Śiva in dance, myth and iconography

✍ Scribed by Gaston Anne-Marie

• Publisher: Oxford university press
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 256
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Anne-Marie Gaston, a professional exponent of several Indian classical dance styles, synthesizes in this work her knowledge of the oral and literary traditions of the dance, with an extensive review of Śaivite sculpture. Homologous themes in dance and sculpture are traced to their common roots in mythology, demonstrating the interdependence of these two arts. Beginning with a brief historical survey of the dance in India, which is held to originate with Siva, the author discusses its social and religious functions and its transition from worship to entertainment. The core of the study is a review of previous classifications of Naṭarāja images and the presentation of a new classification based on the position of the feet. This provides a more practical categorization, and one more closely linked to actual dance movements. The new classification is then used to discuss regional and chronological variation among sculptures of Naṭarāja. The importance of dance as a motif in Śaivite iconography is established in a discussion of other manifestations of Śiva represented in dance poses, and the postures exhibited by attendant figures. A map and over 200 black and white illustrations add substantially to the value of the authoritative text. Anne-Marie Gaston (Anjali) is a Canadian, educated at Queen's University (Kingston, Canada)and Oxford University. She spent a total of ten years in Inqia, first teaching as a volunteer with the Canadian University Overseas and later studying and performing four classical dances: Bharata Nāṭyam, Kathakali, Kuchipudi and Odissi. She has travelled extensively, visiting most of the major Hindu and Buddhist monuments of the subcontinent, accompanied by her husband, Tony Gaston, an ecologist and photographer. This book is based on her M. Litt. thesis for the Department of Oriental Studies, Oxford.