This unique image form, no representation of a human or divine form ever or anywhere reflecting this level of energy, agility action, or even human anatomy: the figure’s curves, twists, fluidity, and contours, universally known as Nataraja Shiva, represents Lord Shiva as engaged in dance classified in iconographic tradition as ‘Ananda-Tandava’ or just ‘Tandava’ – exclusively Shiva’s dance-form. No art tradition, medium, or human imagination, has ever conceived and created a form, anywhere in the world, that precedes, succeeds, or is similar to the Nataraja form. Not merely a piece with such rare skill as this one, even a routine Nataraja sculpture, a metal cast, wood-carving, or any, reveals the force, agility, or act hardly ever seen in visual art forms. This attributes to Nataraja images a distinction that no other image form can claim.
