Nataraja, the dancing Siva sculpture, is perhaps the most well-known among all Hindu sculptures, and rightly so. It has evoked highly advanced discussions among scientists, philosophers, performing artists, art critics, art collectors, historians, archaeologists and mythologists. The Nataraja sculpture also occupies a pride of a place at CERN, the European Centre for Research in Particle Physics in Geneva.
Siva, according to Hindu Mythology, was the very first dancer in the world. All dramaturgy and dance traditions emerge from Siva's cosmic dance. Tandu, Siva's disciple narrated the description of Siva's dance to Bharata Muni and he is believed to have compiled the Natyasastra, the world's first treatise on dramaturgy, dance and other performing arts. Scholars believe that the Natyasastra was written over a long period of time between the 2nd century BCE and 2nd century CE with contributions from various sages, with its foundation having been laid by Bharata Muni.
Convergence between Hindu mythology, Natyasastra and Silpasastra was the natural outcome. Karnataka, and its temple architecture tradition, played a pioneering role in giving an artistic form to this convergence in its temple sculptures. Though this trend may have started earlier during 2nd and 3rd century CE, it started to take the center stage from the times of the Badami Chalukyas. Passing through various refinements between 5th and 10th centuries, it reached its peak with the Hoysala art. This book traces the history of temple sculpture evolution and development through the centuries by referring to the existing sculptural forms and the canonical literature that developed over time.
Nataraja，舞蹈的濕婆雕塑，或許是所有印度教雕塑中最著名的，這是當之無愧的。它引發了科學家、哲學家、表演藝術家、藝術評論家、藝術收藏家、歷史學家、考古學家和神話學家之間高度進階的討論。Nataraja雕塑在瑞士日內瓦的歐洲粒子物理研究中心（CERN）也佔有一席之地。
根據印度神話，濕婆是世界上第一位舞者。所有的戲劇和舞蹈傳統都源自濕婆的宇宙舞蹈。濕婆的弟子坦杜（Tandu）向巴拉塔穆尼（Bharata Muni）敘述了濕婆的舞蹈，並被認為編纂了《舞蹈經》（Natyasastra），這是世界上第一部關於戲劇、舞蹈及其他表演藝術的論著。學者們認為《舞蹈經》是在公元前2世紀到公元2世紀之間，經過多位聖者的貢獻而寫成的，其基礎由巴拉塔穆尼奠定。
印度神話、《舞蹈經》和《雕塑經》（Silpasastra）之間的融合是自然而然的結果。卡納塔克邦及其寺廟建築傳統在將這種融合以藝術形式呈現在寺廟雕塑中，扮演了開創性的角色。雖然這一趨勢可能在公元2世紀和3世紀時就已經開始，但從巴達米查盧基王朝時期開始，它逐漸成為中心舞台。在公元5世紀到10世紀之間經過多次精練後，最終達到了霍伊薩拉藝術的巔峰。本書通過參考現存的雕塑形式和隨時間發展的經典文獻，追溯了寺廟雕塑的演變和發展歷史。
Lalit Chugh did his post-graduation in Physics from the University of Delhi. He joined State Bank of India as an officer in 1975. After sixteen years with the bank, he went into the corporate sector in top management positions. When India started looking at augmenting the infrastructural facilities, he ventured into infrastructure project development and implementation consulting. During his consulting career that spanned over fifteen years, he was on consulting assignments from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other multilateral agencies. He has advised several State governments in India besides numerous central government agencies. He has advised governments abroad as well in the fields of governance and institutional strengthening. Since the beginning of 2012, he has been working on heritage preservation issues and this book is the second one in a series of books he intends to write. His first book largely covered temple architecture while the focus of this book is to establish a convergence between the Hindu mythology, Natyasastra and Silpasastra.
拉利特·丘格（Lalit Chugh）在德里大學獲得物理學碩士學位。他於1975年加入印度國家銀行擔任官員。在銀行工作了十六年後，他進入企業界擔任高層管理職位。當印度開始著手增強基礎設施時，他進入基礎設施項目開發和實施諮詢領域。在他長達十五年的諮詢生涯中，他曾接受世界銀行、亞洲開發銀行及其他多邊機構的諮詢任務。他還為印度的多個州政府以及眾多中央政府機構提供建議。他也曾在國外的治理和機構強化領域為政府提供建議。自2012年初以來，他一直專注於遺產保護問題，而這本書是他計劃撰寫的一系列書籍中的第二本。他的第一本書主要涵蓋了寺廟建築，而這本書的重點是建立印度教神話、戲劇學（Natyasastra）和工藝學（Silpasastra）之間的融合。
