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Thillai Nataraja Temple

Chidambaram is widely known as Temple town and the famous Thillai Nataraja temple is located in the heart of this town. This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva which is one of the five holiest Shiva temples in India, located at a distance of around 78km from Pondicherry and 235km from Chennai. Chidambaram temple stands as one of the perfect examples for Sangam literature through the stories associated and its architecture. The meaning of the name Chidambaram is “sky of consciousness” in turn means attaining the extreme bliss. This temple is a place where Lord Shiva is said to have attained  bliss leading to Ananda Thandavam.

Thillai Temple
Source: Arunachalsamudra.org

Thillai Nataraja Temple Architecture

The Thillai Nataraja temple is rich in displaying its South Indian culture through the sculptures and architectural design. The temple is spread over a wide area of around 50 acres and is conveniently located in the centre of the city. This temple has both Lord Shiva and Lord Govindaraja Perumal enshrined in the same temple. Viduvelvidugu Premataccan is the chief architect during the renovation of the temple. It has been renovated so many times in history and the noticeable times were during the rule of Pallavas and Cholas.

Architecture of Thillai Temple


The temple has a total of nine gateways constructed by different architects with beautiful and attractive sculptures on them. The south gateway is built by the architects from the Pandya rule that can be identified form the fish symbol and the eastern tower is adorned with 108 poses of Indian Classical dance form called Bharathnatyam where each tower has around fifty sculptures. This temple is one of the few places where Lord Shiva is represented in the form of an idol rather than the usual representation as Lingam and the main feature of this temple is the bejeweled image of Nataraja. The posture of Lord Nataraja in the temple is called Ananda Thandavam that looks like Lord Nataraja dancing on a demon.

Lush green mangrove forests never cover the entire temple and thus never stop keeping Chidambaram green. This forest adds a special beauty to the temple view and appears extremely stunning for the visitors during the festival times including the sunset time every day.

Daily Rituals in Thillai Nataraja temple

The Chidambara Rahasyam mainly means understanding that Lord Shiva is the supreme power and everyone makes a total surrender to him. The dance form also basically means that he is the creator, protector and destroyer of the entire universe. There are a set of rituals followed everyday in the temple as routine and these are conducted by the priests of this temple on a regular basis with the use of some pooja items. The chief priest performs required rituals to purify him and the first thing is to bring the footwear of Lord Shiva from Lord Shiva’s bedroom to the sanctum sanctorum at 7am with effective music and drums.

The priest performs the yajna and the ritual for taking blessings from cow and her calf. Whenever a ritual is to be conducted by the priest, the Spadika Linga for Lord Shiva is anointed with milk, rice, sandal paste, ghee and holy ash. Next, Lord Shiva is offered with freshly prepared variety of food items, variety of lamps, recital of Veda in Sanskrit and the panchapuranam. The final and important ritual is when the priest puts the curtains of the sanctum sanctorum to show the Chidambara Rahasyam.

When performing the second ritual, both the crystal Lingam and the Nataraja made of ruby are anointed before the pooja. Proceeding with the second pooja, third, fourth, fifth and the last pooja are conducted at 12pm, 6pm, 8pm and 10pm respectively. Once all the poojas are completed, the footwear of Lord Shiva is taken back to the bedroom where he is considered to retire for the night and is offered food again. The Arthajaama pooja is performed with special intensity and is believed that the complete divine power of the universe retires into this deity when he goes to retire for the night. All these rituals are performed everyday with great respect and honor.

Culture and Beliefs of the Temple

The main story lies in the temple where Lord Shiva enters the mangrove forests as a person who seeks Biksha and Lord Vishnu takes the form of Mohini to visit Lord Shiva in the mangrove forest. Lord Shiva appeared very elegant and his divinity was gleaming that made all the women folk to get attracted by the looks, smartness and intelligence of Lord Shiva. Furious and extremely angry on this, all the sages and perform rituals to the almighty and create a demon called Muyalakan. No one could defeat Lord Shiva and finally after all wasted trials; the sages give up and accept their defeat to the supreme power. To end the story, Lord Shiva Dances on the demon and this dancing posture is called Ananda Thandavam.

Idol in Thillai Nataraja Temple in Chidamabaram


The Ananda Thandavam posture is one of the significant forms of Lord Shiva as this is considered to be the supreme deity for the Indian Classical dance form called Bharathnatyam. The temple hosts Lord Shiva in three different forms like the sakala thirumeni who is the dancing Lord Nataraja, the sakala nishkala Linga form and the nishkala form called the Chidambara Rahasyam.

Festivals Conducted in the Temple

Chidambaram shines with many festivals dedicated to various gods all through the year significantly the Thillai Nataraja temple and its celebrations. The famous festivals conducted in Chidambaram temple are listed below.

December - January – Thiruvadharai   

February – March – Chathurdasi

April – May – Chithirai Thiruvonam

June – July – Uthiram / Thirumanjanam

August – September -  Chathurdasi

October – November – Puratasi

February – Natyanjali

Natyanjali is a festival where many artists reach this place from all over India and perform their dance before Lord Nataraja. Lord Nataraja in the Ananda Thandavam pose is considered to be the supreme deity for the Indian dance form Bharathnatyam. This is considered as an auspicious performance for all the Bharathnatyam dancers and this admired every performer during the festival. At the time of all other festivals, the temple is decorated according to the respective temple belief and every ritual is done in a very traditional manner without spoiling the expectation of the visitors.

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