva. The images of dancing Siva, which is longer than four feet, are rare. This figure, which is fourteen feet long, symbolizes that Siva is the master of all the fourteen worlds. The skull and serpent on the figure’s head are reminders of various events associated with Siva. The “Ganga” on the matted hair is reminiscent of the endless flow of life. The figure is based on the concept of semi-feminine masculinity. This is why the figure is endowed with four arms and two types of earrings. The cr!
escent moon on the matted hair is symbolic of rises and falls in

life. The drum (”damarukam”), which is the home of origin of “omkara”, denotes energy. The annihilation of Muyalakan is symbolic of ruin to the wicked. The right hand of the figure is ready for protection and the left hand for showering blessings. The feet which is raised against the chest is expected to deliver salvation. The circular form of the figure represents the endlessness of life. It declares that Siva himself is the time, the terminator of time, the past, present and future. All the five elements of nature dwell in Nataraja.

The dance is a language. Movements are its words. The fingers, the feet, the eyes, the lips, and the lean waist of the dancer are such words. In his presence you can physically feel ’shakti’ (power) exploding from every inch of his body and every hair on his head, which is reminiscent of the splendour of the Chola kings for whom these fabulous dance form were once commissioned. As a whole, the dance of Siva beautifully symbolizes the dance of the heavenly joy of life and the beauty of serene tranquility.

(C) ON THE SCULPTURE: - Siva and Karna are the two mythological heroes whom I adore since my childhood. They are unforgettable to me, owing to their personality, tolerance, bravery, and magnanimity. It was my long cherished ambition to create a sculptured figure of Siva in its inestimable magnificence and elegance. And hence I set out for the creation of Siva through a figure in rosewood at the length of 14 feet. I had remembered that Parvathi had to do fierce penance under a Devadaru tree to propitiate Siva. As getting Devadaru was not practicable I chose rosewood, which was next in aesthetic quality to Devadaru. Leaving the conventional “bronze-style” of contemporary Siva statues, deriving inspiration from the “Ajanta and Ravivarma” styles, I evolved my own style for creation of Nataraja.

“Why did you plunge in to such a colossal creation without ensuring the marketing?” This question was hurled on me during the creation of Nataraja. But, seeing the joy of creation as superior to any other gain for me, I plunged myself in to the penance of creation which lasted for over three years. And I am now brimful of belief and confidence that my sculpture has flawlessly recaptured the infinite grace and greatness of Nataraja more than any other creation. It radiates the glory of the Lord, who plays the dance of joy for the sustenance of universe and who infuses the spirit of delight to every creature.

Art is the language of beauty with a message. In the present day- world, the man-woman relationships are drowning in the vortex of selfishness. This statue comes with the consolatory message that man and woman are equally interdependent like Siva and Parvathi in the “Ardhanareeshwara” cult. Parvathi is the source of strength for Siva. Parvathi has no existence without Siva. Siva is imperfect without Parvathi. Where else can we find such a mature philosophy of man-woman relationship?

To visit the sculptor’s website please click here .

Latest from Tolkien artist extraordinaire John Howe with the ever-prolific … John Howe Newsletter

Why It All Depends on How You Look at Things

Last week, I was going to pursue that Flat Earth theme, but got
distracted (again). I had a visit from a friend. My high-school buddy
Harold stopped over on a trek through Europe, hot on the trail of Goethe.
He told me a story from back west. Here it is.

In the Beginning, Coyote was swimming. He wasn’t swimming for fun, he
was dog-paddling energetically but very unhappily because the world
was water. (Coyote is the Trickster, he is Loki and Reynard, Seth,
Maui, Brer Rabbit and Saruman - the one who is always up to some
mischief, the discordant note in the universe, the one who insists on
playing his own tune. He is the transformer; when he dies, he always
comes back to life. He is beyond good and evil.)

Coyote called out to the ducks, who were paddling about nearby.
“Ducks, he said, I’m sick of swimming, dive down and bring me up some
mud in your beaks.” The first duck dived. It was gone an hour. It
couldn’t find the bottom. A second duck dived - it was gone half a day
before it finally came back up. Still no bottom.

Coyote heard Loon laughing in the fog. Loon looked pretty scary, with
his mad bright red eye shining in the mist, but Coyote called out
anyway. “Loon, he said, I’m surely drowning, dive down and find bottom
and bring me some mud.”

Loon dived. He was gone two days. When he resurfaced, he floated up
dead, belly up; the bottom had been very deep. Coyote grabbed Loon’s
corpse and pried open Loon’s beak, and stuck way in the back of Loon’s
throat was a tiny lump of mud. Coyote took it out, rolled it, kneaded
it, patted it firm, and made it bigger and bigger until he could climb
on top. Enough of it stuck above the surface to make a sand bar.
Coyote ran back and forth, shaking water from his fur. My sand bar! he
yapped and yelped, snapping at the air. Coyote could hardly contain
himself he was so happy. No more swimming! This is mine, mine, mine!

Then Old Man appeared, Coyote ran around him, snapped at his legs,
yelped and snarled “This is my sand bar, go away Old Man, I don’t like
you here!”

“Take it easy, Old Man replied. I need your help. Man and Woman are
due to turn up any time.”

“It’s my sand bar, mine! No humans! yapped Coyote, I’m not sharing!”

“Calm down, said the Old Man. It’s a big sand bar, there’s room
enough, and besides you’ll like them. They’re new to the world and
weak, they need your help. The world is filled with monsters, and
those monsters they love the taste of human, so you have to help me
protect them.”

Coyote snarled and whimpered and yowled, but the Old Man said I’ll
teach you a trick for those monsters. If you can jump over one, he
said, it’ll turn to stone. Of course, this was powerful magic, so
Coyote thought he’d give it a try.

The first monster appeared, and Coyote leaped high over him and poof!
the monster turned to stone. Now Coyote was happy, his feet had wings,
his legs were springs; he was really enjoying this, so he raced off,
leaping over monster after monster, all the way up the Fraser River.
He was enjoying himself so much he did the Thompson River too, all the
way to Kamloops. Dozens of monsters, all turned to stone.

Now, when Simon Fraser left Fort George on May 28th, 1808, the
natives warned him it was tough going farther downstream. (After all,
Moon had drowned trying the run in a canoe with Sun and Coyote.) His
party left their canoes at Lilooett, heading overland, borrowing
canoes farther down, all the way to where Vancouver would be one day.
Nowadays, you can drive up the TransCanada from Hope past Hell’s Gate,
and admire the pretty cliffs, watch tree trunks getting shredded like
cardboard in the rapids, take the cablecar across at Boston Bar. It’s
a nice trip. All the tourists see is cliffs, but they’re actually
monsters. It just depends what story you’re following.

There’s another great rock story, but from the Campbell River this
time. Grizzly wanted to jump from the mainland to Vancouver Island.
Great Spirit said don’t try it, you’ll come to no good, but that big
island was just teeming with deer and salmon, so Grizzly dug in his
claws and tried to leap the Inside Passage. He nearly made it, but the
tide was high, and one heel touched the water. He turned to stone;
that stone is the only grizzly on Vancouver Island today.

When Harold told me these, I replied “Songlines.” He replied
“Dreamtimes.”

We’re not unlike poor Bruce Chatwin, so intense, and so dour that the
Arnangu wouldn’t even talk to him. As for singing for him, no way. He
was looking too hard. He was being too serious, too earnest. Perhaps
he’d have had better luck amongst the Secwepemc or the Tlingit. The
lands of the Peoples Without Writing everywhere are crisscrossed with
stories, thicker than any Texaco map. We modern westerners are too
clever. We know so much, we’ve been writing it all down for so long
now. We know what’s true, we know what’s not. It stops us from seeing
far too many things.

I don’t know about you, but next time I drive up country from
Vancouver, I’m going to pay attention to a different map from the one
in the glove compartment. There are monsters to count. The first one
is at Yale. I wouldn’t want to miss any.

SEASONS

The latest issue of Saisons d’Alsace, in the newstands on May 2nd, is
a special issue on Haut-Koeningsbourg. Not only will you get the full
history of the castle and the restoration, but there are a couple of
articles a Canadian illustrator who seems to have spent an inordinate
amount of time hanging around there, as well as a free copy of the DVD
“Le Seigneur du Château”. In a week or so, I’ll have the address of
the site where you can order it by mail, and will be able to update
the link here.

Pictures are here

Left: magazine cover.

Here: excerpt from a poetic essay by Dostena Lavergne
on the elusive and unexpected nature of this whole business of
myth-imagery, combined with a little photographic tour of the castle
as you’ve likely never seen it before. (I’m sorry, there’s no English
translation.)

Here: excerpt from an interview by Aude Boissaye

SIGNINGS

I’ll be signing books at the Librairie Payot in Neuchâtel on
Saturday May 3rd at 3 p.m. and will be at the Geneva Book Fair on
Sunday May 4th at 2:30 p.m for a debate entitled “Du pouvoir de
l’imaginaire pour ouvrir les esprits ou la quête du beau au centre de
son existence”, the title of which already has me somewhat confused,
but I’m sure the organisers will explain in time for me to gather my
thoughts.

John
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