The doyen among Indian Sanskritists and art historians, C. Sivaramamurti, has contributed a monumental work on the subject (Nataraja in Art, Thought and Literature, New Delhi, 1974), which commands the status of a Bible for like- minded scholars in the field. Many of his ideas stand questioned now (scholars may look into a small ‘book by A. Meeneshwari and V. Latha, Ituva Varalaru [Is It History] in Tamil, Thanjavur 1997). However, the major shortcoming of the book is the total neglect of regional sources that may be found in other classical languages like Tamil. To cover the lacuna, I have published a number of articles in the East and West from Rome, Acta Orientalia from Copenhagen and JRAS: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (of Great Britain and Ireland), now published by the Cambridge University Press. Most other scholars, listed by J. Soundararajan in the introductory chapters of his work, down to David Smith (he has nothing to say about the Dance of Vi1? DU, a bold theme in connection with Citamparam, sees JRAS infra), do not consider Tamil as a viable source at all. C. Sivaramamurti has cited few hymns from the Teuaram. which is a chip from huge block? Scholars know it very well that it is in the Cola temples and their bronzes that Nataraja, the so-called anandaidnduuam, was a vibrant theme. The Tamil artistes much better do Bharatanatvam as a performing art in any part of the world today. In the art of Tamilnadu since the Pallava-Pandya to Vijayanagara-Nayaka, the dance theme, irrespective of the performer (Siva, Vi1? DU, Devi, Canapati or a deuadasi) is a dynamic theme. Is it not the bounden duty of an art historian to look into what the Tamil sources since the days of the Cilappatikaram (5th century AD) have to say on the subject? The hymns of Karaikkalammaiyar (elaborated by R.K.K. Rajarajan), Tevaram, Tiruoacakam, Tirukkovaiyar (see my articles in the Bibliography), Koyil Tiruppal1l1iyar Viruttam (elaborated by J. Soundararajan in the present book), Tirumantiram and a number of other works in Tamil throw a flash of new light and add to the illuminating personality of Nataraja who dances on the Himalayas, the mythical Darukavana or a crematorium. Tirumular's vision is that he dances at the acme of the pivot of the Milkyway.