Chidambaram

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Chidambaram (Tamil: சிதம்பரம் Citamparam [ tʃid̪ʌmbəɾʌm ]; Tillai also ) is a city in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu with around 62,000 inhabitants. Of national importance, it is because of the Nataraja temple, which is considered one of the holiest places of Hinduism. Furthermore, Chidambaram is home to the Annamalai University, which is attended by about 4,000 students.

Geography

Location

Chidambaram is located in the Cuddalore district of the state of Tamil Nadu, about 250 kilometers south of the capital, Chennai ( Madras). Chidambaram is the capital of the eponymous taluks of Cuddalore district. The nearest major town is about 40 kilometers north of Cuddalore, Puducherry (Pondicherry ), is approximately 60 kilometers. Chidambaram is situated in a flat landscape on the northern edge of the Cauvery Delta to the hinterland of the Coromandel Coast. About six kilometers to the south lies the Kollidam, the largest tributary of the Kaveri, five kilometers north flows the river Vellar. The coast of the Bay of Bengal, there are about 16 kilometers. Between Chidambaram and the coast, the mangrove forests of Pichavaram extend.

Topography

The Nataraja temple is the center Chidambaram. He is surrounded by several concentric ring roads, cross roads converge axially toward the temple entrances. The innermost street rings formed by the roads East Car Street, South Car Street, West Car Street and North Car Street. The streets are remarkably wide by 18 meters. They are used at the temple festivals for the big processions. The name Street Car stirred by the great temple chariots (English: car ) here, which are thereby drawn around the temple and parked for the remainder of the East Car Street, opposite the eastern entrance of the temple. With its based on a Nataraja temple Chidambaram town plan embodies the type of classical south Indian temple town, though not in the same regularity as about the ideal example Srirangam.

The residential areas are traditionally separated by Chidambaram box. The higher the position of a caste, the closer their area at the temple: the priests of the Nataraja Temple live in the area immediately between the temple wall and Car Street, over the next concentric areas, the traditional neighborhood of other Brahmin box followed by other social groups in descending order of rank.

History

Original name Chidambaram Tillai, after a tree ( Excoecaria agallocha ) that grows to this day in the vicinity of Städt. The name Chidambaram comes from the Tamil name form Chitrambalam ( " small hall " ) and originally referred to the central sanctuary of the Nataraja Temple. Later ( " sphere of knowledge" ), the name was reinterpreted and applied to the entire city as a Sanskrit word Chidambaram.

The early history of Chidambaram is largely identical to that of the Nataraja Temple. The origins of the city and the temple are unknown, but Chidambaram seems to have already been a religious center early. In the 7th and 8th centuries the poets Appar, Sambandar Sundaramurti and sing devotional hymns in their Tillai as a sacred place. From the 9th century, the Cholas rose to become the dominant power in South India. The Chola kings chosen Nataraja as their family deity and promoted the Nataraja temple of Chidambaram. Some of the late Chola kings seem to have kept a long time in Chidambaram residence in the 12th century. After the decline of the Chola Empire Chidambaram was in the 13th century controlled by changing dynasties: First, from the local ruler Kopperunjinga ( 1243-1279 ), who traced his ancestry to the Pallava dynasty, then by the resident in Madurai Pandya kings. After the beginning of the 14th century coming from North India Muslim troops defeated the Pandyas and the short-lived Sultanate had formed from Madurai, Chidambaram as the whole South India came in the late 14th century under the rule of the Vijayanagar Empire.

In the 18th century, the influence of European colonial powers in India increased. While the Karnataka - wars in which Britain and France were struggling for supremacy in South India, also Chidambaram was repeatedly the scene of fighting: the French and their allies Marathas conquered the city in 1753 and remained so until its conquest by the British in 1760. During the second Mysore war, Hyder Ali took, the ruler of Mysore, in 1780 a Chidambaram. Four years later, the city fell to the British again and was finally affiliated to British India.

Temple

The overriding attraction Chidambaram is the Nataraja Temple. He is the God Shiva in his manifestation as Nataraja ( "King of Dance" ), according to the myth of his cosmic dance full led Hindus considered here the Nataraja Temple, next to the temples in Tiruvannamalai, Madurai and Srirangam as one of the holiest places in Tamil Nadu and all over India. For Shivaites in Tamil Nadu the Nataraja temple is the temple; So when speaking of the temple, that is meant in Chidambaram.

The temple of Chidambaram was first mentioned in the 7th and 8th century in poetry, in its present form dates back to the Nataraja temple but mainly from the late period of the Chola dynasty (11th - 13th century) with a few additions from the Pandya and Vijayanagar period (13th - 16th century). The temple complex covers an area of ​​over 15 hectares. Four 40 -meter-high gopurams ( gateway towers ) are the additions. In the inner temple area, which is divided into five large courtyards, several side shrines are the Sivaganga - water pool, the " hall of a thousand pillars" and the central sanctuary. This Nataraja, unlike in most temples dedicated to him, not represented in the form of lingas, but as a sculpture in a representation as a multi-armed Dancing God.

Traffic

Chidambaram is located on National Highway 45A, which runs from Viluppuram on Pondicherry parallel to the coast of Nagapattinam. Places in the near and middle area are served by intercity buses. Buses leave from the bus station at the southeast edge of town. Chidambaram is connected by the railway line Viluppuram - Mayiladuthurai - Thanjavur - Tiruchirappalli on the railway network. The station is located about two kilometers east of the center.