the dwarfish body of the demon Apasmāra puruṣa, "forgetfulness, loss of memory"-called in Tamil Muyalaka-who represents ignorance, the destruction of which brings enlightenment, true wisdom, and release from the bondage of existences.

Śiva's upper right hand carries a small drum, shaped like an hourglass; for sound was the first element to evolve in the unfolding of the universe, sound being the characteristic of ether (according to the Indian view), which is the most subtle form of cosmic matter. The upper left hand, in ardhacandra-mudrā (the half-moon gesture), bears a tongue of flame: the element of the final destruction of the universe. Thus in two of the hands are symbolized the balance of creation and destruction. The lower right hand, in abhaya-mudrā (the fear-not gesture), bestows protection, while the lower left, in the gaja-hasta posture-imitating the outstretched trunk (hasta) of the elephant (gaja)-points to the lifted foot as the refuge or salvation of the devotee. This foot should be worshipped, in order to gain union with the god and therewith enlightenment; for whereas the right foot, planted on the back of the demon Forgetfulness, symbolizes Śiva's world-creative driving of life-monads into the sphere of matter, the lifted left symbolizes their release. The two feet thus denote the continuous circulation of consciousness into and out of the conditon of ignorance.

The ring of fire surrounding the figure (prabhā maṇḍala) symbolizes the dance of nature (prakriti), which is the life-process of the universe and its creatures, and within there is taking place eternally the dance of the prime mover, the Lord God. According to the ascetic Hīnayāna Buddhist doctrine, this dance of nature is to be extinguished. According to the Śivaite view, on the other hand, it is not different from the dance of wisdom-knowledge, since it is itself a reflex of the trancendental being of God.

The whole form, finally, may be read as the mystic syllable OM or AUM, which in the Devanāgarī alphabet is written ऒ or ऑ and which is the totality of the world and psyche in the four states of awareness known as (1) being awake, (2) being in dream, (3) being in dreamless sleep, and (4) being reintegrated in the pure, transcendental essence of divine reality. Each of these four states is expressed in one of the four parts of AUM: respectively in. a, u, m, and the following silence.

We have already noted the resemblance of the posture of the Dancing śiva to that of the dancer of Harappā. The probability of an actual connection is great, since the Dravidians were in possession of the Deccan centuries before the Christian era. Linguistically they seem to belong to the Turanian group who occupied southern end eastern Persia in pre-Aryan times. The historical perspective