There He dances with utmost grace
His mighty feet with ease they fly,
Over the land, they span the space
A cosmic dance of bliss supreme.
Fifth day crescent adorns His crown
New moon's smile that sparkles and shines,
A rushing river descends down
His matted locks that move in tune.
His flow of feet, the wind would trace
Placid expressions rich on show,
In rhythmic pace, He swings and sways
The universe, His parquet floor.
Eye of Knowledge on forehead lies
To look beyond the well known sight,
A third vision above two eyes
To burn and blow the vicious sin.
They skyward point, His left feet's toe
While hooded snakes bejewel His neck,
Salvation captured here on show,
Elegance portrayed in every move.
Adorned with charm, She'd sweetly glide
To prove the word, He gave His half -
His strength, to the Goddess beside,
Her tender look, a tranquil gift.
With awe they saw the mystic show
Elated guests they gazed and gaped,
The dazzling scene of cadent flow,
Of ethereal hosts on stage.
The crowd, caught in a state of trance
Began to move in Ecstasy,
Pausing to spare an upward glance
With outstretched arms, they swayed along.
Thus was passed to the future days
A written rule of dance defined,
For the world to see, sing and praise
A cosmic dance of bliss supreme.
Author notes
The Dance of Bliss by Lord Shiva symbolizes the cosmic cycles of creation and destruction, as well as the daily rhythm of birth and death. The dance is a pictorial allegory of the five principle manifestations of eternal energy — creation, destruction, preservation, salvation, and illusion.
The word Bharata, interpreted as the dance form created by sage Bharata, has within it the essence and uniqueness associated with Bharatanatyam Bha for Bhava (expression), Ra for raga (melody), Ta for tala (rhythm).
Bharata Natyam has three distinct elements to it: Nritta (rhythmic movements of pure aesthetic value), Nritya (movements in which expression is emphasized), and Natya (dance with a dramatic aspect).
A Scientific Metaphor
Fritzof Capra in The Tao of Physics beautifully relates Nataraj's dance with modern physics. He says that "every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance; a pulsating process of creation and destruction…without end…For the modern physicists, then Shiva's dance is the dance of subatomic matter. As in Hindu mythology, it is a continual dance of creation and destruction involving the whole cosmos; the basis of all existence and of all natural phenomena."
Written July 7th, 2006
In a list
A contest entry
- India. (This contest is for all those from India and for non Indians who know and love India) by masterblaster.
500 points, ended July 10, 2006, 8 entries
Silver trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 33 of 33
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wow!!! i have always loved to write poems for God...this one, yet again, made me see a new perspective in writing! great!
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This is a great poem.
You are a great poet.
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this would have been an incredible poem in my recent contest called "emptiness dancing" ... and even in the one before called "deities of the hindu pantheon" ... but as I am not a great fan of "woulding", "coulding" and "shoulding", I guess it was not meant to be ...
I just love your homage to lord shiva and hope that you will be awarded many more trophies for this incredible masterpiece ...
maa
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I though this poem was excellent. It had a good flow to it and I enjoyed your choice of words. Keep up the awesome work.
Em
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whoa... this piece is awesome and really inspiring great vocab keep up the good work
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hmm....interesting topic...good structure and vocab....it also had very good imagery as well...good job!
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If you have inner peace you have all the blessings of the world. Beautiful the way you have captured so much in this piece.
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indeed wow
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great work
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O yeah, you got my appluase as well... wish I could applaud many times..
mina
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congo for silver
A
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Hi Rasp'... this is absolutely gorgeous poem you've penneed here... It's nice to see your talent depicting popular dance of Shiva in beautiful verse... I was thrilled to read this and congratulations on winning silver that you deserved by far... thank you very much for such a lovey poetry... you've made my day...
mina
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Hi Raspberry, lovely write. I knew in this comp I would see some exceptional poetry and I was not mistaken, there is so much talent coming out of India, beautiful poem a pleasure to read, hugs Di
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You have perfectly discribed her.......this was a wonderful write and I must say that India has always held such a fascination for me......a place I will visit one day.
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amazing
what a peice of art. its beautiful in a way deeper than i may comprehend. i know not of the deatils of wonder that you speak but oh it makes my heart sing! -
looks like you put a lot into this very lovely poem of yours,
your background fits so well, looks like you did your homework, you knew just what you were doing and it turned out just right. i am proud.
this is so well written and with a great flow.
i loved every word of this.
thanks for sharing this wonderful poem with us all. -
This was really great. Such depth. I really liked it. My favorite lines were these:
Eye of Knowledge on forehead lies
To look beyond the well known sight,
A third vision above two eyes
To burn and blow the vicious sin.
The metaphor you used here was well written and I appreciated the literary value. Good write. -
NICE WORK ON IT
I LOVE THIS BEAUTIFULL POEM -
awesome
A wonderful write.thank-you for sharing this piece.
take-care
angel
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If I were Hindu I'd SO worship sheeva. Out of all the gods and thier shapti's that I learned about (I took a class on eastern religions) he seemed to be the most charming, and well he sort of spoke to me more than the others did. Something about him really interests me. This poem was simply gorgious! I'm sure if he read it he'd bless you with lots and lots of something you really like. For me he'd bless me with non-fattening dark chocolate
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First and foremost I would like to applaud you for composing a terrific poem-it has so much rythmn -dance-flow-movement-pace-and zeal in it-the energy it emits is contagious-I quiet liked your note on the poem -it is imformative and educative -a very interesting arresting write
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Very well penned!
Om Namah Shivaye!
WOW! This is a very beautiful poem about the dance of one of my very favourite Hindu Gods, Lord Shiv Shankar. I loved the descriptions you used, the lovely imagery that came through, the alliterations, assonance, meter and rhymes. 'Parquet' is a new word to me and I'll have to look that up. Indeed the dance of our beloved Natraj is a dance of the cosmos and a dance that shakes up every corner of the universe. Thank you for the very informative notes you've shared. Those are outstanding!
Wishing you peace and Lord Bholenath's blessings,
Charishma
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loved it
full of mysticism and atmosphere. -
I like reading this poem it does produce a very great image of dancing through out the piece i can almost imagine it. Loved reading it.
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I love your presentation to this piece. wonderful.
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Thankyou dear. I learnt bharatanatyam. When I was hardly three my mom pushed me there, I appreciate your comments.
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I think it is a wonderful poem....you have done a really nice job with flow and rhyming. I wish you the best of luck.
LIZ -
This was wonderful Archana - right from your devotion to your description - even your rhyming scheme...it was all perfect!! I was a dancer too...Leant Manipuri for 9 years
, Indian dancing is truely one of the most graceful dances of all time and I think you have captured that essence most beautifully with yours words
I wish you luck with the contest - it seems to be having a lot of brilliantly written competition
abscessed
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i love the melody to this. you've done an awesome job with the rhyme too. i really admire a rhyme done well
when i come across a poem whose subject i don't quite understand i always appreciate when the author incluces an explanation in their comments such as you did. then i can read again and 'get it'
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Excellent
Very New Age. I love the write though. -
Dancing in a trance, a third eye sees the verses orbit the goddess to take the hand and kiss of success as she eats them for nourishment
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excellent***
This is very good i truly like the poem and the writers comments my hobby science never thought to combine the two it is a great concept this is brillant and wonderful it so much fun to learn from reading thanks so much for sharing such great ideas for to awe over thank you for taking the time to research and write this poem. have a great day thank you -
I really enjoyed this amazing write. I don't know much about the dance, but the way you showed it here, it sounds just lovely!
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