Facts about shiv tandav

The Hindu scriptures narrate various occasions when Shiva or other gods have performed the Tandava. When Sati (first wife of Shiva, who was reborn as Parvati) jumped into the Agni Kunda (sacrificial fire) in Daksha's Yajna and gave up her life, Shiva is said to have performed the Rudra Tandava to express his grief and anger. The Shivapradosha stotra says when Shiva performs theSandhya Tandava, the other gods like Brahma, Vishnu, Sarasvati, Lakshmi and Indra play musical instruments and sing Shiva's praises. Ganesha, the son of Shiva, is depicted as Ashtabhuja tandavsa nritya murtis (Eight armed form of Ganesha dancing the Tandava) in temple sculptures.The Bhagavata Purana talks of Krishna dancing his Tandava on the head of the serpent Kaliya.
Origin and meaning of Shiv Tandava
Shiva is believed to assume two states – the samadhi (Superconscious) state and the tandav or lasya dance state. The samadhi state is His nirgun (Non-materialised) and tandav or lasya dance state is His sagun (Materialised) state. Body movements performed to depict a particular event or issue is known as natan or natya. The one who performs this natan is a nat (Actor). Traditionally, it is believed that Nataraj is the promoter of dance. Since Shiva is the pioneer amongst actors, the title of Nataraj is accorded to Him. The universe is His dance school. Just as He is the dancer, He is its observer too. Nataraj plays the role of bringing about activity in the universe through the commencement of His dance and merging the visible and invisible Creation into Himself when He stops it. Thereafter, He remains alone, engrossed in Anand. In short, Nataraj is the manifest form of all activity of God. Nataraj’s dance is considered to represent the five actions of God, namely Creation, Sustenance, Dissolution, the covering of the Great Illusion and initiation (God’s grace to get liberated from the Great Illusion).

Different Types of shiv Tanda

Origin of the tandav dance is explained as follows

         प्रयोगमुद्धतं स्मृत्वा स्वप्रयुक्तं ततो हरः ।

         तण्डुना स्वगणाग्रण्या भरताय न्यदीदिशत् ।।

         लास्यमस्याग्रतः प्रीत्या पार्वत्या समदीदिशत् ।

         बुद्ध्वाऽथ ताण्डवं तण्डोः मत्र्येभ्यो मुनयोऽवदन् ।। – Sangitratnakar, Adhyaya 5, Shloka 5, 6

Meaning : Then Shiva remembered and showed the uddhat dance (that He had performed earlier) to Sage Bharat through the chief of His attendants (known as Tandu). He also made Parvati perform the lasya dance with great enthusiasm in front of Sage Bharat. Lasya is a dance performed by women, wherein the hands remain free. Realising that the dance performed by Tandu was tandav, Sage Bharat and others later taught these dances to mankind. The dance form in which the sound emitted by every cell in the body is Shivatattva-predominant, is known as the tandav dance. It is a dance performed by males and consists of mudras; for instance, the dnyanmudra is performed by touching the tip of the thumb to the index finger. As a result, the mounds of Jupiter and Venus get joined, meaning, the male and female unite.

This dance form has seven types –

1. Anandtandav,

2. Sandhyatandav (Pradosha dance),

3. Kalikatandav,

4. Tripuratandav,

5. Gouritandav,

6. Sanhartandav,

7. Umatandav.