period when the idea itself was existing, but had not yet been expressed in the forms of art. Probably the germ of it, and the origin of the Saiva cult itself, is to be looked for in remote Vedic times when the phenomena and elements of nature which the Aryans worshipped were the subject of keen observation and study. What was the meaning of the quivering of the sun's orb as it touched the horizon morning and evening? they asked. They have given their answer to the question in the image of the Lord of the Universe (Pl. LXV) dancing as He enters the halls of the world-temple through its "arch of radiance" (pravā-torana),[1] rejoicing always, even in His work of dissolution which is the gateway to eternal bliss. The idea of the sun dancing is current in Europe at the present day: in Scandinavia it is still a popular custom to rise early on Whit-Sunday and climb the nearest hill to see the sun dance. Dr. Barnett, in his Antiquities of India (p. 27), explains the motive of the Nātārāja as a "devil-dance"; but dancing as an expression of religious devotion is not confined to the ritual of devil-worship, and the fact that Siva is represented dancing upon a dwarf devil sufficiently indicates that he is here invoked as the Spirit of Goodness.
In the Rig-Veda one can follow the logical sequence of our Aryan progenitors' deep investigations into the phenomena of life and of the religious theories they based upon them. Fire (Agni), they found, is in the sun; in the air it appears as lightning; in water as soma; it is in the earth; in the trees of the forest it is produced by the fire-drill; and heat, the essential element of fire, is in man, animals, and plants. Heat was therefore, they argued, the primal element of
- ↑ The name of the halo of fire which surrounds the image of Nātāraāja. See South Indian Bronzes, by O. C. Gangoly, p. 48.
