Dancing Shiva Nataraja from India (9.5 cm)

Height: 9.5 cm.

Shiva Nataraja, also known as dancing Shiva. Shri Shiva (also Shiwa and Śiva; Sanskrit: शिव) is the highest divine being within Ishvara, one of the great traditions within Hinduism. With Brahma and Vishnu he forms the Trimurti of creator-preserver-destroyer. Shiva is the destroyer. Other names of Shiva are: Tryambaka (the three-eyed one), Mahakala (Great Time), Nilakantha (Blue Neck) and Sri Kanta (He whose neck is beautiful), Girisha (the Lord of the Hills), Sankara, Hara, Gangadara (Bearer of Ganga), Nataraja (Lord of Dance), Ardhanarishvara (the half-woman lord) and Bhagavat (Lord). In his appearance as Panchanana (Five-headed), Shiva acts as a healer. Shiva inhabits Mount Kailasa in the Himalayas with his wife Parvati.