 Temple of Nataraja at Chidambaram
1983
 The only temple dedicated to Lord Shiva as cosmic dancer is at Chidambaram in Tamilnadu. Normally in every temple Shiva is depicted in the form of Linga but in Chidambaram Shiva is depicted as Nataraja, the Lord of Dance. Another such place is Thiruvallangadu near
Thiruvallur.
The Panchaloha idol of Shiva in dancing pose adorns the sanctum in Chidambaram. Daily six poojas are conducted. The first one begins at 6 in the morning and the last one at 12 midnight. The rituals and poojas are perhaps, the oldest performed anywhere in India in an unbroken tradition.
 According to local tradition the temple is over three thousand years old. However, many ancient texts and scriptures dating back to the 1st and 2nd century BC mention the existence of the temple. The temple has been praised in song by many Saivite saints right from the 6th century A.D. onwards.
Adi Shankara has visited the temple and presented it with an Emerald Linga. The temple also has in its possession an ancient ‘Crystal
Linga’.
The shrine in front of Nataraja houses the shrine of Vishnu as ‘Govindaraja’ lying on serpent with Lakshmi emerging from his nabhi (belly button). The shrine of Vishnu is a later addition to the temple of Nataraja and represents an early attempt at integrating Saivism and Vaishnavism; to combine the various forms in which God could be represented.
For entering the shrine of Nataraja a man has to remove his shirt and go bare-bodied before the Lord. It somehow makes you humble. Before the Lord, rich and poor, all are equal. They possess nothing and come bare-bodied to pay homage to the Lord in all humility.
After I became the District Collector of South Arcot District I paid my first visit to the temple. I was fascinated by the architecture, the Chit Sabha, the temple tank, the fine stone craftsmanship, the 108 dance karnas (dance poses) on its walls. The concept of Chidambara Rahasyam (The Secret of Chidambaram) which represents the Lord as ‘empty space’, seems to combine ‘abstract worship’ with ‘idol worship’.
For me, the most fascinating has been the story of the origin of the temple. The site of the temple of Nataraja was originally the site of a ‘Kali Temple.’ It appears that Nataraja challenged ‘Goddess Kali’ to dance and defeated her by unfair means.
 It so happened that while dancing he dropped his ear-ring. Then he lifted the ear-ring with his toes and put it back in his ear; while lifting his leg fully up to his head. This was a movement Kali could not execute, being a woman.
She was declared defeated and, in anger, left the place for good. She went to live at the outskirts of Chidambaram. Her temple can be seen two miles from Chidambaram and is known as ‘Thillai Kali temple’ (Thillai being another name for Chidambaram). I visited this temple with ‘Nataraj Dikshitar’ the hereditary priest of the temple.
Feminist interpretation
For me this story has a feminist interpretation. Moving the temple of Kali, the female goddess, out of the main town of Chidambaram and replacing it with the shrine of the male God, Nataraja, is indicative of a social change. This period roughly coincides with the period when ‘maternal societies’ were slowly but steadily being replaced by ‘paternal societies’ all around the world. In these circumstances, the female symbols of power and energy like ‘Kali’ needed to be down- graded in importance. Hence, Nataraja occupied the prime site and Kali was relegated to the periphery of the town.
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