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| Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja), 11th century India: Tamil Nadu, 1000-1099 Bronze 32-3/4 x 24 x 11-1/2 in. (83.2 x 61.0 x 29.2 cm) Norton Simon Art Foundation M.1974.01.1.S © 2012 Norton Simon Art Foundation On view Shiva as the Lord of Dance (Nataraja) is the quintessential deity of the Tamil country of south India. Extant examples in stone and bronze suggest that the Nataraja icon developed in the early 10th century, during the Chola dynasty. However, devotional hymns mention the dancing form of Shiva as early as the sixth century. Appar, a seventh-century Shaiva saint, describes the beauty of Shiva’s dance of bliss: If you could see the arch of his brow, the budding smile on lips as red as the kovvai fruit, cool matted hair, the milk-white ash on coral skin, and the sweet golden foot raised up in dance, then even human birth on this wide earth would become a thing worth having. |
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