History, Importance, Timings, Architecture, Festivals, Interesting Facts and Travel Guide of Nataraja Temple, Panch Bhuta Sthala, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India
The Thillai Nataraja Temple also called Nataraja Temple or Chidambaram Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and this temple is known to be the soul of the holy town Chidambaram. Chidambaram is one of the five holiest Shiva temple – Panch Bhuta Sthala which represents akasha -ether. The other four temples are Thiruvanaikaval represent water element, Thiruvannamalai represent fire element, Kalahasti represent fire element air and Kanchipuram represent earth element. The Nataraja temple holds special religious, cultural and historical significance in south India. The region was surrounded with dense Thillai trees one of species of mangrove trees, thus region was famous after it. The temple has the deeply mythical roots and the Shiva shrine existed at the site when the town was known as Thillai in ancient time. Chidambaram means “Atmosphere of wisdom” or “clothed in thought”. Here in Chidambaram temple you can see the idol of Nataraja or Natesha – Lord of Dance, the most significant form of Lord Shiva. It is believed that sage Patanjali - Author of Yoga Sutra and also said father of modern Yoga had sanctified this temple and started special kind of rituals which is even followed today after thousands of year. An abode of Lord Nataraja temple welcomes millions of devotees throughout the year from all over the world and specially the Shaivites -Followers of Shiva and Vaishnavites - followers of Vishnu.
Chidambaram temple, Kalahasthi temple and Kanchi Ekambareswar, all these 3 temples are located in a straight line at 79 degrees 41 minutes Longitude.
There are couple of logic behind the word Chidambaram which came from the Tamil word Chitrambalam, it is the combination of chit, meaning "consciousness", and ambaram, meaning "sky" or it may refer from chidaakasam, the sky of consciousness, which is the ultimate aim one should attain as per the Vedas and scriptures. Another mean is that it is derived from chit and ambalam where ambalam means a "stage" for performing arts. The chidakasam is the state of supreme bliss or aananda and Lord Natarajar is the symbolic representation of these. Some also refers to chithu meaning "play or dances of God" and ambalam meaning "stage"
The temple holds a very deep mythological connection. The story begins when the Lord Shiva was strolling into the Thillai Vanam. In that forest the group of rishis who believed that the god can be controlled by “mantras” or magical words. The Lord strolls in the form “Pitchatanadar”, a simple mendicant seeking alms. He was followed by his consort Lord Vishnu as Mohini. The rishis by seeing them invoke “serpents” in front of them. The Lord as the mendicant lifts the serpents and wear them as ornaments on his lock, neck and waist. By this, the rishis invoke a tiger, which the Lord skin and dons as a shawl around the waist. By seeing this all the rishis invoke a powerful demon. The lord steps on the demon’s back, immobilized him and performs the Ananda Thaandava and discloses his true form. After seeing this all, the rishi surrender themselves and started believing the truth of the god.
It is believed that the present temple was built in the 10th century when Chidambaram was the capital of the Chola dynasty. The ancient temple has undergone several renovations during the rule of various dynasties like the Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyas and Cheras. The enormous temple structure spread across around 50 acers with nine gateways and four of these are adorned by ‘gopurams’ – entrance towers that are decorated with highly exquisite and intricate carvings. There are five elaborate halls in the temple of which the Raja Sabha or the 1000-pillared hall is one of the most marvellous features of the temple. You can see the thousands of sculptures adorning its buildings and mainly lots of statues of women in a wide variety of dance postures and many with spiritual writings. Another key attraction of Chidambaram temple is its 17th century CE Nayaka ceiling paintings which decorate the Shivakamasundari shrine of the Nataraja Temple. The temple wall carvings display all the 108 karanas from the Natya Shastra by Bharata Muni, and these postures form a foundation of Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance.
The temple has the five main halls or the Sabhas namely the Kanaka Sabhas, Cit Sabha, Nritta Sabha, Deva Sabha and Raja Sabha. The speciality lies here is that the temple is located at the Center Point of the World’s Magnetic Equator. Kalasas on the Golden Roof represent the 9 types of Sakti or Energies. The 6 pillars at the Artha Mantapa represent the 6 types of Sashtras and the 18 pillars in the adjacant Mantapa represents 18 Puranams. In some manners, Nataraja temple represent the human body like 21600 golden tiles represent number of breathes per day. 72000 nails used in Poonambalam which present number of nerves in human body. Nine entrance represent nine hole of body part.
it is said that during the festival of Thai Poosam, Lord makes known himself by performing cosmic dance.
The Lord is also hence referred to as the Sabhanayakar, meaning the Lord of the Stage. Here in temple, three form of Lord Shiva is being worshiped in gold roofed stage in sanctum sanctorum. These forms are the anthromorphological form as an appearance of Lord Nataraja, called the Sakala thirumeni, the "semi-form" – the semi-anthropomorphological form as the Crystal linga of Chandramouleswarar, the Sakala nishkala thirumeni and the "formless" – as the Space in Chidambara Rahasyam, an empty space within the sanctum sanctorum, the Nishkala thirumeni.
The golden hall of dance was built and covered with gold plates by Jatavarman Sundra Pandya. Along with the main shrine you can visit nearby place like Thillai Kaali Amman Temple, Vaitheeswaran Koil, Pichavaram, Sattanathar Temple, Bhuvanagiri, Parangipettai, Annamalai University, Kollidam (river) and Poompuhar in Chidambaram.
Brahmotsavam, Ani Thirumanjanam, Thai Poosam and Arudra Dharshan are some of the key Chidambaram temple festivals that attract millions of devotee from the globe. Natyanjali Dance Festival is a major festival held in the month of February where many dancers perform during this festival.
How to reach Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram, Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, India
As Chidambaram is major pilgrimage centre of South India and home to Nataraja temple, it is very connected with all major cities of Tamil Nadu and India via Road, Air and Rail network. Chidambaram is just 65 km from Pondicherry, 170 km from Trichy, 216 from Chennai, 110 km from Thanjavur, 90 km from Villupuram, 300 km from Tirupati, 301 km from Madurai, and 385 km Bangalore. Chidambaram has railway station which is connected with all major cities of South India. Nearest airport from Chidambaram are in Pondicherry and Tiruchirappalli.
