Page:South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses.djvu/102

82 assembly " of gods. The asterism Ārdrā occurring in the bright half of the solar month Margāli (December-January) is sacred to Natarāja. All Siva temples celebrate a festival on that occasion by taking out in procession miniature representations of Natarāja or, where such do not exist, the chief processional image of Siva. In Chidambaram, of course, where the worship of Natarāja is the most prominent and where the Sabhā-mandapa (assembly hall) is covered with gold plate, the festival is the grandest held in the year.

Two main forms of dancing Siva may be distinguished : one with the raised leg as shown in the illustrations given above and the other with the same lifted_up higher, to the level of the head. The latter is called Ūrdhva-tāndava− a dance which is locally believed to have been first performed by Siva at Tiruvālangādu near Arkōnam. The origin of this form of dance is as follows. There was once a dispute between Siva and his consort Kāli as to who was better in the art of dancing. Siva danced many a dance and Kāli successfully followed him; till at last, in order to suppress her pride, Siva lifted up one of his legs to the level of his crown and danced on. Kāli was too modest to imitate Siva in this performance and she accepted the superiority of Siva (fig. 50). Images of Natarāja are sometimes also seen with a small antelope prancing on his left side near the foot, the Gangā (Ganges) and the crescent decorating the head, the sages Patanjali