Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India: Shri Shiva Nataraja temple / Shri Sabhanayaka temple Midhun The Shri Shiva Nataraja temple, also called Shri Sabhanayaka temple, Chidambaram, India. The temple of Shiva Nataraja (Shri Sabhanayaka) of Chidambaramis one of the great temple complexes of South India. Chidambaram is situated some 250 km south of Chennai, about 10 km from the Bay of Bengal. The temple is the heart of the town with the complex measuring 18 hectares in total. The temple is a living religious institution, and it is therefore still developing. The complex has a rectangular shape and is orientated on the cardinal directions. It is structured as five concentric courtyards or Prakaras, four of which are accessible to the public, the fifth being only accessible to the priests as it lies within the walls of the main sanctum. The Prakaras are separated by approximately 10 meter high granite walls. The two outermost walls have four entrance ways in each of the sides. But whereas the gateways and gopurams of other South Indian temples are orientated aligned into a cross, here the gopurams are placed in an asymmetrical pattern. The fifth Prakara, between the outer (fourth) wall and the third wall of enclosure, is in use for gardens. The four gopurams, pyramidal shaped temple gateways, are situated in the fourth Prakara wall. Within this wall we find the main temple as well as the sacred tirtha or water place, and many subsidiary shrines and buildings. Although the earliest historical references to the temple go back to the 6th century CE, there is now nothing within the complex that can be dated to before the 12th century with any certainty, except for the main sanctum, the Cit Sabha (Hall of Consciousness). This wooden structure on a granite base, covered with a gilded roof, is unique. Very unlike the garbhagriha (womb-house), the square sanctum sanctorum of other Hindu temples. It is rectangular and with a roof that is shaped with an unusual slant. Within the wooden walls lies the first Prakara, a U shaped circumambulatory passage constructed of granite. This passage encloses the actual sanctum which houses the Shiva Nataraja Murti, the presiding deity of the temple, as well as several other divinities. A TO Z INDIA ● JUNE 2023 ● PAGE 27