Symbols of Reverence — Ritual & Devotion : Artwork 15

Shiva in the Nataraja pose contained within a prabhavali ring of fire, the Om symbol at the crown above the flame ring. The prabhavali — the oval aureole of flames — is the canonical container for the dancing Nataraja, representing the pralaya: the cosmic fire in which the old universe dissolves before the next one is created by the drum. The Om above the fire ring positions this representation of the dance not in the middle of creation but at its absolute beginning — before the first word was sounded, before the drum began. Every element in the composition is cosmologically necessary.