In Nataraja form, Shiva is shown as the source of all movement within the cosmos, represented by the arch of flames.

 

In Nataraja form, Shiva is shown as the source of all movement within the cosmos, represented by the arch of flames. The purpose of the dance is to release men from illusion of the idea of the "self" and of the physical world.

The gestures of the dance represent Shiva's five activities, creation (symbolized by the drum), protection (by the "fear not" hand gesture), destruction (by the fire), embodiment (by the foot planted on the ground), and release (by the foot held aloft).

As Nataraja (Lord of Dance) Shiva represents apocalypse and creation as he dances away the illusory world of Maya transforming it into power and Enlightenment: The locks of his hair stand out in many strands as he whirls around in his dancing frenzy.

Shiva's unkempt hair, a symbol of a rejection of society, shows him to be an ascetic. This contrasts with his role as a householder, with his wife and family. The fiery ring surrounding Shiva, prahabha mandala represents the universe with all its illusion, suffering and pain.

The goddess of the Ganges is here shown nesting in Shiva's dreadlocks. The river Ganges originally flowed in heaven. Shiva as Nataraja agreed to break the violent power of the sacred Ganga's fall by catching her in his tangled hair, breaking the fall with his hair on its way to the Himalayas and Northern India.

The crescent moon in his matted hair keeps Kama, the god of nightly love, alive. Through the waxing and the waning of the moon, Shiva creates different seasons and rejuvenates life.

Nataraja wears a snake coiled around his upper arms and neck symbolizing the power he has over the most deadly of creatures. Snakes also symbolize the Hindu dogma of reincarnation. Their natural process of molting or shedding their skin is symbolic of the human souls transmigration of bodies from one life to another.

In the back right hand Shiva often holds an hourglass shaped drum or damaru that represents the rhythmic sound to which Nataraja dances and ceaselessly recreates the universe.

The front right hand is in the abhaya-mudra (the "fear not" gesture, made by holding the palm outward with fingers pointing up).

The back left hand carries agni (fire) in a vessel or in his hand. The flames represent the destructive energy with which Nataraja dances at the end of each cosmic age, cleansing sins and removing illusion.

The front left hand is across the chest in the gahahasta (elephant trunk) pose, with the wrist limp and the fingers pointed downward toward the uplifted foot.

His uplifted left foot, grants eternal bliss to those who approach him. The other foot treads firmly upon the dwarf of ignorance, allowing the birth of knowledge.

Nataraja dances above the body of the demon, Apasmara, whom he has killed; in this role he is called Natesa. Apasmara, the dwarf demon, represents the ignorance of teaching that all opposites (for example good and evil) are false.

Jai Nataraja! Shubh Prabhat!!