Executed in vibrant pigments and gold leaf on cloth stretched over a wooden panel—typical of the Thanjavur region of Tamil Nadu—this painting depicts Shiva as Nataraja, the Lord of Dance, in his cultic home of Chidambaram. There, he performs his ananda tandava (“Dance of Bliss”) within an ornate, golden structure known as the Kanaka Sabha (“golden hall”) at the heart of the temple complex. A host of deities, devotees, and attendants congregate to witness Nataraja’s cosmic dance, which enacts his role in the creation, preservation, and dissolution of the universe.

Winged gandharvas (celestials) shower flower petals down from the upper corners of the painting. Flanking Nataraja on the left are the blue-skinned Vishnu and the tiger-footed sage Vyaghrapada. On the right are Nataraja’s green-skinned consort Shivakami and the sage Patanjali whose bottom half appears in the form of a serpent.

Among the assembly of deities and sages in the lower register note Bhringi, the emaciated, three-legged ascetic at center-left. In his unbridled devotion to Shiva, Bhringi refused to circumambulate Shiva’s consort Parvati. Slighted, she made him so weak that he could stand on his own, but Shiva endowed him with a third leg for stability.