Beautiful 11-inch (28 cm), 2.3 kgs, Antiqued Solid Brass Shiva - Nataraja - the Dancing God

One of the most eloquent and expository of Shiva's manifestations depicts him as Nataraja, the Lord of the Dance, whose cosmic lila, or "play," forms the very nature and reason of reality. Shiva fills the whole cosmos with his joyful dance called tandava,  which represents his five activities: shrishti, or creation; sthiti, or preservation; samhara, or destruction; tirobhava, or illusion; and anugraha, or salvation. In one hand he beats his drum, the primordial heartbeat of creation, while in another hand he holds the fire of all emcompassing destruction.

Yet Shiva as Lord of Dance also offers an alternative to the cycles of life and death, for his third hand, with palm facing outwards, performs the mudra or gesture of abhaya ("fear not" or "hope") which relieves us from despair, while his fourth hand points to a raised foot indicating liberation from the demon of ignorance upon which his other foot firmly stands. He dances and dances until the cosmos is brought to the point of annihilation; it has to be destroyed in order to be reintegrated into the Absolute. Shiva's intoxicating and revelatory dance was often the cause of conversion of heretics and enemies. It is finally creative, for it expresses the otherwise inexpressible.