In The Dance of Shiva,Ananda Coomaraswamy theorizes a fundamental unity between the

Vedic art tradition of Southeast Asia and the Platonic art tradition of Western Europe. He
suggests that beneath the superficial stylistic differences, there lies an essentially identical
aesthetic philosophy.
Coomaraswamy believed that both ancient Vedic culture and Ancient Greco-Roman culture
rejected a strict distinction between the sacred and the profane. Rather, the ancient cultures
viewed these two realms of human life as fluid and woven together. Spiritual forces regularly
interacted with man in the earthly realm. And it is through religious artifact that this interaction
takes place. In both traditions, religious artifacts are the gateways or portals which allow for fluid
movement between the sacred and the mundane. Without religious artifacts, these spiritualmaterial interactions could not take place.
For Coomawaswamy, images of Shiva the Destroyer are particularly representative of this how
this process takes place. Images of Shiva dancing were common throughout Sri Lanka and
neighboring regions. Typically, these images would be engraved into soft cooper stones and worn
around the neck or ankle. When a number of worshipers adorned with such images came
together, Shiva would descend from the heavenly realm into the earthly realm and invoke his
holy dance upon the worshipers. What important about this dynamic is that it isnt one-sided. Its
not simply that Shiva decides all by himself when he wants to descend upon the people. Rather,
the people themselves through the use of material artifact are also able to act upon Shiva.
When worshipers use the material images of Shiva in this way, he has no choice but to come
down. The material images attract him, draw him in, and compel him to come down. Thus, these
artifacts mediate reciprocity and mutual influencing between the gods and man