Thillai Nataraja Temple

The Nataraja temple has ancient roots, most likely following the temple construction tradition that dates back to the 5th century in South India. Textual evidence, such as the Sangam tradition, suggests that a temple existed here in ancient times alongside Madurai, though the town is not named Chidambaram in these pre-5th-century literature. Appar and Sambadar's manuscripts from the 6th and early 7th centuries mention Shiva as the "dancing god of Chidambaram." The Chidambaram dance is mentioned in the Suta Samhita, which is imbedded within the Sri Kanda Puranam and is dated between the 7th and 10th centuries. The structure of the remaining Nataraja temple originates from the early Chola dynasty. This dynasty's early capital was Chidambaram, and their family god was Shiva Nataraja. When Rajaraja Chola I moved the capital to Thanjavur, built a new city, and the massive Brihadeeswarar Temple dedicated to Shiva in the early 11th century, which is now a world heritage site, the Chidambaram temple town remained important to the Cholas, despite increasing competition from other temple towns. The "dance of pleasure" of Nataraja Shiva is an old Hindu art concept. It can be found in texts such as Tatva Nidhi, which describes seven types of dance and their spiritual symbolism, Kashyapa Silpa, which describes 18 dance forms with iconographic details and design instructions, and Bharata's ancient treatise on performance arts Natya Shastra, which describes 108 dance postures and more. Nataraja reliefs and sculptures have been discovered all across the Indian subcontinent, some dating back to the 6th century and older, such as in the cave temples of Aihole and Badami. The Chidambaram temple was built on this foundation, but it was creatively expanded into forms not seen elsewhere. The earliest historically proven that Shiva temple in Chidambaram can be found in inscriptions dating back to the kingdom of Aditya Chola I in the early 10th century, and even earlier during the reign of Chola ruler Parantaka I in the 10th century. The kula-nayaka (family guardian or deity) for them was the dancing Shiva, and Chidambaram was the capital they erected. The significance of the Agama texts and the Shaiva Bhakti movement was rising inside the Chola leadership and philosophy, according to these inscriptions and manuscripts from this period. Parantaka I (c. 907-955 CE) is described in copper plate inscriptions as the "bee at Shiva's lotus feet" who built the golden house for Shiva with Chit-sabha, Hema-sabha, Hiranya-sabha, and Kanaka-sabha (all mandapam, pillared pilgrim rest places). He is known as "Pon veinda Perumal," which translates to "one who covered the Chit-sabha in Chidambaram with gold." Both Aditya I and his Chola successor Parantaka I was enthusiastic promoters of the culture and the construction of temples. In dozens of locations across South India, they renovated much older brick and wooden temples into more durable temples using cut stone as the building components. After hearing small fragments of the Tevaram at his court, Raja Raja Chola I (985-1013 CE) set out on a mission to recover the songs of the 63 Nayanmars. He sought the assistance of Nambiyandar Nambi, a temple priest. Nambi discovered inscriptions in the form of cadijam leaves partly consumed by white ants in a chamber inside the second precinct of Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram, thanks to divine guidance. The brahmanas (Dikshitars) in the temple are said to have argued with the king, claiming that the works were too divine and that the chambers could only be opened if the "Naalvar" (four saints)—Appar, Sundarar, Tirugnanasambandar, and Manickavasagar—arrived. Rajaraja, on the other hand, built idols of them and organised a procession to bring them to the shrine. However, Rajaraja is supposed to have triumphed. As a result, Rajaraja earned the moniker Tirumurai Kanda Cholan, which translates to "one who saved the Tirumurai." According to another version of the storey, Rajaraja had a dream in which Lord Shiva told him that the songs in Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram, were being destroyed and that he needed to collect the remaining songs from the chambers. The brahmanas (Dikshitars) in the temple, on the other hand, are said to have disagreed with the king, claiming that the works were too divine to be accessed, and that the chambers would only be opened when the 63 Nayanmars arrived. Rajaraja devised a strategy and consecrated idols of each of them, which he then prepared to be carried into the temple in a procession. The 63 idols are claimed to still be present in the Thillai Nataraja Temple. Rajaraja is claimed to have discovered the room infested with white ants when the vault was opened, and that the hymns were preserved as much as possible. According to inscriptions discovered in South India and Southeast Asia, the temple was also the historic receiver of a valuable gemstone from the monarch of Angkor who built the Angkor Wat, which was presented to the temple in 1114 CE by Chola king Kulothunga. The Chidambaram Nataraja temple was expanded sixfold by Kulothunga I and his son. During the Chola dynasty's reign, Chidambaram temple developed, as did the later Shiva-based Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram capitals, as well as Vishnu-based Srirangam temple towns. The infrastructure of its facilities was upgraded. The steps leading to the Sivaganga water pool, a goddess shrine, a shrine for child saint Thirugnana Sambanthar, temple gardens, and a pilgrim road network in and around Chidambaram were built by Naralokaviran, king Kulothunga Chola I's general. He built a hall for Tevaram hymn recitation and carved the hymns on copper plates. Built-in the late 12th century, the thousand-pillar choultry features friezes depicting Hindu literature. Starting with the western gopura, the Chola rulers constructed colourful and lofty gopura stone gateways as immediately identifiable landmarks between the second part of the 12th century and the early 13th century. The Chola dynasty was destroyed by the Pandya dynasty in the mid-13th century. The Hindu Pandyas, like the Cholas, were liberal benefactors of the Chidambaram temple and other Shiva and Vishnu temples. Sundara Pandya began the giant entrance tradition with the addition of the massive eastern gopura at Chidambaram. Most of these buildings and plans currently found in the Chidambaram complex are attributable to the late Chola and early Pandya kings for the maintenance of the Temple, including the mandapas with their pillar carvings, the various Shrines with polished granite sculptures, the sacred water pools and gopurama early in the 12th and 13th centuries. Invasions Source:wikipedia Shrine in ruins, during the beginning of the 19th century. Source:wikipedia In 1869, a Mandapam was constructed. Before its demolition in the late 1800s, one of the temple's pillared halls. The Delhi Sultanate dominated the Indian subcontinent in the north. By the late 13th century, Muslim troops had begun plundering central India. Malik Kafur, the Muslim general of the Ala ud Din Khilji, and his Delhi Sultanate soldiers marched deeper into the Indian peninsula in search of loot and to establish annual tribute-paying Muslim governors in 1311. Malik Kafur attacked Chidambaram, Srirangam, and other Tamil towns, destroying temples, and the Chidambaram Shiva temple was one of the sources of gold and gems loot he took back to Delhi, according to court historians of the Delhi Sultanate. In the 1320s, the temple towns of Tamil Nadu were once again targeted for robbery. When word of a fresh invasion reached Tamil territories, the community relocated them to the Western Ghats or buried various sculptures and valuables in the land, as well as hidden chambers beneath temples, before the Muslim army arrived. A substantial number of them, including those in Chidambaram, were rediscovered in archaeological investigations at the site in and after 1979. According to Nagaswamy, individuals who buried the temple sculptures did so in accordance with Hindu Agama writings such as the Marici Samhita and Vimanarcanakalpa, which encourage ritually burying costly metal murtis as a form of protection when war and thievery are near. Over 200 similar objects, including swarms of copper plate inscriptions, have been discovered. According to George Michell, a scholar and art historian of Indian architecture, the Islamic conquest in the 14th century put an end to the patronage of Chidambaram and other temple cities. The Delhi Sultan appointed a Muslim administrator, who declared independence from the Delhi Sultanate and established the Madurai Sultanate within a few years. Instead of assisting the temple towns, this Sultanate sought tribute from them. The Muslim Madurai Sultanate lasted only a few years before being demolished by the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire in the late 14th century. Throughout the 16th century, the Vijayanagara emperors rebuilt, rebuilt, and extended the temple, as well as many other regional temples. These monarchs made pilgrimages to Chidambaram and donated monies to fortify its walls and infrastructure. Source:wikipedia James Fergusson published an 1847 sketch of a gopuram with ruined pillars. The collapse of the Vijayanagara Empire by a Sultanate alliance in the late 16th century, followed by the arrival of Portuguese, French, and British colonial interests within a few decades, created geopolitical uncertainty in Chidambaram and other temple cities. By the early 17th century, the Portuguese had established themselves as a dominant trading force along the Coromandel Coast, a region to which Chidambaram belonged. Following the downfall of Vijayanagara, the Portuguese began constructing forts, garrisons, and churches on the Coromandel Coast region, prompting the intervention of the French and British. The temple complex was under the patronage of Nayakas by the mid-17th century, who reconstructed the temple and repainted the sculptures on the mandapa ceilings. These renovations, according to Michell, took place in 1643 CE, during the reign of Shrirangadeva Raya III. According to British accounts, Chidambaram temple town was subjected to the "brunt of multiple terrible onslaughts" from French and British colonial armies multiple times, particularly in the 18th century.