Accession Number
1995/1.86

Title
Shiva dancing

Artist(s)
Nepali

Object Creation Date
18th century - 19th century

Medium & Support
bronze or copper alloy

Dimensions
4 5/16 in. x 3 1/8 in. x 2 in. ( 11 cm x 8 cm x 5.1 cm )

Credit Line
Gift of the Estate of Thakur Rup Chand

Label copy
March 28, 2009
Shiva loves to dance. He dances in triumph at defeating demons; he dances for the pleasure of his consort; he dances the world into extinction and then back into existence. The god’s dancing form provided a popular subject for artists, who cast bronze figures for both festival use and home worship. Most of these depict the Lord of Dance with his body fixed in perfect equilibrium, his face uncannily serene. This one, by contrast, emphasizes the god’s vigorous motion and theatrical splendor. With an ecstatic thrust, Shiva kicks one leg to the sky and arches back, responding to the force of the thrust, the motion, it seems, increasing his rapture.
(Label for UMMA South and Southeast Asia Gallery Opening Rotation, March 2009)

Subject matter
Shiva is often depicted in a dancing form, usually interpreted as his dance of creation and destruction. The most common form has him in a very different pose, but other poses such as this one are sometimes found. This particular image suggests the destructive nature of the dance quite clearly. He dances on the dwarf of forgetfulness and he is holding a khatvanga, a club made of a bone with a skull at the top, a reference to both his destructive nature and the fact that he is dancing in a creation ground where we find such unburned items. On his forehead we find the third eye, another identifier of the god Shiva.

Physical Description
Shiva dances upon the back of a dwarf figure crouching on his stomach. This pose is not as typical as some of his other dancing postures. He dances on one leg extended straight down with the other straight up almost making a straight line. His torso and head are thrown back. He only has two hands, one holding a drum at his knee and the other a khatvanga, a club made of a bone with a skull at the top. He wears jewelry including a belt with pendent loops and tassels, necklaces including a heavy long necklace, armlets and bracelets and an elaborate crown organized with a number of peaks. On his forehead we find the third eye, another identifier of the god Shiva. A dense circular background consisting of three inner rows of round elements, the middle one may be composed of skulls, and an outer row of flame-like elements surrounds the whole figure, animating the image into a whirl of the dance. The whole sits on a circular base, plain with a flanged bottom section decorated with a lotus petal motif.

Primary Object Classification
Sculpture

Primary Object Type
figure

Additional Object Classification(s)
Ritual Object

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
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Keywords
Himalayan
Hinduism
Sivaism
dance (discipline)
icons