Ananda Tandava Of Nataraja - 26

Dr. K S Kannan

Respond to (lekhana@ayvm.in)

 

Naṭarāja's stance

It is worth remarking further that Śiva tramples Apasmāra with His right foot. The right foot, it may also be noted, is also easily the Puruṣa portion of His own body. The right half of every individual is the puruṣa-bhāga, and the left, the prakṛti-bhāga. Thus the Puruṣa portion of the Śiva's person imparts the Puruṣa nature to the crouching figure - a very natural development - of going beyond the realm of Nature! The left portion of the body being feminine, there is a natural "shyness" on its part, and hence the genitalia (howsoever it be in truth - for it should indeed be a mystery extraordinary) has been "covered" by the lifted left foot. (Modern ugly perversions apart, the feminine is naturally the more bashful). This particular "still" posture of Naṭarāja thus also achieves this "covering up" of the "enigmatic" portion of the body in a very graceful and natural manner issuing as a matter of course in the course of the performance.

Even as the smile of the Lord is inductive, so is the superposing touch of the Puruṣa aspect arousing the puruṣa-bhāva in this crouching recipient. While any similar or even relatively less pressure on the belly could have "snuffed out" the life of the boy, the back can take the weight with comparatively less risk. But even more significantly, it is the spine - the Suṣumnā/the Brahmanāḍī - that needs the divine touch to transmute the demoniacal body into a divinely charged one.The very intention of the Lord is thus the liberation of this jīva, whose name itself means "Mr. Amnesia", equivalent to self-forgetfulness at its extreme. Apasmāra is the very antithesis of the knowledge that liberates. Yet even the feet of the Lord - relatively the adhamāṅga of the Lord's figure - can confer liberation upon him, helping "raising" the uttamāṅga of the supine figure!