Indian dancing

By courtesy Dut Ltd., from the film ‘Our India’, Photo: Colin Tait

Ram Gopal in the Cosmic Dance of Shiva, depicting creation, which is symbolized by the

gesture of “alapadama’ — the opening of a lotus flower. The ‘rasa is ‘adbhuta’, or wonderment,

and shows the gentler aspects of Shiva, as he slowly rises and performs his Dance of the Setting Sun, to the music of flute, veena, and drums, and the chanting of hymns

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