The town used to be called Thillai, following Thillaivanam, derived from the mangrove of Tillai trees ( Exocoeria agallocha) that grow here and the nearby Pichavaram wetlands. 5 Temple administration and daily ritualsĬhidambaram is one of the many temple towns in the state which is named after the groves, clusters or forests dominated by a particular variety of a tree or shrub and the same variety of tree or shrub sheltering the presiding deity.It is also a site for performance arts, including the annual Natyanjali dance festival on Maha Shivaratri. The temple is one of the five elemental lingas in the Shaivism pilgrimage tradition, and considered the subtlest of all Shiva temples ( Kovil) in Hinduism. Shiva himself is presented as the Nataraja performing the Ananda Tandava ("Dance of Delight") in the golden hall of the shrine Pon Ambalam. The Chidambaram temple complex, for example, has the earliest known Amman or Devi temple in South India, a pre-13th-century Surya shrine with chariot, shrines for Ganesha, Murugan and Vishnu, one of the earliest known Shiva Ganga sacred pool, large mandapas for the convenience of pilgrims ( choultry, ambalam or sabha) and other monuments. While Shiva as Nataraja is the primary deity of the temple, it reverentially presents major themes from Shaktism, Vaishnavism, and other traditions of Hinduism.
Most of the temple's surviving plan, architecture and structure is from the late 12th and early 13th centuries, with later additions in similar style. After its 10th-century consecration by the Cholas who considered Nataraja as their family deity, the temple has been damaged, repaired, renovated and expanded through the 2nd millennium. The present temple was built in the 10th century when Chidambaram was the capital of the Chola dynasty, making it one of the oldest surviving active temple complexes in South India.
The main gopuram of Chidambaram Natarajar temple
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