Nataraja's Earring

[N. Ganesan]

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Nataraja wears a female earring in his left ear (kundala) while his
right ear, though pierced, is bare. One can explain this by child like
stories which say that his right earring fell off while dancing. The
truth of the matter is that Nataraja is an ardhanirshvara and
therefore  must express his feminine aspect.  This is stylised by the
kundala.
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  Is this attested in any Kashmiri Shaivaite text that
  the Dancing 'Siva is a form of ArdhanAri?

  (I was informed that  the term, Nataraja
  does not occur pre-19th century Kashmiri texts.)

  With kind regards,
  N. Ganesan



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