CHIDAMBARAM TEMPLE, THEVARAM HYMNS AND MORE

EVOLUTION OF THE CHIDAMBARAM TEMPLE COMPLEX

The temple at Chidambaram proclaims to the whole world the mythological event of the Cosmic Dance. There are five SabhAs, Halls of God’s Assembly, in the temple. The innermost, is the Chit-sabhA, the Hall of Knowledge. This is where the famous Nataraja icon is installed, and has been consecrated ever since known historical times and worshipped for ages. This Lord is the Lord of all assemblies and so He is known as SabhA-pati. He is the Chit, the very Consciousness of all living beings. The temple is said to be located at the lotus heart of the whole universe. The Chit-SabhA is located in the temple in the position of the heart in the human body, the man lying with his head to the south. Like the heart in the human body, the sanctum sanctorum (which is the Nataraja icon) is situated not right in the middle but slightly shifted to one side. The temple itself is longer from north to south unlike the generality of temples which measure longer from east to west. The entrance to the Chit-SabhA is from Kanaka- (golden) SabhA (called Pon-ambalam, in Tamil). Both the Kanaka SabhA and the Chit SabhA have gilded roofs, laid by Parantaka chola in the 10th century. These two SabhAs constitute the Holy of Holies. They have three representations of the Almighty, one in anthropomorhic form --the Nataraja icon -, the second in crystal linga form, named Chandramouliswara, and the third in the formless manner, namely, an empty space represented by a strand of vilva leaves hung on the outer wall of the chit-sabha.  Chidambaram represents Akasha (Space) among the five fundamental elements. The three temples, representing Akasha, Vayu and Prithvi - namely, Chidambaram, Kalahasti and Kanchipuram - are lined up in the same East Longitude of 79 degrees 41 minutes !

The third SabhA called the Nritta SabhA (Hall of Dance) in the Chidambarm temple, is further south in the second prAkAra (wide corridor with walls of enclosure). It is a massive stone structure in the form of a chariot drawn by horses. It houses an image of the Lord in the dance-pose called Urdhva-tANDava (with one foot up in the air). The five prakaras are each separated  by walls one within the other. The third prAkAra houses the hundred-pillared hall called the Deva-SabhA as well as the Raja SabhA, the 1000-pillared hall. It was in this hall that the writing, inauguration and first exposition of Periapuranam  (see below) by Sekkizhar took place in the twelfth century.

The temple itself is also a record of history that grew around the concept of the Cosmic Dance. Along with the concept, physical monuments rose and what stands before us is a blend of mythology, concept and history. It is in fact also a symbiotic mixture of religion, science and art. The first temple to have been built must have been the MUla-sthAnam temple around the original Shiva-linga which Patanjali and Vyagrapada worshipped. Who actually made the Nataraja icon nobody knows. Traditional opinion believes it was made by the divine architect, ViSvakarma. Historical and literary evidence leads us to believe that it must have been there well before the 6^th century C.E. The period of the Imperial Cholas (850-1290 C.E.) saw the phenomenal growth of the temple complex. The roof of the sanctum was gilded. Three walls of enclosures, at least one seven-storeyed gopuram in full, 100-pillared, and 1000-pillared halls, all were built. In this period the shrine of Nataraja became the main shrine. During the period 1216-1380 C.E., when the Pandyas patronised the temple, it grew further. The South Gopuram was probably built then. The West Gopuram was built around 1150 CE and the East Gopuram, by a Pallava king in  the 13th century. But due to Malik-Kafur’s invasion of the region, the daily rituals in the temple were disrupted in 1301-1311. The 14^th to 17^th century was the heyday of the Vijaynagar patronage. Krishna deva Raya of the 16th century built the north Gopuram.

The gilding of the Chit-SabhA that we see today is not perhaps what the Pallavas, Cholas and Pandyas had gifted but the contribution of Virupaksha of Vijaynagar in 1383-1388 C.E. augmented at the end of the 17^th century by Sambhaji. The years 1649 to 1686 constitute again a dark patch in the history of the temple. The icon itself was shifted to a secret place hundreds of miles away. Again from 1753 to 1781 there was interruption in the worship, services and festivals, due to the military occupation by the French and Maratha contingent during the Carnatic and Mysore Wars. The icons were moved to the SabhApati Mantapam in distant Tiruvarur. In the 19^th and 20^th centuries renovations and MahA-kumbhAbhishekams either in full or in part are known to have been performed in the years 1803, 1858, 1891, 1922, 1951, 1955, 1972, 1979 and 1987. Dating from the Nayak period the ceilings of the Amman temple (sanctuary of Goddess Sivakamasundari within the Nataraja temple) are almost entirely covered with paintings, the central theme of which is the BhikshATana-mUrti, whose advent was the starting point of the Ananda-tANDava dance in mythological yore.

MIRACULOUS RECOVERY OF THE THEVARAM HYMNS

The great temple builder King Raja-Raja I (985 – 1014 C.E.) had also a desire to unearth those Tevaaram hymns believed to be lost or hidden somewhere, except the few that professional singers in some temples remembered. Once he heard about Nambi-Andar-Nambi, a little boy of Tirunaraiyur (near Chidambaram), whose devotion was considered so great, it was said that the VinAyaka of the place yielded to his request to eat a dish of rice offered by him. The King located this boy and asked him about the whereabouts of the lost hymns of the Shaiva Samayacharyas (Religious Masters). Back came the reply that the hymns lay in a locked room in the western prAkAra of the Chidambaram temple under the seals of the hymnists themselves. The King used his authority as well as some imagination to recover the hymns at the place indicated but the whole thing was a heap of palmyra leaves under a mound of ants! At that time there was heard an aereal voice declaring that whatever was recoverable should be enough for this age. What was recovered was probably

384 out of a supposed 10000 hymns of Sambandar,

 312 out of 49000 of Appar, and

100 out of 37000 hymns of Sundarar.

This is how the now well-known Tevaaram hymns were discovered. Raja-Raja I had thus made the greatest contribution to the growth of Tamil literature. From that time onwards these hymns are being sung in all Shiva temples of Tamil origin by professionals trained for this purpose under benefactions made by successive generations of kings and philanthropists. 

The Peria-purANam, also known as TiruttoNDar-purANam is a poetical account in 4253 verses, by Sekkizhar (12^th cen. C.E.), of the lives of 63 Shaivaite saints, who lived in Tamilnadu upto the eighth century C.E. Some of these belong to the B.C.E. era. Sekkizhar inherited a tradition which credited Sundaramurthi Nayanar (shortly, Sundarar),  one of the four grandmasters of the Shaiva devotional tradition, of the 8^th century, as the first one who sang eleven songs in praise of these devotees of Shiva. It was Sundarar who must have realised the importance of each one of them. His work was known as Tiruttondattogai. Nambiandar-nambi of the 10^th century, who became famous even as a little boy ,  elaborated this into 89 quatrains as Tirut-tondar-tiruvandadi. It was this Nambi who discovered the whereabouts of the TevAram hymns, as stated above, and at the instance of King Rajaraja I he made them into seven Tirumurais. Sambandar’s hymns are the first three, those of Appar the second three and Sundarar’s the seventh.

Sekkizhar was the Prime Minister of Kulottunga chola (1070 – 1108), also known as Anapaya chola. Sekkizhar set the entire hagiology within the framework of Sundarar’s life. After Sekkizhar his masterly work was included as the twelfth Tirumurai in the redaction of Shaiva canonical scripture. In fact one motivation for Sekkizhar was to wean his King away from his Jain inclinations which were evident from his spending much time reading and enjoying JIvaka Chintamani, an innovative and provocatively exemplary work of the 9^th century by Tiruttakka-ttevar. 

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