"dancing came into being at the beginning of all things, and was brought to light together with Eros, that ancient one, for we see this primeval dancing clearly set forth in the choral dance of the constellations, and in the planets and fixed stars, their interweaving and interchange and orderly harmony. Whatever the origins of Siva"s dance, it became in time the clearest image of the activity of God which any art or religion can boast of." (Younger, p. 226) .

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             The "Dancing Sivan," however, symbolizes much more than just the dance of creation. For, the overall image of Siva as the Lord of Dance expounds on Hinduism"s idea of Nature as a cyclical process of creation and destruction. .

             Indeed, the purpose of Siva"s dance is twofold. Either he dances the ananda tandndava (Younger, p. 3) in the joy of overflowing power, dancing creation into existence, or he dances the Tandava dance of destruction (Zaehner, p. 85; Brockington, p. 72). Thus, it is evident that Hinduism saw the art form of dance as symbolic of the cosmic power underlying the natural processes of creation, being, and dying. In fact, it is largely this worldview that served as the foundation for the Hindu belief that ultimate bliss lies in union with the Divine Reality, which is only possible through moksha or liberation from the endless dance of life and death. .

             Although Hinduism"s philosophy of dance is grounded in the theology of the religion, it began to be known as a way of expressing devotion and even experiencing the ecstasy of union with the Divine reality only post the rise of the bhakti movement in the seventh century (Brockington, p. 130). In fact, dance and music became a method of expressing a direct and personal relationship with God through a devotee abandoning consciousness and the self in the joy and energy generated in dancing (Brockington, p. 133; Younger, p. 74; Zaehner, p. 134, 138). The bhakti movement undoubtedly played a definite role in encouraging this practice since the movement itself was propagated through the medium of song and dance.