All about Chidambaram
The temple of Lord Nataraja in the Holy city of Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu has a variety of special features and architectural marvels:
In Chidambaram, it was GovindarAja PerumAL sannidhi that was the foremost (’Adi sannidhi’). NatarAja sannidhi came later. This conversion occurred during the rule of a king who was a Siva bhakta.
All the four Raja gopurams of this temple are equal in height
The ‘South Car Street’ houses a Ganapathi Temple. The speciality of this temple is that the Ganesha does not have an elephant face! The Ganesha has a human face! This is a very rare idol of Ganesha, known as ‘Nara Mukha Ganapathy’.
The ‘Bhoomi’ (Earth) is considered as a ‘Purusha’ and some ‘sthanas’ have been described for ‘Bhoomi’. The Chidambara Kshetra denotes the ‘hrudaya pradesa’ (heart) of ‘Bhoomi’ and that is the reason that Lord Nataraja (the Lord of Chidambaram) is ever dancing (the heart is ever pulsating).
The entrance of the main deity of Nataraja has five steps which denote the ‘pancha bhUta’ or the 5 elements.
The Gold cladded Nine kalasas in the Gopuram indicate the nine openings of the human body. (In Srimad Bhagavatam, the human body is referred as ‘navadwaarapuri’ for the same reason.)
In the Nataraja temple Utsav, there is a custom of the Lord taking on the act of a beggar (‘BhikshAndAn’). He comes to the gates as a ‘BhikshAndAn’ on one of the Utsav evenings.
This is the only exclusive Nataraja temple in the the whole of Tamil Nadu
Sri Maha Periyava of Kanchi ordained the construction of a similar temple in Satara near Kohlapur in Maharashtra.
Side note:
There are lots of ‘pramAna’ (proof) in the view that Chidambaram NatarAja has come from Kerala desa. The Dikshitars of Chidambaram keep ‘poorva shika’ (the tuft worn on the forehead). This is a Kerala tradition.
ParasurAma established this Kshetra (Holy place on the west coast) and shifted some Brahmins, from what is now known as Tamizh Nadu, to this region. Here, it rains almost all through the year. It is not very easy to live under such a condition. The difference in climatic conditions was not found suitable for their living. ParasurAma, however, made them wear ‘poorva shika’. Abasthamba rishi says, ‘One should never change his ’shika’ (tuft), ‘pundram’ (religious mark on the forehead) and ’sutram’. This is smriti ‘vAkya’ (the words of the Smriti). Dharma forbids a person belonging to one class of sutra taking up the performance of another sutra.
Amongst these Brahmins who were shifted to the west coast by ParasurAma, some returned to Tamizh Nadu region while some stayed back. These people with ‘poorva shika’ are called ’sozhiyAL’. Some parts of Tamizh Nadu are filled with these Brahmins. Since NatarAja has come from Kerala, the NatarAja Dishitars keep ‘poorva shika’. The words, ‘Ponnambalam’, ‘Chitrambalam’ are words from the region of Kerala. ‘Ambalam’ is a word from this region. The dish ‘KaLi’ is from this region. This dish is prepared for ‘ThiruvAdirai’ festival. Lots of Kerala ’sampradaya’ (tradition) can be found here.
