Lord Chidambara - The One Who Resides At The Center Of The Earth!

Lord Shiva is said to represent all the five elements of Nature - Akash (Space / Ether), Agni (Fire), Vayu (Wind), Jal (Water) and Prithvi (Earth). There are five temples referred to as Pancha Bhootha Sthala that individually house an idol of Lord Shiva representing each of the Pancha-Bhootham. The temples are:

Ekambareshwarar temple in Kanchipuram housing the Bhumi Lingam representing earth;

Jambhukeshwarar temple in Thiruvanaikaval (near Trichy) housing Varuna Lingam representing water;

Arunachaleshwarar temple in Thiruvannamalai housing Agni Lingam representing fire;

Sri Kalahasti temple in Andhra Pradesh housing Vayu Lingam representing air and

Chidambaram temple in Tamil Nadu housing Akasha Lingam representing Space.

This article is dedicated to the Chidambaram temple, one of the oldest temples in India, dating back to the period of Cholas who bear the distinction of having constructed this temple to honour their family deity Lord Nataraja. 

Several legends are associated with the origin of this temple. It is said that a group of devout Rishis lived in a forest with their wives. They were severely ritualistic and rigid in their beliefs. Lord Shiva came before them in the form of a common-man, along with Devi Mohini (feminine avatar of Lord Vishnu) as His consort. Seeing them both, the sages and their wives got enamoured with the couple and forgot their piety and rituals. Lord Shiva is said to have danced in happiness in the forest, the dance being named Ananda - Tandava. It is said that Yogi Pathanjali and another sage named Vyagrapadha witnessed this dance personally. It is believed that the temple of Chidambaram has been constructed in this place.

Lord Shiva is the reigning deity of this temple, enthralling devotees in His Ananda-Tandava form. (Ananda meaning happiness, and Tandava meaning dance).  His aspect has a lot of significance. The demon lying below His feet signifies ignorance, thereby stating that the Divine will always conquer over ignorance. In one of His hands, He holds fire signifying His power to destroy evil.  One hand is raised, showing that He is saviour of all life-forms. He is surrounded by an arc of fire called as Thiruvashi. This arc represents the cosmos and the continuous movement of the earth. He carries a drum in His hand which represents the origin of all life-forms. His right eye, left eye and the third eye represent the sun, moon and knowledge respectively. His right ear-ring called as Makara Kundalam and left ear-ring called as Sthri Kundalam signify the union of man and woman. He wears a crescent moon in His hair, signifying both His beauty as well as benevolent nature. The holy river of Ganga flowing through His matted hair signifies the eternal nature of life. His tangled hair and drapes show the powerful force of His dance!

While these are the most significant aspects of the idol of Lord Nataraja, Chidambaram temple itself is a work of preciseness of thought and a culmination of knowledge earned and passed on to generations through ancestors who knocked at the doors of the Universe through their meditative queries and received an abundance of knowledge. The below points show the marvel and the thought process behind the construction of the temple:

It is widely believed even by prominent scientists that the large toe of Lord Nataraja in the Chidambaram temple is the center point of the earth's magnetic equator. 

The three temples representing space, wind and land - Chidambaram temple, Sri Kalahasti and Ekambareshwarar temple respectively - have been constructed such that they are visible in a single straight line in the map. 

The nine entrances to the temple have been constructed to signify the nine openings in a human body.

There is a golden roof in the temple made of 21600 gold sheets, believed to signify the average number of breaths taken by a human being per day. These sheets are affixed to the roof with 72000 gold nails which represent the number of naadis (channels) in a human body.

Among the various halls inside the temple, there is one called Ponnambalam (Golden hall) which is slightly tilted to the left, denoting the position of the human heart. It is believed that Lord Shiva defeated Devi Parvathy at this sabha (hall) in a dance competition by raising his leg perpendicularly, a feat that the Devi refused to do. To reach the Ponnambalam, there are five steps called Panchakshara Padi, each representing the Panchakshara Mahamantras of 'Si, Va, Ya, Na, Ma'. 

Ponnambalam also called as Kanagasabha has four pillars representing the four vedas.

The 28 pillars in Ponnambalam signify the 28 Shaiva Agamas (literature and scriptures dedicated to Lord Shiva) The roof beams which these pillars support, represent the 64 known types of art. The cross beams represent the blood vessels running across the human body.

Kalashas on top of the golden roof of the temple represent the nine forms of Shakti. 

One of the structures in the temple called Artha Mandapa has 6 pillars, each representing the 6 shastras (Sankhyashastra - Mathematics, Yogashastra, Nyayashastra - law, Vaisheshika Shastra, Purvamimansa and Uttarmimansa). 

Another structure has 18 pillars representing the 18 puranaas.

Western scientists believe that Lord Nataraja's dance represents the Cosmic Dance. 

CERN, one of the largest scientific research centers in the world, has a statue of Lord Nataraja in its premises in Switzerland. There is a plaque beside the statue with a quote by a prominent physicist Fritjof Capra, which reads: 'Hundreds of years ago, Indian artists created visual images of dancing Shivas in a beautiful series of bronzes. In our time, physicists have used the most advanced technology to portray the patterns of the cosmic dance. The metaphor of the cosmic dance thus unifies ancient mythology, religious art and modern physics.'

The Chidambaram temple is unusual in its representation of the deity in the form of Lord Nataraja and not a lingam. An empty space is curtained off in the sanctum sanctorum, named as the Chitha-sabha (meaning gathering of consciousness). It is considered as a representation of 'enlightenment inside, illusion outside'. This formless representation of Lord Shiva in the empty space is referred to as the Chidambara Rahasyam. This temple is also one of those rare Shiva-temples having a shrine dedicated to Lord Vishnu. There are also shrines dedicated to Devi, Lord Ganesha and Lord Subramaniam. 

Also, here, Lord Shiva is present in three forms:

As Lord Nataraja, the Divine with form;

As Chandramouleshwara, the Divine in the form of a sphatika-lingam and

As space in the Chidambara Rahasyam, the Divine without a form!

The thought behind the construction of the various structures of the temple only shows the brilliant and unsurpassable wisdom of our ancestors who were undoubtedly the wisest people ever to grace the earth. The grandeur and majesty of temples like Chidambaram is the rich and timeless legacy that our ancestors have left behind. 

Krupa Samudram, Sumukham, Trinetram

Jadadaharam, Parvathy Vaama bhaagam,

Sadaa Shivam, Rudram Anantha roopam,

Chidambaresham hrudhi bhaavayaami!

I humbly pray to Lord Chidambara, the ocean of mercy, the one with a pleasant countenance, with three-eyes and matted hair, who has Devi Parvathy to His left side and who is ever at peace as well as limitless as Rudra!