Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram – Poojas & Daily
Rituals
Six worship services are offered in this temple each day
at the shrine of Nataraja. The day begins with the chief priest of the day,
performing required rituals to purify himself and assume the Shivoham
bhava (Shiva-hood), after which he enters the temple to do the daily
rituals. The day begins with Lord Shiva's footwear (padukas) brought at 7:00am
from the Palliyarai (bedroom) to the sanctum sanctorum in a palanquin
accompanied by devotees with cymbals, chimes and drums. The priest then
performs the daily rituals with a yajna and a Gopuja (worship of a
cow and her calf). Worship (Puja) is done 6 times in a day.
Before each puja, the Spadika Linga (crystal Linga) or
the semi form state of Lord Shiva is anointed with ghee, milk, curds, rice,
sandal paste and holy ash. This is followed by presenting the neivedhyam or
offering of freshly prepared food and sweets to the deity and the Deeparadhana,
a ritual of showing varied and decoratively set lamps, the reciting of Vedas in
Sanskrit and the Pancha Puranam (a set of 5 poems from a set of 12 works
in Tamil – called the Panniru Thirumurai). The puja ends with
the priest parting the curtains of the sanctum sanctorum to reveal
the Chidambara Rahasya (sanctum).
Before the 2nd puja, apart from the regular anointing of
the crystal Linga, a ruby Nataraja deity (the Rathna Sabapathy) is also
anointed. The 3rd puja is at around 12.00 noon, after which the temple closes
until around 4:30pm. The 4th puja is performed at 6.00 PM, the 5th at 8:00pm
and the last puja of the day is performed at 10:00 pm, after which Lord Shiva’s
footwear is taken in a procession for him to retire for the night. Before the
5th puja at night, the priest performs special rituals at the Chidambara
Rahasya, where he anointed the yantra with aromatic substances and offers neivedhyam.
The last puja, called the Arthajama puja is
performed with special fervor. It is believed that the entire divine force of
the universe retires into the deity, when he retires for the night. The Shiva
Agama system of temple rituals followed in almost all of the Saivite temples in
Tamilnadu, is not followed at Chidambaram. It is a unique worship protocol said
to have been prescribed by Patanjali that is followed at this temple.