Cosmic dance and dance of destruction-creation...The stage for them is the Universe. Another dance, Ananda Tandava, “the dance of bliss in the space of consciousness is the dance of Shiva in the human heart. There Nataraja, the God of dancers, by dancing, reveals his fivefold activity, expressing his divine totality. The parts of his body, with their movements and symbols, express five actions - creation, preservation, dissolution, concealment-revelation and liberation. In the book, the author reveals the image of one of the three main gods of Hinduism, as he appears in the texts of the Vedas and Puranas. An eminent art critic and philosopher, Stella combines engaging storytelling with deep philosophical analysis of the Shiva myth, touching on various levels of meaning, from the psychological to the metaphysical. Comparing the presentation of the same plots in different sources helps the author to reveal the wealth of meanings inherent in them, as well as to reduce contradictory and seemingly incompatible features into a consistent, holistic and very impressive image. Wendy Doniger [University of Chicago, USA]: “ A milestone in the study of Hinduism. A wealth of material of increased value for historians of religion, Indologists and students of mythology. There is nothing like it.”