("thought-clothed") Temple town in the Tamil Nadu state's South Arcot district, approximately 125 miles south of Madras.
Chidambaram is known for the Chidambaram Temple, which is devoted to the deity Shiva in his incarnation as Nataraja, the Lord of Dance.
This temple is also known for housing the linga composed of space, the most subtle of the five elemental lingas (bhutalingas).
The temple is constructed in the traditional Dravida style, with gopurams (temple towers) rising in each of the cardinal directions and walls surrounding the temple in between.
The current temple was built in the tenth century C.E., when Chidambaram was the Chola dynasty's capital, and is one of southern India's oldest temples.
Nataraja, as Lord of the Dance, represents the link between religion and the arts.
Nataraja is a primordial dancer whose performance includes all aspects of creation, destruction, and all in between.
Human dancers mimic him both physically and metaphorically, by executing the dance postures he defined and by engaging in a creative activity.
Relief carvings depicting the 108 fundamental dance postures (karanas) that are still essential to traditional Indian dance, especially the Bharatanatyam school, which is the main dance style in Tamil Nadu, may be seen on the temple's eastern wall.
The Dikshitars, Nataraja's hereditary servants, are also there.
The Dikshitars were part of Shiva's celestial host (gana), according to legend, and followed him down from heaven when he settled in Chidambaram.
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