assembly " of gods. 1 The asterism Ardra occurring in the

bright half of the solar month Margali (December-January) is sacred to Nataraja. All Siva temples celebrate a festival on that occasion by taking out in procession miniature representations of Nataraja or, where such do not exist, the chief processional image of Siva. In Chidambaram, of course, where the worship of Nataraja is the most prominent and where the Sabha-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 Urdhva-tandava a dance which is locally believed to have been first performed by Siva at Tiruvalangadu near Arkonam. The origin of this form of dance is as follows. There was once a dispute between Siva and his consort Kali as to who was better in the art of dancing. Siva danced many a dance and Kali 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. Kali was too modest to imitate Siva in this performance and she accepted the superiority of Siva (fig. 50). Images of Nataraja are sometimes also seen with a small antelope prancing on his left side near the foot, the Ganga (Ganges) and the crescent decorating the head, 2 the sages Patanjali

1 The Karana%ama has the following about Sabhapati : " On the top of the Kailasa mountain, in front of the goddess Gauri (Parvati) who is seated on a jewelled throne, Siva with the crescent on his head dances in the evenings. All the d'evas attend the dance ; Brahma plays on cym- bals ; Hari (Vishnu), on a pataha ; Bharati (SarasvatI), on the lute ; the Sun and Moon, on flutes; Tumbuni and Narada supply vocal music; and Nandiand Kumara (Skanda) beat drums." The May am at a also mentions ether gods and goddesses in the congregation, such as Vighnesa (Vinayaka), Kali and the Seven Mothers. It adds that Siva then performs the dance called Bkujatig&trasita with the serpent Karkotaka on him ; see Burgess's Elura Cave 7'etnples, Plate XLlli, fig. 5.

2 The description of the image of Adavallan (i.e., "the expert dancer, Nataraja) given in the Tanjore Inscriptions, mentions " four arms, nine braids of hair (jata), the goddess Ganga-bhattaraki on the braided hair and seven flower garlands. The goddess Umaparamesvarl who formed a part of the group was standing on a separate pedestal." Another image of a similar description in the same temple was Tanjai-Alagar with whom was connected also the figure of a Ganapati. Of the sages Patanjali and Vyaghrapada who usually accompany the dancing image of Nataraja, the Tanjore Inscriptions describe the former as A solid image which measured " three-quarters and one-eighth (of a vitflav/) in height from the tail to the hoods (phana). It had five hoods ; one face in the midst of these hoods, one crown (makttta), two divine arms, above the navel, a human body, and below the navel three coils" ; (.5", /./., Vol. II, Introduction,