Re-envisioning Śiva Naṭarāja: a multidisciplinary perspective

Abstract

Re-envisioning Śiva Naṭarāja. A Multidisciplinary Perspective offers new insights into the dancing Siva as icon and concept. Each of the seven essays in this volume addresses an aspect of the Nataraja (a specific form of the dancing Siva) that has been until now untouched by scholars, or one for which the research is here moved substantially forward. Through the use of hitherto unexplored materials - murals, prints, icons, Sanskrit iconographic and ritual texts, Tamil inscriptions, and the analysis of metal alloys and casting techniques - old views are checked and challenged, and new ideas are proposed. Combining a wide range of fields of expertise, the volume will add to our knowledge about this well-studied, but poorly understood icon.