Indian Culture
...of life. He rests on the ocean on his bed of Adisesha (serpent with 1,000 heads). Any time Lord Vishnu sees great trouble, He takes an avataram to rescue the people from evils. He is merciful, always rushing to serve his devotees. In the form of Mahavishnu he has four arms wielding the chakra, conch, lotus & a mace in his four arms. Some of the main avatarams of Vishnu are enumerated as the Dasavataram (10 Incarnations). Siva Siva is the God of destruction & is assisted by his consort Parvathi, the Goddess of disintegration. Parvathi represents prakriti, which means perishable matter. Siva is mostly worshipped on a linga (a pedestal). Energy can neither be created nor destroyed & the Linga symbolizes this scientific fact. The Linga shows the primeval energy of the Creator. At the end of Creation all Gods find their resting place in the Linga - Brahma is absorbed into the right, Vishnu is absorbed into the left & Gayathri Devi is absorbed into the heart of the Linga. Linga, the emblem of Siva is the main form that is worshipped in Siva temples. Siva in his human form is worshipped as the Utsava murthi, The Siva Lingas that are worshipped in temples are mostly made of stone & have three parts. The lowest part is in the shape of a square & symbolizes Brahma (the God of Creation). The middle part is in the shape of an octagon & symbolizes Vishnu (the God of Maintenance). These two parts are baked inside a pedestal. The cylindrical part on the pedestal symbolizes Shiva (the God of Destruction). Siva lives high up on snowy mountain ranges. The image of Siva in his physical form shows him as a soothing meditative figure. 2. Indian Dances India has a lot of folk dances, each of the dances dance shows a specialty of a region or tribe. Each form has its own specialty & grace, along with a different set of costumes & make-up. All the dance forms have a set of rules that are followed traditionally over the years. Various gurus make their own imaginative innovations, leading to various schools within a particular dance form. Apart from the gracious hand & leg postures & movements, the dancers have to learn the skill of showing various emotions faithfully in each expression on their face & each smooth movement of their hand, legs & their whole body. Everything shows some meaning in its graceful motion. Bharata Natyam Bharatanatyam is the most popular of Indian dances and belongs to the South Indian state of Tamilnadu. Its antiquity is well established. Before, it was performed in temples by a class of dancers known as the ‘’Devadasis’’. It was a part of the religious rituals and has a long and old past. The kings and the princely courts patronized the temples, also the various traditi...