One of the most celebrated sculptural forms in the history of Indian art, this elegant and dynamic figure embodies some of Hinduism’s most fundamental tenets. According to Hindu thought, time is cyclical; the world is created, maintained, preserved for a time, then destroyed, only to be created again an infinite number of times. For those Hindus who view Shiva to be the all-powerful creator divinity, he is responsible for both creation and destruction. The ring of fire and the tongue of flame he holds in his left hand refer to destruction, and the drum in his raised right hand refers to the relentless beat of time as it moves inevitably forward. His lower right hand, held up with the palm facing out, signals to his devotees not to be afraid of the impending destruction; they can be liberated from the cycles of birth and death through devotion to him, which he indicates by pointing to his upraised foot. With every step in his dance, he lands on a dwarfish figure personifying ignorance.
The three-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with copyright terms of life of the creator plus 70 years or less. The creation of photographic reproduction of this object, however, generates a new copyright and an additional statement should be provided to indicate the copyright status of the image.
The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.
http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.enCC0Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedicationfalsefalse