The Hidden Secrets of Shiva's Tandava!

View as slideshow

By Prateek Pathak on Feb 06, 2015 | 

188

20

14

Origin Of Shiva’s Tandava

1

Shiva is believed to assume two states – the samadhi (superconscious) state, and the tandav or lasya (dance) state. The samadhi state is his nirgun (non-materialised) state, while the tandav or lasya state is his sagun (materialised) state...

How Shiva Became Nataraj

2

Body movements performed to depict a particular event are known as natan or natya. The one who performs this natan is a nat (actor). Traditionally, it is believed that Nataraj is the promoter of dance. Since Shiva is the pioneer amongst actors, the title of Nataraj is accorded to Him...

The Universe Is His Playing Field

3

The Universe is Shiva's dance school, its is his playing field. He is not only its dancer, he is its observer too. In fact, Nataraj plays the role of creating a buzz in the universe through the commencement of his dance and merging the visible and invisible Creation into Himself when he stops dancing...

Cosmic Dance And Bliss

4

Thereafter, Nataraj remains alone, engrossed in ananda. In short, Nataraj is the manifest form of all godly activity. Nataraj’s dance represents the five actions of God - namely creation, sustenance, dissolution, the covering of the great illusion and initiation - God’s grace to get liberated from the Great Illusion...

The Origin of the Tandav Dance

5

How the Tandav dance originated is explained in the following shloka: प्रयोगमुद्धतं स्मृत्वा स्वप्रयुक्तं ततो हरः । तण्डुना स्वगणाग्रण्या भरताय न्यदीदिशत् ।। लास्यमस्याग्रतः प्रीत्या पार्वत्या समदीदिशत् । बुद्ध्वाऽथ ताण्डवं तण्डोः मत्र्येभ्यो मुनयोऽवदन् ।। – Sangitratnakar, Adhyaya 5, Shloka 5, 6

Shiva Shows How It's Done

6

Then, Shiva remembered and showed the uddhat dance - that he had performed earlier - to Sage Bharat, through the chief of his attendants, known as Tandu...

Parvati Performs Lasya Dance

7

Shiva also makes Parvati perform the lasya dance with great enthusiasm in front of sage Bharat. Lasya is a dance performed by women, where the hands remain free...

When Dance Permeates The Whole Being

8

Realising that the dance performed by Tandu was tandav, sage Bharat and others later taught these dances to mankind. The dance form in which the sound emitted by every cell in the body is Shiva tattva-predominant, is known as the tandav dance...

Dance Comprising Mudras

9

The Tandav nritya is a dance performed by males and consisting of mudras. For instance, the dhyanmudra is performed when the tip of the thumb touches the index finger. As a result, the mounds of Jupiter and Venus get joined, meaning, the male and female unite...

Seven Types of Tandav Nrtiya

10

The seven types of Tandav Nritya are:

 1. Anandtandav 

 2. Sandhyatandav (Pradosha dance), 

 3. Kalikatandav 

 4. Tripuratandav 

 5. Gouritandav 

 6. Sanhartandav,  

 and 

 7. Umatandav

Importance of Tandava

11

Of these seven types, the verse Shivapradosha (or pradosha) describes the Sandhyatandav. It is when Shiva offers Gouri, the Creator of the three worlds, a throne studded with precious stones and performs this dance for her in the twilight hour...

When Lord Shiva Dances

12

When Shiva dances, all heavenly bodies respond...Saraswati Devi is said to be playing the veena (the stringed musical instrument), Indra is said to be playing the flute, Brahma is said to keep rhythm, Lakshmidevi is said to be singing, Vishnu is said to be playing the mrudanga (a type of drum) and all other deities stand around watching the dance...

Fearful Manisfestation

13

Of the seven types mentioned above, the Gouritandav and Umatandav are fearsome in depiction. In these dances, Shiva assumes the form of Bhairav or Veerabhadra and is accompanied by Gouri or Uma. He performs this fearsome dance with the spirit attendants in a samshan, where the corpses burn...

Sattvik Dance

14

 

Among Nataraj’s sattvik dance forms (along with the Sandhyatandav), the nadanta dance is also renowned. The world-famous idol of Nataraj at Chidambaram can be found in this very posture...

Shaiva and the Shakta

15

Followers of the Shaiva and the Shakta sects consider these dances to be symbols of specific principles. In their opinion, during such a destructive, fearsome dance, Shiva not only destroys the world but also frees jivas (embodied souls) from bondage...

Samshan’s Importance

16

The samshan is selected as the backdrop to the dance to depict how the ego of a jiva gets reduced to ashes. No wonder, deities as well as demons enthusiastically accompany Shiva during the tandav dance...