Dancing Shiva Nataraja from India (14 cm)

Height: 14 cm.

Nataraja or Nataraj, the dance form of Lord Shiva. The term 'Nataraj' means 'King of Dancers' (Sanskrit nata = dance; raja = king). In the words of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Nataraj is the 'clearest picture of the activity of God that any art or religion can boast of.' It is in fact an iconographic representation of India's rich and diverse cultural heritage and was developed in southern India by artists of the 9th and 10th centuries during the Chola period (880-1279 CE) in a series of beautiful bronze sculptures. By the 12th century AD it achieved canonical status and soon the Chola Nataraja became the ultimate statement of Hindu art.