The metaphor of cosmic dance is quite beautifully expressed in the bronze image of the dancing Siva. It is not just art but also science par excellence, says MP Ajith Kumar
All things... are aggregations of atoms and by their movements produce sounds. When the rhythm of the dance changes, the sound it produces also changes... Each atom perpetually sings its song, and the sound, at every moment, creates dense and subtle forms.”
This dance as described by Alexandra David-Néel in Tibetan Journey offered a mystic and spiritual experience to Fritjof Capra, a leading scientist of our times. It inspired him to write his classic work, Tao of Physics. Sitting by the ocean one late summer afternoon, he saw all his former experiences snowballing into an unbearable ecstasy. “I saw the cascades of energy coming down from outer space in which particles were created and destroyed in rhythmic pulse. I ‘saw’ the atoms of the elements and those of my body participating in this cosmic dance of energy; I felt its rhythm and I ‘heard’ its sound and at that moment I knew that this was the dance of Siva, the lord of dancers”, he said.
The metaphor of cosmic dance is beautifully and profoundly expressed in the bronze image of the dancing Siva — Nataraja. Created during the 10th century or earlier in south India, the citadel of Indian art and philosophy, the image of the dancing Siva is the most excellent creation of the Chola art (an age of refinement of Dravidian art and architecture under the imperial rule of the Chola dynasty from 850 CE to 1250 CE).
Marked with classic grace, grandeur and perfect taste for creativity, the image of the dancing god has attained worldwide recognition and is an esteemed sanctum of classical art. With its complexity that baffles a philosophical explanation, the Nataraja image has infused the scientists as well as artists with awe and inspiration. For, it is art at its best; it is science par excellence as well.
Symbolically representing the cycles of creation and annihilation, the king of dance upholds rhythm and exaltation. He is surrounded by the flaming aureole of the prabhamandala, the circle of the world which he both fills and exceeds. Playing the tambourine with one of his right hands, he draws all beings into his rhythmic motion and exhorts them to take part in the dance which represents the merciless act of universal annihilation.
His flying locks and the blown scarves depict the speed of this universal movement, which crystallises matter and reduces it to powder in turn. In one of his left hands, he holds the fire which annihilates and devours the world in this cosmic whirl. He is also crushing a demon with one of his feet; he dances on the bodies of the dead. It is the dance of total annihilation — samhara — but it is the dance of creation too, symbolising the divine mercy. like Shelley’s West Wind which is a juxtaposition of creation and annihilation, the God of dance too executes many steps sending vibration into the potential elements lying dormant, and exhorts them to dance to life.
Are creation and annihilation separate entitiesIJ The Bhagavad Gita refutes the notion. What one sees is only the world that is visible, but its end remains invisible. In between this beginning and end, one locates the cosmic dance in its camouflaging speed. Speed, as both philosophy and science say, forms visibility. The word jagat then represents world that is always in the process of rapid movements. It is this swiftness that makes the world loka and the subject to the eye, lochana.
The world (or loka) is visible because it is jagat (the one that moves in speed). The lord of dance thus combines in him all the three aspects — creation, preservation and destruction — which in their final fusion results in creative unity. Aspects of ananda and samhara thus embrace in perfect harmony where the ostensible opposites cease to differ from each other and samhara leads to the final bliss, ananda. Everything the Taittiriya Upanishad says is the expression of ananda. Born of ananda, they return to ananda. Shiva is the infinite time, Mahakala, with no beginning and end and the infinite space with circumference everywhere and centre nowhere. Time and space are mere constructs of mind which vanish when the ultimate bliss (ananda or shivam) is attained. His dance is thus symbolic of the dynamic universe which dances its way to the infinite ecstasy.
One of the lord’s right hands is making the gesture of reassurance — abhayamudra — that creation is within destruction and vice versa. That the merciless nature of this universal determinism has in it the touch of mercy is the generative principle of future. He bears a broad smile, both at death and life, at pain and joy alike, as he combines in himself the pain of annihilation and joy of creation. It is the sport of life and death in which all things fall in their proper stead finding their explanation and logical conclusion.
Finally comes the backside view of the statue. The steadiness of shoulders upholding the world and the majesty of the torso symbolise the stability and immutability of the substance, while the leg’s gyration in whirling speed speaks of the vortex of phenomena. Also, the dance stirs up the psychic planes. Shiva dances in tillai, the centre of the universe. It takes place at Chidambaram, the mental horizon. The idea behind the cosmic dance brings modern physics, ancient mythology, and religious art in unity. It is philosophy at its best. It is, as Ananda Coomaraswamy said, “poetry but nonetheless science”.
The author is Associate Professor, Sanatana Dharma College, Alappuzha, Kerala