Abstract
In a darkened theater on a bank of the sacred Ganges river, the time-honored ceremony begins. A robust, bare-chested young man wearing a girdle of serpent-skins, earrings of serpent-tails, and a cord of serpents, sits passively, cross-legged on the stage in a state of deep contemplation. Nearby, a slender young woman, draped in a long, colorful saree, dances around him in a joyful, energetic ballet.
I have known the dreadful dissolution of the universe. I have seen all perish at the end of every cycle. Ah, who will count the universes that have passed away or the creations that have risen afresh, again and again, from the formless abyss of the vast waters?
—Brahmavaivarta Purana (Hindu sacred text)
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© 1995 Paul Halpern
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Halpern, P. (1995). The Endless Dance of Shiva. In: The Cyclical Serpent. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6036-8_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6036-8_2
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