Symbolic representation of Ranganatha and Nataraja has been compared as the meaning of both is the same except for their locations. In Ranganatha, ranga means stage and which in the broadest sense refers to the world, the cosmos or better still of the body and the senses. Nataraja also means the Lord of the Stage and in this case his stage is in ‘Chidambaram' meaning the sphere of wisdom, while Ranganatha rests on the Ocean of milk or Paarkadal, which is a metaphysical or esoteric concept which is not easy to interpret as it is perceived in different ways by different people. The name Nataraja is more usually taken to mean Lord of the Dance in reference to the dance of dissolution, or pralaya, or alternatively the dance of illusion by which the material sphere is manifested, and is therefore a name for Lord Shiva, as distinct from Lord Vishnu.