Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram – Literary Mention
The first historical references can be found in the
Skanda Purana, especially in the Suta Samhita part. Here Shanmukha, the
six-faced son of Shiva and Parvati, is described as worshipping his parents in Chidambaram,
before going to do battle with a demon called Surapadma. This text can be dated
to the second century BCE. The Chit Sabha, Shiva’s dance and Chidambaram are
also prominently mentioned in the Thirumanthiram of Tirumular, an important
religious and philosophical text in ancient Tamil, dating from the beginning of
the Christian era.
The temple and the deity were immortalized
in Tamil poetry in the works of Thevaram by three poet
saints belonging to the 7th century - Thirugnana Sambandhar, Thirunavukkarasar and Sundaramoorthy
Nayanar. Thirugnana Sambandhar has composed 2 songs in praise of the temple,
Thirunavukkarasar aka Appar 8 Tevarams in praise of Nataraja and Sundarar 1
song in praise of Nataraja. Sundarar commences his Thiruthondar Thogai (the
sacred list of Lord Shiva's 63 devotees) paying his respects to the priests of
the Thillai temple - "To the devotees of the priests at Thillai, I am a
devotee".
The works of the first three saints, Thirumurai were
stored in palm leaf manuscripts in the temple and were recovered by the Chola
King Rajaraja Chola under the guidance of Nambiandar Nambi. This
is the 55th Devaram Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalam and 1st Sthalam
on the north side of river Cauvery in Chozha Nadu. The Alwar Poems of the
Nalayira Divya Prabhandham sung about the glory of Vishnu, whose image is also
housed in this temple, and his shrine is referred to as 'Tiruchitrakootam'.
Manikavasagar, the 10th century Saivite poet
has written two works, the first called Tiruvasagam (the sacred
utterances) which largely has been sung in Chidambaram and
the Thiruchitrambalakkovaiyar (aka Thirukovaiyar), which has been
sung entirely in the temple. Manikavasagar is said to have attained spiritual
bliss at Chidambaram. The Chidambaram Mahatmiyam composed during the 12th
century provides the subsequent evolution and sanskritization of cults.
Sekkizhar’s Periya Puranam, describing poetically the
life of the Saivite Saints (63 in number) was composed in the 1000 pillared
hall, and was expounded by the author himself in the presence of the Chola
emperor Kulottunga II, who had commissioned the work, amidst great festivity
and fanfare. In Kanda Puranam, the epic authored
by Kachiyappa Sivachariyar of Kanchipuram, the Chidambaram shrine is
venerated as one of the three foremost Shiva abodes in the world,
alongside Koneswaram temple of Trincomalee and Mount Kailash.
Muthuswamy Deekshithar, one of the foremost composers in the Carnatic Music
tradition sings the glory of this temple in his kriti 'Ananda Natana Prakasam'.
