Offers an art lesson designed to introduce junior high school students to a Shiva sculpture and to Hindu symbolism. The lesson is based on a full-color photograph of a 500 year-old bronze sculpture entitled Shiva Nataraja, King of Dancers. (BR)

Sacred women have been portrayed throughout the history of India and Southeast Asia. Some were depicted as consorts to the Hindu gods and regarded as the necessary force that activates male energy. Other images arose out of local fertility cults and represented uncontrolled feminine energy that could be terrifying in aspect. The calmer Buddhist…