The drum also provides the music that accompanies Shiva's dance. The drum represents sound as the first element in an unfolding universe. Sound is a vehicle of speech, conveyer of revelation and Truth. When parted, the universe dissolves. Fire held in the first left hand represents destruction which leads to creation, over and over again.
Fire also cleanses the impurity of the soul.
Both upper arms show balance of creation and destruction. Life ends in the fires of destruction. And then life comes over and over again. This gesture promises salvation or release from the world of forms and rebirth. This hand points to the way out.