STORIES

Shivakumar is a professor at Annamalai university and he has a degree in pharmacy as well PhD. He
has been teaching since the past 25 years at the university. Being born in Chidambaram, he has been
visiting the temple every day which for him is a privilege. He belongs to the Pillai community. He
distributes the prasadam which is upma from 5pm to 6pm on all evenings around the year. On Fridays
at 7:30pm, he helps by carrying God Venkatesh on his shoulder in a palki along with 3 other men who
go about taking a round in the temple complex. These rounds happen every Friday along with on full
moon days and the first day of the Tamil month Kartika. Every Tuesday he has been taking a dip in
the water tank since the past 10 years. The tank has been known for curing people off their diseases.

Superior brahmins called dikshitar found only in the town of Chidambaram do the pujas in the temple.
They are called dikshitar because they attain diksha from lord Nataraja himself which gives them the
superior power. They perform puja 6 times between 6am and 10pm. During every puja, the dikshitars
take out the spatika lingam which is a crystal Shivalinga kept in a box near the feet of the lord. This
spatika lingam is taken out 6 times everyday and kept back after every puja. They cook the prasadam
which is pepper rice, sweet Pongal, etc. everyday inside the temple which they serve to the lord and
then later eat themselves.

Dikshitars have a hair bun like projection to the left side of their head. It implies that the left side of
their body is female and the right is male. Dikshitars are an equal mix of men and women making
them excellent at everything they do. Only 2000 dikshitar families remain today out of which only
married men can do the pujas. The main dikshitar who does the aarti changes every month and he is
selected by a chit system wherein chits are drawn from a bowl deciding the dikshitar who would do
the puja for the rest of the month. Apart from that there are 2-3 main pandits who have to be obeyed
by the other dikshitars. A group of dikshitars stay in the temple for security purposes at night.
Dikshitars have strict rules to be maintained and if anyone violates them, he is suspended for a certain
period.

They are married off at a very early age. They marry only within their community. They have 2
marriages. One happens at a very young age. The Tamil Nadu government has recently banned child
marriages because of which a few dikshitars are in prison. After their childhood wedding, the bride
and the groom go back to their respective houses. After reaching the legal marriage age, the man and
the woman indulge in sexual relations after which the man is allowed to perform puja to the lord.

The children of dikshitars attain basic schooling till 5 th grade. After this they go on to learn Sanskrit at
mutts or gurukuls outside Chidambaram in a town called kumbakonam. Smaller prayers are taught at
the temple but full training happens in the mutts. Apart from that small children were seen chanting
prayers in the temple complex. These children come from poor backgrounds and are dedicated to the
lord for offering shlokas. Some of them are orphans and they stay in gurukuls outside the temple
complex. They are given basic Sanskrit education.
Three dynasties rules Chidambaram namely cholas, chehras and pandavas out of which the temple
was built by the cholas. Earlier the town was a dense forest filled with thillai trees within which the
Shivalinga existed. Two rishis namely Patanjali and vyakrapada were responsible for building the
Nataraja temple. Patanjali was the father of yoga who had a five headed snake. His avatar is also
known as aadishesha. Vyakrapada means tiger footed. These two sages realized that there is the
magnetic equator of the earth where they went on to place the human form idol of lord shiva. It is said
that the right foot of Nataraja rests on the center of the universe. They said that if one visits the temple
two days in a row, one feels addicted to visit everyday and missing any one day feels like a void in the
heart.

Like in other temples, no daanpeti/ hundis are seen in the Nataraja temple. This is because it is a
private temple owned and maintained by the dikshitars. The income comes from the money devotees
offer during pujas and archanas. Some devotees also offer gold and diamonds to the lord making it
one of the richest temples. It is assumed that lord Nataraja has tonnes of gold kept in a storage inside.

The temple celebrates two main festivals: Aarudhra from December to January and Aanitirumanchana
from June to July. The festival goes on for 10-12 days. It is an auspicious occasion since the main
deity comes out. This is one of the very few temples where the main idol is brought outside from the
Garba griha. The deity is kept on a chariot and taken on rounds around the four main car streets.
People offer aartis from their houses to the lord during this time. After the chariot rounds, the idol is
kept in the thousand pillar mandapa which is opened only twice a year during these festivals. It is said
that the mandapa has 999 pillars and placing the idol of the lord makes it the 1000 th pillar. The idol is
kept in the mandapa for one day after which it is placed back inside the temple.