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Chidambaram

Pop: 69,000 Area Code: 04144

The name Chidambaram comes from chid–human thinking, consciousness, and ambaram–the expanse of the skies or heaven, or “expanding consciousness.” It is near the coast, 60km south of Pondicherry on the way to Thanjavur. It is the home of the famous Sabhanayaka Nataraja Temple, which was built by Vira Chola Raja in the 10th century. Nataraja is a deity of dancing Siva. From 907 to 1310 Chidambaram was the capital of the Chola kings.

Orientation and Information
The Chidambaram temple is in the middle of the town surrounded by East Car Street, South Car Street, West Car Street and North Car Street.

The GPO, State Bank of India (does not exchange money) and shops are on these streets.

The Tourist Office (22739) is next to the Hotel Tamil Nadu. You can change money at the Indian Bank, 64 S Car St; State Bank of India, Pava Mudali St; and Central Bank, 62 Bazaar St.
The GPO is on North Car Street. Postal Code 608001.

There are places to rent bikes on South Car St (Rs 2 a hour).

Sabhanayaka Nataraja Siva Temple
This is the original temple dedicated to the Nataraja form of Lord Siva (the Celestial Dancer), where Lord Siva is found in his famous Ananda Tandavam dancing pose, with one leg in the air and having four arms. He defeated goddess Kali in a dance contest. It is a huge temple, which takes up an area of about 40 acres.

It is said that there has been a temple here for thousands of years. A Kashmiri king,

Simhavarman II (550-575 AD), came here in the 6th century in the hope that by bathing in the tank near the ancient Nataraja Temple he would be cured of leprosy. After bathing in the tank, he quickly became cured. He then arranged to have the temple enlarged and the 3,000 priest who had come with him from Kashmir stayed to serve in the temple. The priests are known as Dikshitars and they have a knot of hair in the front of their heads. They marry amongst themselves.

The present 10th century temple was begun during the reign of Vira Chola Raja. The temple was expanded over the next 500 years. The western gopuram, which has 108 dance poses on it, dates from the 12th century. The eastern gopuram, which is covered with elaborate sculptures, dates from the 13th century. Raja Krishnadeva Raya of Vijayanagar reconstructed the temple in 1520.
The outer wall is 550m (1800 ft) long and 450m (1480 ft) east to west. The temple is spectacular with four huge gopurams towering almost 50m (165 ft) high. The north and south gopurams are 49 metres high. The east and west temple gopurams are elaborately carved with the 108 classical dancing postures of Nataraja. Siva is believed to have invented 108 different dances out of which the most famous is the “Tandava.”

Non-Hindus are technically not allowed in the inner sanctum. The Dikshitars act as the guides for the temple. It may be a good idea to hire one because they can enable you to bypass the ban on temple entry.

The temple is in the northern part of the city. It takes at least an hour to see it. The temple is open from 4 am to 12 noon and 4.30 pm to 9 pm. The evening 6 pm puja is the most interesting. On Friday nights, Nataraja is carried on a palanquin in procession, with priests triumphantly carrying tridents and torches.

Third Enclosure
If you enter the western gopurams and turn left, you come to the Siva-ganga tank, which measures 100m (330 ft) by 50m (165 ft).

In front of the northern gopuram is a shrine dedicated to the nine planets. There is a 13th century temple dedicated to Subrahmanya (Kartikeya) in the northwest part of the temple. In this temple are paintings depicting pastimes from the Skanda Purana. South of this temple is the 12th century temple dedicated to Parvati, who is known here as Sivakamasundari. It has 17th century ceiling paintings, some of which depict the curing of Hiranya Varna Chakravarti of leprosy.

There are five halls within the temple. In the northeast corner is the Rajah Sabha (14th to 15th century) which is the hall of 1,000 (actually 999) pillars. It is 102m (340 ft) long and 57m (190 ft) wide. The pillars are finely carved granite monoliths. During festivals, the deities of Lord Siva and Sivakamasundari are brought here for abhishek (sacred bathing).

In the south part of the temple, there is a Nandi shrine, Siva’s bull carrier. In the southwest corner of the temple is a shrine containing one of the largest deities in India of Ganesh (the elephant-headed son of Lord Siva). If you stand with your back to Ganesh inside the entrance mandapa, you can see the carving of two devotees of Nataraja: on the right side is the sage Patanjali, who has a snake body, and on the left is Vyaghrapada, who has a human body with tiger’s feet.

Second Enclosure
On the north side of this enclosure is the Mulathana, which has the svayambhu-linga (self-manifested linga) that was worshiped by Vyaghrapada and Patanjali. On the east side is the Deva Sabha, or “Hall of the Gods,” which is where the Dikshitar Brahmin temple managers have their meetings. Located here are bronze deities, which are used during processions.

The Nritya Sabha (Dance Hall), in the southwest part of the second enclosure, marks the place where Lord Siva out-danced Kali. It is carved like a giant chariot. In this hall are 56 pillars with carving on them, which represent different dance poses. The sculptures in this hall are considered to be some of the best in all of India.

Inner Enclosure
What is unique about this Siva temple is that within its compound there is also a major Divya Desam Vishnu temple dating to the 14th century. This shrine is dedicated to Govindaraja, Lord Vishnu, who is reclining on Ananta Sesa. The deity is worshiped by Sri Vaishnava pujaris (priests).

Chit Sabha (Chit Ambalam), the inner sanctum of Nataraja, is a beautiful room covered with hammered silver, leading into the main altar, with doors and steps of solid silver. The roof of the temple is gold-plated, therefore it is called Ponnambalam (pon–gold, ambalam–temple).
The deity of Lord Siva is made of five metals. In two of his hands are the drum of creation and the flame of destruction. The Lord is worshiped here in two forms— Nataraja, the Lord of Dance, and as the Akasha-linga. To the left of Nataraja is a curtain with a string of golden bilva leaves in front of it. Behind this curtain is the Akasha-linga, know as the Rahasya or “secret”, which is made of the most subtle element, ether (akasha), or space. This linga is one of the five element lingas. It is invisible.

In the Kanaka Sabha a crystal linga is worshiped, which is said to have emanated from the crescent moon on the forehead of Lord Siva.

Two large bells, drums, cymbals and nagaswarams (reed-wind instruments) are played loudly during worship.

Temple Story
The story of the temple is that Kali (Parvati) was once the patron goddess of the Tillai Forest (what is now the city of Chidambaram). Lord Siva came to this forest to dance for two of his devotees, the sage Patanjali, who had a half-snake and half-human body, and Vyaghrapada, who had a human body with tiger’s feet. Vyaghrapada (which means “tiger feet”) was given the claws of a tiger, so he could climb trees to get flowers to worship Lord Siva. They worshiped the svayambhu-linga, a self manifested Siva-linga, which is now in the Mulasthana shrine of the temple.

Kali did not like Siva being there, so she challenged him to a dancing contest and the loser had to leave the forest. Lord Vishnu was the judge. For a while they were tied, but then Siva did a dance where his leg went over his head—the Ananda Tandava. At this point Kali knew she could not compete and she left.

Temple Festivals
There are two main festivals, one in May/June and the other in Dec/Jan. Both are ten-day festivals ending with a cart festival on the ninth day. On the tenth day there is an abhishek (bathing of the deities) in the Raja Sabha thousand-pillared hall.
The best time to come is for the Natyanjali Festival in February or March. During the last five days of the festival, dancers come from all over India to pay homage to the Lord of Dance. These festivals are popular, so you have to arrange accommodation in advance.

Places To Visit
The Khillai Kali temple, in the northern part of town, was built by the Chola king Kopperunjingan. Open 9 am to 1 pm and 3 to 6 pm. The 4 pm puja is an interesting time to visit.

Annamalai University, 2½ km east of the center of town, is an important center of Tamil education and Carnatic music.

Where to Stay
Star Lodge (22743), 101-102 South Car St, is one of the better basic places and is a good-value with small, clean rooms for Rs 90/110. Hot water in a bucket. It has a good restaurant. Some rooms don’t have windows.
Hotel Raja Rajan (22690), 162 W Car St, has clean, small rooms with bath for Rs 75/1000.
Deen Lodge (22602) has rooms for Rs 75/90.
Shameer Lodge (22983), Vemigopal Pillai St, opposite the railway station, has small basic rooms with bath for Rs 70/90.
Ramyas Deluxe (23011), South Car St, is one of the best cheaper places. Rooms are Rs 80/120, a deluxe double is Rs 175, and with A/C for Rs 300.
PM Lodge, 15 S Sanathi, has basic, cheap rooms.
Shameer Lodge (22983), Venugopal Pillai St, has rooms with bath for Rs 50/70.
Kalyanam Lodge (22707), 10 Venugopal Pillai St, has rooms for Rs 60/90 and with A/C for Rs 350.
Ramanathan Mansions (22411), 127 Bazaar St, has good-size rooms that are a good value. It is relatively quiet and is friendly. It is one of the best budget places.
RK Towers (21077), near the bus stand, has nice rooms for Rs 150, deluxe rooms for Rs 200 and with A/C for Rs 350.
Hotel Saradharam (21336; fax 22656), 19 VGP St, opposite the bus stand, has large clean rooms with TV for Rs 450/500 or Rs 750/800 with A/C. They accept major credit cards. It has two good restaurants and a small garden.
TTDC Hotel Tamil Nadu (38056), on Railway Feeder Rd, is one of the nicest places in town. It has rooms for Rs 170/240 and A/C rooms for Rs 450/550. Some of the rooms have seen better days. Dorm beds are Rs 60. A TV is Rs 50 extra. The restaurant serves Indian and Chinese food.
Akshaya (20192; 22265), 17 E Car St, is a modern hotel by the temple, with rooms for Rs 200/330 and Rs 450/550 with A/C. It has a rooftop veg restaurant serving Chinese and Indian food.
The railway Retiring Rooms are a good value with large, clean rooms for Rs 80/110, but the bathrooms are a little run down.

Where to Eat
Star Lodge has a popular restaurant that serves good veg food. A thali is around Rs 20.
There are restaurants at the Hotel Mahalakshmi and Udipi Hotel.  
Akshaya Hotel (22181), 17/18 E Car St, has a rooftop vegetarian restaurant open in the evening, with a view of the temple’s gopurams.
Bhagyalakshmi, South Car Street, has good South Indian thalis (with unlimited rice) for Rs 30.
Hotel Saradharam has two popular restaurants. The Pallavi is a good veg restaurant, which serves both South and North Indian food. The non-veg Anu Pallavi serves Indian and Chinese food.

Travel
Air The nearest airport is in Tiruchirappalli, 167km southwest.

Train Chidambaram is on the main line of the Southern Railway, from Chennai Egmore to Rameswaram. From the temple to the train station (2km) is a twenty-minute walk or a Rs 10 cycle-rickshaw. There are railway retiring rooms and a post office on platform one.
There are trains to Chennai (243km, 5½ hr, 4 daily), Kumbakonam (2 hr, 4 daily), Thanjavur (3 hr), and Tiruchirappalli (4 hr). There are two direct trains daily to Tirupati and one train to Rameswaram (11 hr).

Bus There are buses to Thanjavur (9 hr, 3 daily), Pondicherry (60km), Chennai (5-7 hr, 20 daily), Mamallapuram, Tiruchirappalli (Trichy), Kumbakonam, and Madurai. The bus station is about three blocks east of the temple (about 1km), in the center of town. Bus #157 is the fastest bus to Chennai.

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