Dancing Diety
For a long time I have had a vast interest in a small sculpture located in my parent's entryway. This sculpture is a figure with four arms, stands on one leg atop what appears to be a baby, and wears a funny looking headdress of some sort. For years I've wondered why this little man had four arms, stood in such an uncomfortable-looking fashion, and what meaning he has. Finally, my wonder has turned to insight, as a course I took in college, Art History, has suddenly shown me the light. The first real picture that I saw of this funny little guy, Nataraja, was in our textbook where I learned he is a god adopted by the ancient Indian imperial Cholas. We were then assigned a visit to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts where I had my first look at an original sculpture of the dancing god. The piece is named Shiva Nataraja (Lord of the Dance). It is an archetypal sculpture made in the late tenth century by an unknown artist and was found in a temple near Pondicherry, India. The sculpture my parents have is a cast metal one with a very dull gray luster, about six inches high. You can tell with close examination that this was most likely one of many made from the same cast and sold as a souvenir type item. The one at the mus
At first glance of this graceful dancing deity, my first reaction was one of awe. The fact that the piece is very old and is still fully intact is amazing in itself. Also, I didn't think a real sculpture of the one in my parent's house would be so large, standing more than two feet high. The Shiva has a very calm expression on his face, with a quaint smile, which gives the feeling of invitation, almost like he wants you to partake in the dance with him, which is exactly what I did. He is balanced on his bent right leg, with his left leg up and bent over his right leg, extended into the air with his foot pointed outward in the same direction. He has two right arms and two left arms. One of his right arms is bent, extended outward to his right and holds a small object which looks like a drinking cup, (it's actually a drum). The other is extending out to the right and then to his front as if he is attempting to give a "high five". One of his left arms is bent and extending outward to his left, his palm cupped and facing upward holding what appears to be a flame. The other is extending to his right, across his body, with his hand pointed downward toward his left foot. I may have looked funny standing there mimicking his stance, but the invitational gesture was too hard to resist. Atop his head is a headdress, which has a tall feathery-looking top and what looks almost like seven stiffened hair locks protruding from each side. There are flowers at the end of the locks, and a small lizard-like animal perched on the right side. Just below the animal is a half-moon shaped gizmo. In hi
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1081
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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