Bronze Shiva Nataraja from Tamil Nadu, South India, c. 1940–1970

The Lord of Dance from a Tamil Nadu workshop

Shiva appears here as Nataraja, the Lord of Dance, caught mid-step in his cosmic dance. The figure was hollow-cast in bronze by a workshop in Tamil Nadu, in the far south of India, during the 20th century, around 1940–1970. It stands 49.5 cm high and 38.5 cm wide and weighs 7 kg. The bronze was originally fire-gilt; only traces of that gilding survive, so to the naked eye the piece reads as brown bronze.

The dance that turns the cosmos

In the Nataraja form, Shiva's dance sets the cycle of creation and dissolution in motion. His right foot presses down on Apasmara, the dwarf who personifies ignorance, while his left leg swings up. One upper hand holds the damaru, the small drum whose beat starts creation; the other carries the flame of destruction and renewal. Of the lower hands, one shows abhaya, the gesture of protection that removes fear, and the other falls in gajahasta, the elephant-trunk pose, pointing to the raised foot as the path to release. He wears the jatamukuta, the piled-up matted hair of the ascetic, and a third eye marks his forehead. The tiger skin and the snake running over his back are signs of Shiva the ascetic. The ring of flames around him stands for the universe in which the dance unfolds.

A 20th-century workshop bronze

The figure follows the classic South Indian Nataraja iconography, yet it is a workshop piece from Tamil Nadu of around 1940–1970, not a Chola bronze. He dances within a circle of flames on a base with scrollwork. The underside is open and still shows remains of the casting core, as expected in a hollow casting.

Description

Shiva as Nataraja in the cosmic dance, right foot on Apasmara and left leg raised. The upper hands hold the damaru and the flame; the lower hands show abhaya and gajahasta towards the raised foot. Jatamukuta, third eye, tiger skin and a snake across the back. The figure stands in a ring of flames on a scroll-decorated base.

Condition

Originally fire-gilt; under UV light the surface shows green. The gilding has largely gone and to the naked eye the figure reads as brown bronze. Residual gilding remains in the recesses, on the band and on a few raised edges. The underside is open, with remains of the casting core.

Specifications

• Origin: India, Tamil Nadu
• Date: 20th century, c. 1940–1970
• Material: bronze, hollow-cast, originally fire-gilt
• Dimensions: H 49.5 × W 38.5 cm
• Weight: 7 kg
• SKU: 849

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