Nataraja, bronze statue of the hindu god Shiva

Shiva: one of the most important Hindu gods. These kinds of bronze processional pieces have been made for centuries in a handful of small villages in the south of India – and in fact they are all made in roughly the same way. The Rijksmuseum has a statue of Shiva from the tenth century which looks very similar to this one, and this one was made in the 20th century. Shiva is the god of both creation and destruction. As well as the god of preservation. In other words, he is the one that keeps the universe going. Let’s take a closer look: in his right hand he is holding a tiny drum, and that drum produces the sound Om, and that sound, Om, was the very first thing that existed: first there was nothing and then there was only that sound, and then came the rest of creation. In his left hand he is holding a flame, and this is the flame of destruction: he uses it to destroy everything he has created before. And with his hand stretched out – his right hand – he is making a gesture of reassurance: ‘everything will be allright’. There is one more hand, and he is using that one to point to his foot. He is lifting up this foot to reveal a dwarf lying underneath his other foot. And this dwarf represents ignorance. It is of course our aim in life to free ourselves of ignorance – and we can see here that Shiva has already managed to free himself with one foot. Surrounding the whole image is a ring of flames, and this stands for infinity and the eternal cycle, without beginning and end, for the entire universe. This is a motionless statue; it is static. And yet: nothing about it is static; it is all about movement.

106,3 x 93,5 x 27,8cm (41 7/8 x 36 13/16 x 10 15/16in.)

Source: collectie.tropenmuseum.nl