Śiva the Dancer
Śiva Naṭarāja has been immortalized in South Indian art. The images, however, are not found before the sixth century C.E. Śaiva philosophy, especially in the Śaiva-Siddhānta, has developed a sophisticated philosophy around Śiva Naṭarāja, seeing in it Śiva’s fivefold activities symbolized.
We find some elements of Śiva Naṭarāja in the Purāṇas: both the
tāṇḍava
, the dance of world destruction, and the
Śiva-līlā
, the dance of the enamoured Śiva. The other forms of Śiva’s dance, as described in later Śaiva literature, especially of South India, may have been taken over from the
Nāṭyaśāstra
or may be logical further developments of the idea that Śiva’s dance is expressive of his being and acting.
The earliest form of Śiva’s dance seems to be that of destruction: already the most ancient references speak of his dancing like a madman. Śiva’s dance at the time of universal destruction is used as a standing reference. Only the
Liṅga Purāṇa
offers a detailed description of it.
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The
tāṇḍava
dance is connected with Vīrabhadra, Śiva’s terrific form. It is held on the burning
ghats
and is performed in the company of ghosts and goblins. Śiva’s
tāṇḍava
dance is always connected with Devī-Śakti; sometimes Śāktism and Śaivism become indistinguishable. In some places the
tāṇḍava
dance is even described as Śakti’s frenzied dance upon Śiva’s corpse.
The “beautiful dance,” Śiva’s
nāṭyalīlā
, is described in various sections of the
Śiva Purāṇa
, characteristically in connection with Śiva’s marriage to Umā. The first narration brings Śiva’s dance in connection with his wooing of Pārvatī:
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he appears before Menā and her group and begins a beautiful dance which enchants everybody. He is described as holding in his left hand a horn, in his right a drum; he is dressed in a red garment and wears on his back a carpet. He is also singing a beautiful song. Śiva then appears at the actual wedding with all his strange companions and there again he assumes various forms.
The description of the fully developed Śiva Naṭarāja is given only in the late
Koyil Purāṇa
, a South Indian
sthala-Purāṇa.
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Here he is described in the pose that became classic: Śiva went out into a forest in which many Mīmāṃsākas were living. Śiva tried to argue with them, but they only got angry with him and created a fierce tiger to devour him. Śiva seized it and stripped off its skin with the nail of his little finger, wrapping it round like a cloth. Next the Mīmāṃsākas let loose a fierce serpent on Śiva. Śiva took it and put it round his neck like a garland. When Śiva began to dance, the Mīmāṃsākas created a fierce dwarf, Muyalaka, to kill Śiva. Śiva put his foot on the back of Muyalaka and broke his neck. Then he resumed his dance. It is this scene which we see in the South Indian bronzes of the Śiva Naṭarāja. The philosophy explaining it has a clear salvific import: the dwarf under Śiva’s foot personifies evil, which is subdued by Śiva. The sound produced by his drum is the
anahaṭa
sound, indicative of salvation. The hand which is outstretched shows the
abbaya-mūdra
, the sign of grace. The fire circle in which he dances indicates the consumption of the
māyā-universe
by the appearance of Śiva-reality. The raised foot again is a symbol of freedom. Śiva wears the skull of Brahmā around his neck: all creatures are mortal; Śiva is immortal. The snake around his neck also symbolizes immortality. Many later hymns glorify Śiva’s dance. It is again especially the South Indian Śaivite tradition that dwells on this theme and out of it develops an entire philosophy of salvation.
Śiva-avatāras
“Mahādeva is exceedingly difficult to be known ... his forms are many. Many are the places in which he resides. Many are the forms of his grace.”
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Śaivism has never succeeded in developing anything close to the Pāñcarātra systematics of the manifestations of Viṣṇu; its enumerations and classifications are always somehow chaotic and incomplete. The
Mahābhārata
prefers to describe Śiva as assuming all forms: the form of Brahmā and Viṣṇu, of men and women, of
pretas
and
piśācas
, of
kirātas
and
śabaras
, of tortoises and fishes, of
rakṣasas
and
yakṣas
, of snakes and reptiles, of Daityas and Dānavas, of tigers and lions, of jackals and wolves, of crows and peacocks. He sometimes becomes six-faced and sometimes has many faces; he sometimes has three eyes, sometimes three heads; he is sometimes a boy, sometimes an old man.
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In short, he can assume any form, gentle or fierce, auspicious or inauspicious, gracious or destructive.
Already the
Śatarudriya
described Rudra in paradoxical terms. Some of his forms seem to be hypostatized at an early date, as, for example, Śarva, Bhava, Iśāna, and so forth, but they are always aspects of Śiva. The term
avatāra
is used for certain manifestations of Śiva; the classification seems to be rather late and an imitation of
Viṣṇu-avatāras
. The
Śiva-avatāras
were not universally accepted; in Śaiva scriptures we always find various classifications of diverse Śiva manifestations side by side. They also never gained the importance and popularity of the Viṣṇu-
avatāras
, and among the numerous so-called
Śiva-avatāras
there is none that could be compared with, for example, Rama or Kṛṣṇa. The individuality of the
Śiva-avatāras
remained rather vague and indistinct. The important salvific events in Śaivism are always ascribed to Śiva himself, never to his
avatāras
. As manifestation of Śiva and as his salvific presence, the
liṅga
, the “presence of Śiva in abstract form,” is far more important than the
Śiva-avatāras
.
The
Śiva Purāṇa
deals with the
Śiv a-avatāras
under the subtitle of
Śatarudra
, with the
liṅgas
of the more important places of worship under
Koṭirudra
, the myriads of Śiva manifestations.
The first group are the Pañcabrahma
avatāras:
Sadyojata, Vāmadeva, Tatpuruṣa, Aghora, and Iśāna. The names themselves are already found in Vedic texts and in the Epics, but only the
Śaiva Purāṇas
make them appear
avatāras
of Śiva.
The next well-known group is called Śivastamūrti: Śarva, Bhava, Rudra, Ugra, Bhīma, Iśa, Mahādeva, Paśupati, names that occur already in Vedic texts. The Śaivas of later times usually do not consider them as
avatāras
, but as aspects of Śiva. Śiva
ardhanārī
is also considered as an
avatāra
. In the
Śiva Purāṇa
there follows a list of nineteen
avatāras
, whose names are given with their functions briefly described. They are manifestations of Śiva at different ages and in different places.
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The
Śiva Purāṇa
explicitly says that Śiva assumed these different forms in order to give grace to the world and to do good to the Brāhmaṇas. The incarnations begin in the seventh Manvantara of Varāha-kalpa; for each successive Dvāpara-yuga one
Śiva-avatāra
is provided. The narration first mentions the Prajāpati for each of the Dvāparayugas and then the
Śiva-avatāra
and his four foremost disciples together with the function which he fulfilled.
Nandīśvarāvatāra is described next. A
muni
named Śilāda practices austerities to obtain an immortal son. He approaches Indra who confesses to be unable to give such a boon and advises him to go to Śiva. Śiva is pleased by the
muni’s
penance and promises him that he himself would become the son of Śilāda and be his immortal son as Nandin. The
Purāṇa
deals at length with Nandin’s birth, penance,
abhiśeka
, and his marriage.
Next we read of a child-incarnation of Śiva from Śuciṣmati. He is called Bhairavāvatāra, whose
līlā
is described in a separate chapter. Then follow Śārdūlāvatāra, and Śalabhāvatāra. A longer section is devoted to Gṛhapatyavatāra and his exploits. Then comes Yakṣeśvarāvatāra. Again a series of ten
avatāras
is introduced with names and salvific functions mentioned, but without further description of the exploits. A group of eleven is mentioned collectively as fighting against demons. Since many names in these groups are identical with previously mentioned ones, we can assume that the
Śiva Purāṇa
merely brought together several existing
Śiva-avatāra
systems without attempting to coordinate them.
In the
Śiva Purāṇa
the Kirātavātāra is connected with the well-known story of Arjuna’s penance and the killing of a demon named Muka, who tried to disturb Arjuna. It also brings the strange story of Arjuna fighting with Śiva in the form of a hunter and the consequent blessing of Arjuna. The last group of Śiva-manifestations described in this section are the twelve
Jyotir-liṅga-avatāras
, which are mentioned together with the effect of their worship.
The following section, called
Koṭi-rudra-Saṃhitā
, deals extensively with the
tīrthas
, and
sub-tīrthas
of these twelve
jyotir-liṅgas
, the symbols of Śiva made of light. That the
liṅgas
are understood as a salvific presence of Śiva becomes very clear from their praise. The section that deals with a description of Śiva’s manifestations ends with the
Śiva-sahasra-nāma-stotra
, spoken by Viṣṇu. It is noteworthy that many of the
Śiva-avatāras
described above are not mentioned in this litany, while many other forms, not described, are enumerated. The
Śiva-sahasra-nāma
seems to belong to a Śiva tradition different from that from which the description and enumeration of
Śiva-avatāras
were taken. A second list with twenty-eight
Śiva-avatāras
, different from the lists in the
Śatarudriya
, is found in the latter section of
Vāyavīya-Saṃhitā:
only the names of the Yoga-
avatāras
and their prominent disciples are enumerated. Since later Pāśupatas accept the standard number of twenty-eight
ācāryas
and
āgamas
we can assume that they incorporated this list into the revised Pāśupata edition of the
Śiva Purāṇa
.
Parallel to Viṣṇu’s
Śrī-avatāras
, the
Śiva Purāṇa
knows also female counterparts to the
Śiva-avatāras
. They are found in the second section of the
Vāyavīya-Saṃhitā
, in all probability a later addition to the
Śiva Purāṇa
which in its main corpus does not describe any of the Pārvatī-
avatāras
. A later addition from a time in which philosophical Śaiva systems had been established seems to be the section in which Śiva and his various manifestations are identified with the categories of epistemology and ontology, with cosmic processes and elements. Only this section speaks of the duality of Śiva and Śiva,
puruṣa-prakṛti
, as the cosmic principle. The main text of the
Śiva Purāṇa
knows Śiva as an Overlord of the World and not as metaphysical principle together with another principle. This section also knows a form of Śiva called
mukti
, a clear proof that no longer mythology but philosophical speculation determined religion. The
avatāras
must have been considered from a certain time onward an essential part of the image of a savior-god. We find in the Purāṇas of all sects descriptions of
avatāras
of the Supreme God, and none of the rival sects. The Śaiva Purāṇas do not even mention Viṣṇu-
avatāras
, though they most probably borrowed the very idea of
avatāras
from the Vaiṣṇavas. Similarly, the Vaiṣṇava books do not mention any
Śaiva-avatāras
, though at the time of their final redaction they must have known Śaiva Purāṇas which glorified a large number of
Śiva-avatāras
. The
avatāra
was an ultimate and absolute manifestation of the salvific will and power of God that had to be jealously guarded by every religion. In his
avatāras
God becomes, time and again, visibly Savior for all times. Those stories of the rival sects that were too well known, and which involved an act of salvation, were usually reinterpreted and reframed, so as ultimately to give credit to one’s own saviour-god, though the apparent salvific deed had been performed by the rival.
A minor role in Śaivism is given to Kārtikeya, who is introduced as the son of Śiva. According to one version it is Kārtikeya who defeats the demon Tāraka and his army.
Far more important than all the
Śiva-avatāras
have always been the visible appearances of Śiva, Śiva
sākṣātkāra
, both in his propitious (Śiva) and in his terrible (Rudra) form. The penances performed by Śiva worshipers have usually no other purpose but to obtain a Śiva vision and to ask a boon from Śiva. In this form he is the easily accessible savior, always ready to come and to help if people only honor him and please him.
Śaivism is characterized by two extremes: Śiva and Rudra, creativity and destruction, grace and curse, asceticism and licentiousness, spirituality and sensuality, highest reason and absurd irrationality. This paradoxical description of Śiva applies also to Śaivite eschatology. Already in the Epics and
Purāṇas
, Śaivism accepts two ultimate states of existence corresponding to the two forms of Śiva: one is personal, individual, bodily immortality enjoyed in Kailāsa; the other is the merging of the individual consciousness in the universal impersonal Śiva-spirit.
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Since the Purāṇic period there was no significant development of Śiva mythology. Not a single new Śiva myth of general acceptance or real importance has been framed. We possess, however, a great many Sthala Purāṇas connected with important places of Śiva worship, whose legends and myths belong to later times, commemorating miracles and revelations associated with famous
tīrthas
.