Fractal analysis was applied to the patterns formed on the dance floor by footwork while performing various dance figures. Several Latin-American dances were taken into consideration and the box-counting method was used to estimate the fractal dimensions of these patterns. Rumba was determined to produce the most fractal pattern with a fractal dimension of about 1.36 in the mesh size range used while Merengue exhibited the least fractal one with a dimension of about 1.16. The magnitude of the fractal dimension seemed to be mainly dependent on the simplicity/complexity of the dance figures as well as the characteristic rhythm of the music dictating the basic footwork and figures performed. Well-known fractal shapes, such as the Koch curve might be used to provide insights for generating new dance figures
The term, fractal, coined by Benoit B. Mandelbrot describes a shape or pattern within a greater pattern of which it is a scaling piece identical to the greater pattern and in which are reproduced an infinite number of parts or fragments which are also identical to it, thus, identical to the whole at all scales. In this paper, efforts are put to describe Hindu cosmology as it is replicated in the elements of the Bharata Natyam, drawing the analogy to fractal patterning.
The oldest sacred dance of India, Bharata Natyam, is not only a concise, living and liveable representative of Hinduism, but a holographic snapshot of all the most revered ideals in Hindu culture. The objectives of this paper are to describe the art of Bharata Natyam and show how it is a many layered, experiential "road map" to a greater experience or perception of reality as prescribed by Hindu theological principles. This will be done by describing the source tenets of Hinduism and by describing their symbolic reflection in Bharata Natyam, its design ornamentation, and in the basic aesthetic ideals of Hindu culture in general.
In the West there is a tendency to assume that religious systems are belief systems. This assumption is more often than not coupled with or governed by an underlying or blatant questioning of the existence of divinity, God, or spiritual nature. In order to understand Hinduism and Bharata Natyam one must gain an understanding of the stark contrast in Hinduism to this persistent questioning. In Hinduism, Hindu practitioners do not consider their faith a mere belief system, but rather, an empirical process enabling one to perceive the spiritual nature of reality which, without question not only exists, but is the undeniable substance of all of life whether seen, unseen, heard, or felt. As such, the existence of God. is such a pervasive assumption, that is it never even addressed as something questionable. 'The Hindu assumes the true nature of reality to be God or divinity and the aims of Hinduism and Hindu art are the realization of this (Vatsyayan 1968:3).
The paradoxical nature of such an assumption is not only appropriate to the Hindu practitioner but is of use in directing attention away from mental understanding which paradox precludes, to another important tenet of Hinduism: that the ultimate nature of the ultimate reality is beyond mind and thought. In the Hindu experience, God or spiritual nature is something which can only be directly experienced. To this end, Bharata Natyam--and all of Hindu culture-can be seen in a myriad of poetic, paradoxical and participatory descriptions manifested into visible icons and pujas (rituals of participation and sacrifice) in order to heighten or avail this greater experience to its participants.
The Hindu mythological description of such a perception of reality deals in the personification of this all-pervading principle of divinity. It is described in terms of a great being, the great being of Purusha who sacrificed himself into the world, and as the world, divides himself into various parts to give rise to the universe and all beings (Fenton 1988:7).
The implications this myth of creation has for the Hindu's fundamental assumptions relative to the meaning by which he or she governs her existence are critical to understand in contrast to Western, Christian assumptions. These are that both creation and creator are the same, and the means by which existence has come to be is sacrifice rather than an externalized source of power or creator-God to be reckoned with.
Following the Purusha myth with more symbolic description, Hinduism describes the universe in further detail as a dynamic play between the two poles created by Purusha's sacrificial act. Creation is thought of as "the result and expression of the symbiotic interaction of male and female, Siva and Sakti, the quiescent and the dynamic, and all polar opposites that in interaction produce a creative tension (Kinsley 1986:122). Thus, all dual and contrasting qualities at play in existence are addressed and philosophically connected to their ultimate and mutual source personified as Purusha.
Purusha is a personification of unqualified formless being (nirguna) and ascribed to the male, while Prakriti is his feminine counterpart--formed or varied manifestation (saguna) of such being. All aspects or the visible and invisible universe that can fall into one of these two categories-and there is nothing that doesn't-are used as symbolism to direct attention to the ultimate nature of the dynamic play that is the universe.
This most pervasive description and the exemplification of ultimate nature in Hindu culture is this play between the unqualified, transcendental, Purusha principle which is also known or symbolized by other male personifications such as Brahma and Shiva, and the manifest principle known and symbolized by female counterparts. such as Shakti and Maya, to the male personifications. Through the use of thousands of Gods and Goddesses depicting the appearance of this principle in everything from the glorious to the mundane, the living applications of this principle are made familiar, understood and practiced in Hindu culture.
In order to clarify the implications or the preceding descriptions on the assumptions that are rooted in the Hindu's world view and approach to life and art, these assumptions can be unified and categorized into four main thoughts: 1) that ultimate reality is beyond all thought; 2) that approach to the ultimate reality involves a relationship to a being that is ultimately one's own self; 3) that the fundamental law governing the arising of existence is sacrifice; 4) that everything that can be seen or felt as masculine or, feminine is a reflection or representation of the dynamic play between the transcendental, or unqualified reality, and the manifest reality or form or incarnation.
Bharata Natyam unfolds in a way as to make experientially accessible all of the above in the Hindu experience, and its intended purpose is to represent them as well. To understand the many levels of the representation of these sacred principles in Bharata Natyam., a non-Hindu must glean from these what inherent assumptions an understanding a Hindu might automatically bring to the viewing of a Bharata Natyam performance.
Bharata Natyam originated as a formal act of temple worship or puja (Vatsyayan 1968:155). In order to understand Bharata Natyam and its intended purpose, it is critical to understand the concept of puja to help in the divorce of the Western mind from the association of performance with entertainment.
In Hindu culture, pujas or sacred rituals, are enactment or a sacrifice that serves the ultimate transformation and perfect transcendence of all that limits the realization of one's true nature (Brahman). They are performed to energize and transform the bodily personality through devotion and to include bodily consciousness intentionally in a kind of rapturous, artful performance-where attention is maintained in an active, sacred manner rather than a casual, conventional participation (John 1985:340).
Given their familiarity with the order and purpose of puja and the Hindu designation of all arts and performance as participatory worship, in approaching a Bharata Natyam performance, the Hindu's understanding would be that the objective of the performance is not to entertain but to engage spectators in something more profound. It would also be understood that this would involve the voluntary intention of freeing oneself of mind. Attention would be brought to the performance as an active offering to the divine. The dancer would be recognized as both a goddess-an icon worship--as a devotee; a goddess when dancing, and admittedly, a devotee both when dancing the part of a devotee in a dance sequence, and between dance sets when relaxing into her own character and ordinary, but disciplined, stance.
A propelling force into this more profound experience, and an aid in focusing attention and quieting the mind, is music. In the Hindu's study and use of music, sound is understood as a quality of manifestation more subtle than concrete form, and thus closer to transcendental nature, closer to absolute divinity. Thus, allowing sound to carry one's attention, one becomes more concentrated outside the realm of gross manifestation and more available to a greater reality. Karnatic music, the sound used in Bharata Natyam performance, in every detail of its intonation and order, was designed for this purpose (Diaz 1989).
In a Bharata Natyam concert, the dancer is the symbol for the manifest: a woman, a human form, a goddess. As such her highest purpose is to call into manifest existence the unqualified transcendental principle. To this end, every aspect of the dancers' adornment is aimed; no aesthetic is random in Hindu culture nor in Bharata Natyam.. All are easily traced to their purpose as symbolic reminders of the highest principle the divine itself in a dynamic play of manifestation. From a Hindu's perspective, "The rules governing the use of costumes, colours, ornaments and even coiffure (in Indian Dance) can be fully appreciated only if we realize that each of these is a vehicle of greater purpose and has a function to perform beyond itself" (Vatsyayan 1968:9).
From the crown of her head to the soles of her feet, every adornment that is placed on the anatomy of a Bharata Natyam dancer is an indicator of the greater reality of the dancer, an indicator herself of the greater reality and the dynamic play that the reality is understood to be.
Making a division down the midline of the dancer's head thereby delineating the right and left hand sides of her body, a chain of jewels is worn. This chain serves to correlate the two spheres of the brain in recognition of their two distinct functions. The sides of the head and the two sides of the dancer's body are implied, with this ornamental divider, to be manifestations of the great dynamic play of the universe. Of the left. and right sides of the body, the right is considered to be the giving, releasing side and the left; to be the side of reception or acceptance.
This jeweled chain culminates on the dancer's forehead anchoring a jeweled mandala there, a pattern specifically crafted to represent a cosmic pattern of lights thought to be a subtler form of energy within the human body which can be more fully realized upon awakening to the greater reality. Around her neck is worn a similar mandala. The placement or these upon the body is intended to correlate energy centers in the body which are focal points in conducting such energy.
Upon the two upper plates of her cranium the dancer wears two jewel laden orbs pinned to her hair. One is fully round, symbolizing the sun, and is worn on the right side of her head. The other is crescent shaped, symbolizing the moon and is worn on the left side of her head. The sun, Surya, in Sanskrit, is the symbol for the source, the active, or transcendental principle. 'The moon, Chandra, in Sanskrit, is the symbol for the receptive, reflective or manifest principle (Diaz 1989).
The symbols are metaphors. As the moon has no light without being shined upon by the sun, thus there is no existence of Shakti or Maya without Shiva. There is no world without Brahman, no Prakriti without Purusha. These symbols are reminders that the dancer is enlivened only by Shiva or Brahman or the ultimate reality. She is, obviously and on many levels, the feminine aspect of the universe, the manifest calling to the transcendental principle to incarnate.
The bells on her feet accentuate her glistening attractiveness and devotion with their sound, which literally calls the divine principle to manifest. Bells have served this purpose in many cultures, whether conscious or not, calling to God or serving as reminders of God for worshippers. The bangles on her arms also serve a similar purpose-a musical call as she moves; they also glisten, glorifying her appearance, and adding to her sonorous devotional plea. The sound and rhythm of the dance accentuated by these sounds infinitely cycling on itself like upon the dancer's body also serve to focus the viewer's concentration.
Around her waist is a belt made of relief images of the goddess, Lakshmi, "who both imbues creatures with illustriousness and well being and pervades creation as the sap of existence" (Kinsley 1986:31). Wherever there is beauty, it is said that Lalkshmi is present:.... she (Lakshmi) is the personification or embodiment of auspicious, particularly royal qualities-(1986:20).
She is another poetic symbol for the remembrance of the dynamic play of divinity incarnate. Her masculine counterpart is Vishnu who represents preservation or sustenance. In the following interpretation of the Vishnu-purana it can be seen how the qualities of existence are again poetically ordered to represent the two poles of all pervading reality, this time in terms of Lakshmi and Vishnu: Vishnu is said to be speech and Lakshmi meaning; he is understanding, she is intellect; he is the creator, she is the creation; she is the earth, he the support or the earth; she is a creeping vine, he is the tree to which she clings; he is one with all males, and she is one with all females; he is love and she is pleasure [1.8.15ff.] (Kinsley 1986:29).
The place between the dancer's eyes is adorned with a red dot or circle called a tilac, bindi, or putu (depending on which part of India one is in). It is a familiar symbol of Hindu culture. This characteristic mark of a Hindu woman is considered a mark of beauty whether recognized in its spiritual significance or not. A traditional Hindu woman, whether young or old, never leaves the house without a bindi, tilac, or putu. It is often just thought of as a sign of marriage, but a more detailed and consistent meaning is that it is an external symbol of the wedding of attention of the woman, the symbol for the manifest universe-to the man-a representative of the male principle of transcendence. This form of "wedding" has no age or marital qualifications. It is a symbol of commitment or adherence by the female principle, to the awakening force of the ultimate reality which is defined as the male principle.
In the Hindu tradition, it is understood that awakening to that revered state of awareness of and abiding in the ultimate reality, energetically transfigures the human body. As such a transfigured body, one becomes a conduit of blessing energy. Particular parts of the body through which this energy is conducted are known to be the hands and the feet, thus, the dancer's hands and feet are highlighted in a bright red to call attention to the interchange and "expulsion of blessing-energy that is exchanged through these parts. It is also recognized that the same blessing-energy has different qualifies. Thus the hands of the dancer, as well as the whole five pointed (head, two arms, and two legs) configuration of the dancer's body, are used in particular positions which are known to conduct energy in specific ways to bless, awaken, and offer. In the hands, these are called mudras and are recognizable in almost all Hindu sculpture. In the body, they are called nrtta or pure dance (Diaz 1989).
The art of Bharata Natyam was designed to awaken and transfigure the body of the dancer, if only temporarily--to be used in such an energetic design as to be one with the highest reality. 'The dancer, as a devotee of this blessing-energy dances to offer the energy to awaken the viewer(s). Dancing may also empower a shrine or a temple or an occasion. In this process is reflected the profundity of the gnana (knowledge) and bhakti (devotion) approaches of Hinduism. It can be seen how these are, as they are claimed to be, two facets of the same source, though apparently very different dispositions.
The dancer is a living, dancing confession of devotion. She is Prakriti, by the sacrifice of her energy and attention in her dance for the One--Purusha-which is actually her own source. She becomes the Purusha and icon for the audience for which to concentrate and offer sacrifice of their attention. She is, metaphorically, Shakti bowing to Shiva. By the sacrifice her attention on what is known to be the source of attention, she becomes and represents the source for the devotion of her audience. Thus she becomes a living example and fractal of the Purusha myth. She is both the offering and the blessing both the known (gnana) and the devotee (bhakta), an example of the culmination of the path of devotion (bhakti yoga) in the known union (ghana yoga).
Within the physical splendor of such a realization as within the splendor of the performance, there is still the fact, obvious and unavoidable to the Hindu disposition, that all form is temporary. Flowers are Hinduism's chosen symbols used to honor and represent temporality and mortality. without negating joy and beauty. To the Hindu, flowers perfectly represent and give a -clue- to the meaning of life and dance.
They are perfect, delicate manifestations of exquisiteness and beauty yet they last for but an instant in time. To the Hindu they are the perfect offering of love, devotion, and beauty. They are representations of uncompromising completeness within a dying, decaying, and temporary form. In all of Hindu culture, they are seen as signs of beauty which are meant to represent the paradox of living life amidst eminent death.
They are perfect offerings to altars which represent the transcendental because they are beautiful signs of the manifest. Thus. they adorn the head of the dancer and the feet of any image of worship in Hindu culture. Day in and day out, many times daily, old flowers are removed and new ones are offered in both Hindu temples and homes.
All of these formal adornments adhering to detailed specification are not unique to the Bharata Natyam performance. Because enlightenment, and its physical implications, is the basis of what is considered beautiful in Hindu culture, variations of their adornments have pervaded Hindu women's fashions for centuries and still pervade popular Hindu fashion today. Examples of this are the consistent wearing of anklets with bells on them by old and young women alike; the incredible prevalence of glass bangles worn by the dozens on each arm from an early age; the dying of palms, fingertips, and feet of brides-to-be in intricate patterns with a red-orange henna; and the wearing of the fun regalia of temple dance adornment by brides.
Adornment is emphasized in such detail on women because women are symbolically recognized as the representatives of beauty and attraction in Hindu culture. As manifestation, they are equivalent to flowers and thus are rarely without some or one adorning their hair. As women, they are considered the offering of beauty to that which is beyond beauty. In such a scheme of representation, the energy of Shakti is the flower for Shiva, Prakriti the flower for Purusha, Lakshmi the flower for Vishnu. A woman is the flower for her husband who represents the transcendental or more philosophical nature of reality. The dancer is the flower offered to Brahman, unqualified nature, her audience.
There are two aspects to the actual dance of Bharata Natyam These are nrtta, or pure dance, and abhinaya, or gesture (Vatsyayan 1968:38). Nrtta is composed of rapidly ordered frames of whole body positions similar to the mudras of the hands in that they are understood to be archetypal sculpturings of the human form in ways that avail it to be a conductor of awakened and awakening energy.
Abhinaya, whose literal translation is "to enable one to reach" (Diaz 1989), is the vehicle for the expression of tangible emotion in the context of tangible stories or poetry. The stories are backdrops constructed of ordinary and familiar Hindu life-settings. They are the scheme in which to present rasa profound feeling or sentiment.-intended to transcend mere emotionality and to draw the audience into bhava (state) of devotion. (Ghose 1975:6).
Though the stories are set in ordinary life, and the emotions dramatized appear to be the ordinary ones of love, jealousy, anger, sorrow, despair, and fear, it is the artful specificity and purpose of the abhinaya, gestures, in combination with the dancers awareness of, and participation in them as spiritual practice, that makes their experience far from ordinary. Attention to exact positioning or gestures, as well as an internally directed state of relationship to the audience and a higher spiritual force, make them a many layered kaleidoscopic imaging of ecstasy and profound wisdom in the context of real and ordinary human emotion.
Here is a Hindu's description of this objective and process: The freedom, the moksha, which the artist attains is through the rigorous discipline which the technique demands, in which the technique demands, in which undisciplined subjective emotions have no part to play. The work of art truly becomes for the artist and the audience, like a yantra, a diagrammatic image, a symbolic key to a vision of unity, timeless and eternal.... Contemplation of this yantra, this spiritually as well as aesthetically satisfying symbol, can lead to a state in which bliss (ananda) and complete release in life (jivanmukti) may be experienced, however briefly (Vatsyayan 1968:21).
Just as the gestural expressions of the dancer are specifically ordered to this higher purpose, so are the dances ordered in a Bharata Natyam performance. The first dance, Alarippu, is considered an invocation. It is made only of pure dance (nrtta) and musically, it is based on rhythm alone. The movements of Alarippu are meant to "relax the dancer's body and thereby her mind, loosen and coordinate her limbs and prepare her the dance.... Alarippu is most valuable in freeing the dancer from distraction and making her single minded". (Balasaraawati 1984:8). Rhythm is understood to have a "rare capacity to concentrate". (1984:8). thus it is of use to unify the audience and dancer to the puja of the dance.
Alarippu is followed by Jatiswaram, another dance made or only pure dance but having more complex dance sequences. In Jatiswaram., melody is added to rhythm and is incorporated at this point due to its "special power to unite us with our being" (Balasaraswati 1984:8).
Expression is introduced in the third dance. Sabdam, which is short (15 to 25 minutes), and intended to begin to orient the dancer and the audience to participation in a higher emotive state after being relieved of thought via participation in Alarippu and Jatiswaram. Sabdam is preparation for Varnam. the longest and most profound dance of the Bharata Natyam. dance sequence.
The Varnam. is a single dance balanced with both gestural expression and pure dance. This one dance can last up to an hour, and is the greatest test of the dancer's ability to release herself into the substance of the dance both emotionally and physically. Once beyond this great physical feat and sacrificial act of devotion, the dancer and audience are sufficiently prepared and purified of ordinary mental states to proceed into the Padams which are dances of pure gesture dealing with the highest of emotions and the subject matter of the leela, or play of the divine in stories of relationship to a god or godly personality.
The Bharuta Natyam performance returns to pure dance in its culmination with Tillana. Tillana is a dance of highly motivating rhythm, ecstatic melody and regaling choreography. It is the dance to celebrate having spent the past several hours concentrated in communion with the divine through the puja of Bharata Natyam. This order or Bharata Natyam recital has been described "by great exponents of Bharata Natyam as a great temple." Alarippu is likened to the gopuram or outer hall; Jatiswaram to the ardhamandapam, or halfway hall. Sabdam, the great inner hall, and Varnam to the holy precinct of the deity. The Padams are the entering of the sanctum from its external precinct into the most intimate setting of the deity. Then "the Tillana breaks into movement in conclusion, the devotee takes to his heart the god he has so far glorified outside". (Balasaraswati 1984:10).
Again in this description can be seen the Hindu orientation towards life as spiritual metaphor of interconnectedness within interconnectedness, all appearances of form used towards the same purpose of leading one's attention back to the one great and all pervading source, the initiator of the universe.
All of the preceding symbolic descriptions of reality in Hinduism incorporate into daily Hindu experience sacredness and meaning aimed at exempting no circumstance in any aspect of life to the fullest realization of the ultimate truth behind the symbols. There is to the Hindu, a quintessential symbol for this purpose and for the meaning of life and dance, it is the symbol or Shiva as Nataraja. Lord of the Dance.
Shiva as Nataraja, is one of the most revered and prevalent icons of Hindu mythology, and one of the most complete symbolic depictions of the Hindu rendition of reality. This image is spoken of as ".... a great image of reality, a key to the complex issues of life. a theory of nature ..." (Naidu 1971:12). Shiva is the personification of both the active principle of existence and the formless source of existence. He is more often than not referred to as superior to other personifications of the absolute such as Brahma and Vishnu. His is the Lord of the Dance because manifest existence is interpreted to be a dance of his energies.
The positions and form in which he is most depicted is in a one legged balance called Ananda Tandav--the dance of bliss. He stands on a pedestal in a halo of flame; a symbol of change and transformation. He has matted locks of hair whirling about him symbolizing both his great indifference to convention and the fury of his dance. Amidst his flying locks is a mermaid representing Ganga (the goddess equivalent to the river), symbolizing fertility and the grace of God. He wears a man's earring in the right ear and a woman's earring in the left, symbolizing that he is both halves of the universe. Around his neck he wears a necklace of Brahmas and Vishnus symbolizing his superiority over these two deities and the eons of cycles of creation and destruction that he has enacted.
The beautiful proportions of Nataraja's limbs, and his facial expressions are of the most significance. He has four arms, the right upper arm holds a drum symbolizing that he is overseeing the passing of time. The left upper hand holds a name symbolizing destruction. The lower right hand's palm faces outward in a position of blessing, protection, and assurance to "fear not". The left lower hand hangs "like the trunk of an elephant" (Kamaliah 1987:30), pointing to the left foot as refuge for the soul and the symbol of his grace. The right leg is the leg on which he stands and with this leg he is crushing the demon figure, Muyalakan, who symbolizes ignorance or evil (1987:29).
The sculptures of Nataraja and all the meaning he personifies again return one to the paradox of existence, to the "One" that is both blessing and destroying. In the greatest, most loved and revered renderings of this icon, all that Shiva holds is held by an overall character rendered in bliss. This is the accurate and desired eminence of this symbol as it is meant to represent the most profound of Hindu's wisdom which is that though attention may turn to the specifics of Shiva's actions (death, destruction, creation, time, and "things") just as one may turn to the specifics of existence, the underlying and overlying principle is that all is a play being danced out of sheer joy.
This statue is the answer to the question that many Hindus have made, perplexed by the paradox of Hindu theology: if Shiva's source and formlessness is absolute bliss, then why was there the creation of the universe and of form at all? To this question is addressed the radiant smile upon Nataraja's face and the inimitable beauty of his dancing form. The answer is none other than--as an expression of happiness. That is the reason one dances and this is the reason why the Lord is dancing the universe.
Shiva is sheer joy taking on the qualities, playfully, of both creation and destruction while never budging from bliss. The emphasis in the symbol of Shiva is his blissful grace rather than attraction to the things and qualifies of him in and of themselves. To realize the meaning of Shiva's form is to awaken from enrapture with the details of death and destruction and see that it is all a dance with no reason but unreasonable joy.
With this inspiring and inclusive reason without concrete reasoning, one is once again brought to the place where the mind cannot follow. This is the intended gift of all Hindu icons and art forms, as the absolute is known to be the unnameable source that emanates as bliss from the statue.
Though Shiva is a personification, his bliss is the realization of the one inspired by him. It is a realization helped along by a relationship to a form that is--or represents--living as that truth. His hand is upheld in a position of assurance directing one to "fear not," not because the icon itself is protection, but because that bliss recognized by the observer is known to be one's own true nature. Thus there is nothing to fear, ever, only to awaken out of ignorance to this truth; "killing" such ignorance as represented by Muyalakan being trod on by Shiva's Ananda Tandava.
Though this truth is known to be fundamental and absolute, it is recognizably possible to be beguiled by the play of manifestation which can enrapture attention in its many forms. Thus it is necessary to acknowledge and address in this icon, and in life, the apparent differentiation that the blissful play of the divine has manifested.
Shiva as Nataraja, directs attention to the actual unity and unifying principle that govern form and formlessness by being represented as both feminine and masculine halves in one form. This is even more subtly represented by all of his symbols and symbolism--things having to do with manifest existence--being overshadowed by the Miss that emanates from his stance and countenance and compels one to become involved in such bliss. These principles within Shiva and his dance replicate in and as the dance of Bharata. Natyam just as Bharata. Natyam's beauty and sacred meanings are enfolded into the dally life of Hindu practitioners.
Just as its mythic descriptions and art indicate, Hinduism can begin or end at anyone of its representations, as each paradoxically curls back on itself constantly foreshadowing the rest. All of Hinduism's principles can be found in Shiva/ Brahman/Purusha who are represented as Nataraja, who is danced as Bharata Natyam, who shines as Surya and Chandra, who play as man and woman, who appear as the manifest awakening to its transcendental nature, who is Shiva/ Brahman/Purusha. Each layer is truly a representation of the whole with the cascading pattern of representation infinitely cycling in on itself like the colorful paisley patterns that India is so famous for and that a Westerner, Benoit B. Mandelbrot, recognized in the mathematics of the irregularly appearing forms of nature which he named fractals (1983).