Elements of Hindu Iconography v2.c16.s7.1

v2.c16.s7.1

SIVA, we have already said, is a great master in the art of dancing. He was often dancing in ecstacy on the burning ground with great glee, accompanied by sweet music in which also he was a great expert. The Bharata-Nātyaśāstra mentions a hundred and eight different kinds of dances and in the Śaivāgamas it is stated that Śiva danced in a hundred and eight modes. Perhaps the one hundred and eight kinds of dances mentioned in the śāstra are identical with the one hundred and eight modes of dances of Śiva. The Nātya-śāstras distinctly mention the necessity of dancing for both males and females; in the case of the former, dancing is said to give a suppleness to the limbs, which is very useful in warfare. It is very curious that all the one hundred and eight kinds of dances are sculptured on either side of a gōpura in the Natarāja temple at Chidambaram with their descriptions in Sanskrit as they are found in the Bharata-Nātya-śāstras engraved below each one of them. These sculptures and the texts are reproduced in the Madras Epigraphist's Annual Report for 1913-14.