Page:South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses.djvu/108

88 hands are seen the abhaya, trident, noose and the kettle-drum ; the left hands exhibit the skull and the fire-pot and the postures vismaya and gaja-hasta. On the right and left sides respectively are Nandi and Gaurī.

Other Āgamas again, refer to 108 dancing forms of Siva nine of which are said to be celebrated. Of these latter the only one that deserves to be noted is that in which the god has his right leg raised straight up so as to reach the top of the crown (ushnisha). Perhaps, this is the Ūrdhva-tāndava, described already. He may have four, eight or sixteen arms.

No account of Natarāja could be complete without a short history of Chidambaram and its temple. Tradition has it that years ago a king from the north, called Simhavarman, came south on a pilgrimage. All this part of the country was then one huge forest. The king happened to bathe in a well, and immediately found himself transformed into a bright golden figure. He assumed the name Hiranyavarman " the gold-armoured " on that account and covered with gold the Siva temple which he discovered near that well. It is stated that before him the sages Patanjali and Vyāghrapāda had worshipped there. Simhavarman and Hiranyavarman are Pallava names and denote that the origin of the temple may be roughly traced to that period. Historically, it was the Chōla king Parāntaka I, surnamed Vīra-Chōla and Vīra-Nārāyana (A.D. 907 to about 951) who covered the Chidambaram temple with gold, perhaps for the first time. Successive Chola kings, after him, are known to have added to the grandeur of it. A later Pallava chief of the thirteenth century A.D. called Perunjingadēva boasts of having conquered the four quarters and utilized the booty secured, in decorating the eastern gōpura of the Chidambaram temple which he had himself constructed. The great Vijayanagara king Krishnadevaraya of the sixteenth century A.D. built the north gopura of the same temple after his victorious return from