Setubandha

SR No.: 001384
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1976
Total Pages: 812
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_English & Literature
File Size: 14 MB

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INTRODUCTION
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5.1321, for instance, describes Siva's tandava dance end of the universal destruction, in the course of which the oceans are convulsed and the mountains overthrown by the impact of his feet. The creative aspect is emphasized in an elaborate verse quoted by Abhinavagupta, in which the god is invoked as the architect of the universe (trailokyasthapati), initiating the manifold process of creation as he dances in marvellous poses on the stage of the sky, in the evening twilight, at the end of the night of destruction. The author of the Mahimnastava (verse 16) is puzzled by the mystery of Śiva's dance its purpose is to sustain the world, but, while he dances, the earth is imperilled by the stamping of his feet, the stars are bruised by the movements of his hands, and the heavens lashed by the loosed hair.3 On the other hand, one of the invocatory verses at the beginning of the Mudrārākṣasa postulates the idea that the deity dances with toil and trouble, because he has to slow down his steps and contract his arms and deflect the fiery glances from all that is visible to avoid injury to the universe, the scene of his dance. The Setubandha verses in praise of Nataraja lay stress on ecstatic joy as the inspiration of the dance. A similar view is recorded in the Lingapurana, which, after narrating the legendary origin of the dance of Śiva, tells us
1 GOS, Vol. I.
2 See his comm. on Natyaśāstra 4. 260 ff., GOS, Vol. 1, p. 169.
3 Arthur Avalon remarks on the verse: 'Such is the nature of things that it is not possible to do good without some accompanying evil. When we look at the whole sub specie aeternitatis, what we thought to be evil when considered as a fact detached from its surroundings is no longer seen to be such when taken as part of a whole which is working for good. So with the dance of Śiva'. Mahimnastava of Puspadanta. Trans, with comm. by Arthur Avalon. Madras, 1953.
4 106.28 (purvabhaga). Calcutta, 1885. The date of the Lingapurana is uncertain, but it seems to contain old materials. A Lingapurana was known to the Tamil Saiva saint and theologian Tirumalar. See Ayyar, Origin and Early History of Saivism in South India, p. 209 ff. Madras, 1936.