Nataraja, (Sanskrit: “Lord of the Dance”) the Hindu god Shiva in his form as the cosmic dancerhe purpose of the dance is to release men from illusion of the idea of the self and of the physical world. The cosmic dance was performed in Chidambaram in South India, called the center of the universe by some Hindus. The gestures of the dance represent Shiva's five activities, creation (symbolized by the drum), protection (by the fear not hand gesture), destruction (by the fire), embodiment (by the foot planted on the ground), and release (by the foot held aloft).