  A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DEVADASI
Trance Dancing with Shiva Nataraj
by Nikki Lastreto October 1998
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You've
seen him a million times, the dancing deity in the ring of fire, the image of the Hindu
god Shiva Nataraj. His gentle face radiates compassion while his ecstatic movements
manifest primal rhythmic energy, or Shakti, and reflect his inner divinity. The cosmos is his dancehall and we are all his dance partners.
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"His gestures wild and full of grace,
precipitate the cosmic illusion; flying arms and legs and the swaying of his torso produce
-- indeed, they are -- the continuous creation/destruction of the universe, death exactly
balancing birth, annihilation the end of every coming-forth."
So said Hindu scholar Heinrich Zimmer of the
Lord of the Dance. Volumes have been written about Nataraj, an enormous temple in South
India called Chidambaram
is dedicated just to him and his dances, and philosophers have struggled to grasp the many
layers of meaning expressed by this great god. In searching for my personal connection
with Shiva Nataraj, to best explain these roots of trance dancing from ancient India, I
felt I needed to go deeper than books, however. I felt the need to invoke Shiva.
So last night, as I prepared to go to a party at
the Dimension Seven warehouse in San Francisco, I considered my intention for the evening.
I wanted to merge with Nataraj, to become a devadasi, or sacred temple dancer. I
knew I was on target when I arrived at the party and immediately was greeted by a large
bronze statue of Shiva Nataraj dominating the altar in front of the DJ, and a hanging
day-glow batik of him leapt off of the main wall of the dance room. Shiva had indeed been
invoked, the magic had been spun, and the time had come for me to experience my devotional
dance.
Infused with pure love for the Lord, and all
that he represents, I let myself drift back through the ages until I was a young devadasi
performing a tantric trance dance somewhere in South India. The techno beat morphed in my
head into the shrill song of a shenai, the rhythmic clanging of temple bells reverberating
in an ancient stone temple, and the mesmerizing drone of devotional songs being repeated
over and over again.
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"I
felt my body gyrate in unfamiliar ways that seemed as old as Shiva himself." |
Ecstatically allowing the
Nataraja trance to overtake me, I felt my body gyrate in unfamiliar ways that seemed as
old as Shiva himself. What were these odd movements, these provocative dance steps from
another millennium? I was able to leave my body and observe myself in this new/old
incarnation. I realized that every motion the devadasi makes carries import, a message of
devotion. The trance dance spiraled me into the deep meanings of these movements, and I
instinctually found myself expressing a vast range of emotions that described the many
manifestations of Shiva Nataraj. There is his gentle evening dance to the celestial
strains of a divine chorus in the Himalayas...his erratic and fearless dance of
Destruction and his swift dance of Time at the cremation grounds...his dances in the
battlefield...before his marriage...in a state of madness... In other words, Shiva dances
at every moment of life, all of which are equally critical.
My fingers seemed to have a life of their own.
Spontaneous mudras (symbolic gestures), conjured up from deep memories of past
lives, told tales both familiar and foreign. I envisioned the Hindu convocation assembled
in the temple, "reading" the stories I told through my movements, enthralled
with the dance of the devadasi. They gazed upon me and my fellow dancers, not with lust
but with devotion. We were temptresses here to tease them, to bring the goddess to them in
a pure form.
Lost in this ancient trance, I felt my love for
Shiva grow deeper all night, consuming me. I saw his essence in everyone and everything
around me. Swami
Nisargadatta Maharaj's words flashed through my head. "When I see I am
nothing, that is wisdom; when I see I am everything, that is love."
So this must have been the justification for the
nights of wild sex I've read about in those Hindu temples, when "celibate"
swamis would mingle with "virgin" handmaidens of the god, all dancing their
devotion together. It is obvious to me that they were also in a trance, induced by the
rhythmic music and their own blissful states. I wondered what local concoctions both the
devotees and the devadasis imbibed, as no doubt they did. (After all, Shiva is the god of
sex and drugs and rock n' roll). I also wondered, stepping back into my present day
journalist/observer brain, if this dance still happens in obscure temples in India today.
Ever since the dogmatic Moguls, followed by the puritanical British, imported their
prudish regulations to the subcontinent, supposedly these dances of bawdy devotion have
been outlawed. But, just as they attempted to forbid dowry, child marriages and sati
(when a wife immolates herself on her husbands funeral pyre to display her fidelity), I
know these acts all continue to exist in India, some more blatantly than others.
I have heard tales through the Hindu grapevine
of remote temples where men gather still, both priests and secular, on auspicious days to
do the dance of Shiva with the local devadasis (young women offered as a gift to the
temple by their parents). I have seen devotees go into spontaneous trance dances, inspired
by the power of a particular murti (statue of a deity). One woman literally became
the fierce goddess Kali, a manifestation of Shiva, right before my
eyes. She spun in circles for an hour while fierce looks like daggers of destruction shot
from her bloodshot eyes.
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I have joined in a village dance from
midnight until dawn which invoked the mighty goddess Durga. For hours we repeated the same
simple steps which guided us all into a trance until the goddess "appeared" in
the form of a costumed priest. At daybreak several goats were slaughtered as a sacrifice
to the almighty. Even the feverish dancing at Hindu weddings becomes a trance as
intoxicated men (and the occasional woman) cavort for literally days to the discordant
blare of the local brass band. |
They say that if you recite the powerful mantra
to Shiva, "Om Nama Shivaya," 108,000 times with deep intention, that Shiva will
come and shake up your life. I know this to be true, so do not take it lightly. Shiva is
all about creation and destruction, the acceptance and appreciation of the inevitable
dharma of change. Perhaps it is because I have already invoked the powerful Shiva through
my years of meditation on his many aspects, that I am so easily able to fall into this
trance dance of the devadasi. I wait for him to come to me like a lover at a appointed
hour. I explore every part of him, as he infuses my being with this dance, like a woman
fondly pondering every bit of her man's character.
I envision Shiva's lifted foot which grants
liberating eternal bliss. His other foot, firmly implanted on the back of the dwarf of
ignorance is a symbol of triumph over the ego. The drum in his upper right hand sounds the
note of creation while the flame in his left hand flickers in the change brought about by
destruction. His other right hand, palm outstretched in the abaya mudra, reminds me
that Freedom From Fear Brings Fulfillment.
The enveloping circle of flames surrounding
Shiva Nataraj represents the natural dance of life. The crescent moon in his matted hair
is a symbol of his complete control over the senses as the serpents wound around his arms
are proof of his control over his vital life forces. His third eye
is his antenna to the supreme.
As the night progresses into the dawn I am aware
that all life is part of a great rhythmic process of creation and destruction, of death
and rebirth, and Shiva is the driving force. Through the dance, my shakti (energy) is
moved, sustained, destroyed and finally revitalized with the morning light.
And so I emerge into a new day, thanking Shiva
for our inherent spiritual need to connect which has created this new techno-tranceology
to do so. My night with Shiva Nataraj, as a devadasi, has shown me a deeper meaning to the
trance dance. I have learned to open my heart and let Shiva course through my body, while
the shakti guides me through the night.
OM NAMA SHIVAYA
NOTES:
Nataraj:
From "The Presence of Shiva" by Stella Kramrisch, 1981, pg. 439
"TheAnanda Tandava, Shiva’s
'dance of bliss in the hall of consciousness,' is Shiva’s dance within the heart of
man. There Nataraja, the lord of dancers, dancing, shows his fivefold activity, the
expression of his divine totality. His dancing limbs convey by his movements and symbols
the fivefold action of creation, maintenance, dissolution, veiling-unveiling, and
liberation. Nataraja dances the cosmos into existence, upholds its existence, and dances
it out of existence. The Lord veils existence with illusion so that it is seen as real,
and, dancing, he removes the veil.
Kali:
In the temple town of Chidambaram where
Shiva Nataraj lives (see previous hyperlink to Chidambaram,) the story goes that Shiva and
Kali had a contest to decide who got the biggest temple in town. As both Shiva Nataraj and
Kali are known for their fantastic fancy footwork, a dance competition was held. The goal
was to see who could kick their legs the highest.
As both of these powerful gods pranced
about it soon became obvious who was to win. Shiva, wearing only his tiger skin wrapped
around his waist, was able to kick his feet up into the universe, unimpeded. Kali however,
even though she is such a ferocious goddess, was unable to match Lord Shiva Nataraj as her
sari wrapped about her body didn't allow her to kick as high.
Again we see India as the patriarchal
society which it is. So, Kali got a small temple on the outskirts of town, which is where
I saw this woman go into a Kali trance. Shiva Nataraj won the huge temple complex that
houses his magnificence today.
Third Eye:
From Karapatri, "Sri Siva
tattva," Siddhanta, II, 1941-42, pg. 116
"The frontal eye, the eye of
fire, is the eye of higher perception. It looks mainly inward. When directed outward, it
burns all that appears before it. It is from a glance of this third eye that kama, the
lord of lust, was burned to ashes and that the gods and all created beings are destroyed
at each of the periodical destructions of the universe."
Original dancing Shiva
graphic by Marsha Wright Richman |
