Dancing Uma Maheshwara Bronze Masterpiece Sculpture
A masterpiece bronze statue of Uma and Maheshvara engaged in divine dance. This is an amazing bronze sculpture of the dance of Shiva and Parvati, with an interesting story behind it. This story is in Sthala Purana (story of a place) of the Nataraja temple of Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu, which enshrines a spot where a dance competition happened between Nataraja (Shiva) and his consort Devi Parvati. <br> <br>It was an energetic dance and the competition seemed to go on forever since Devi was able to perform every dance step of Shiva with equal skillful grace. As the dance went on, it so happened that Shiva ’s right earring fell during the dance and he without pausing picked it with his right toe; raising it up to his ear hooking back the earring. <br> <br>Devi could not perform this pose being bound by natural feminine modesty since she would have had to raise her leg and Lord Shiva won. That same dance is the subject of this exceptional Chola bronze statue. A master sculptor created it, strictly following the rules of Shilpa Shastra (ancient Indian treatise on art of sculpturing). The jewelry, dress and crowns on Shiva and Devi are intricately carved with purely traditional sculptural iconography of the Cholas.
