The Ancient Temple City of Chidambaram

The ancient Indian temple city of Chidambaram, located in the vicinity of the city of Chennai, is a sacred place that attracts numerous pilgrims and tourists. It is famous for numerous ancient temples and traditional sacred rituals.

The heart of the city is considered to be the ancient temple of Nataraji, dated to the VI century BC, dedicated to the god Shiva, which is represented here in the image of Nataraji (master of dance). In the main part of the temple there is a statue of the multi-armed Shiva – he froze in an elegant dance pose, propping up the head of the devil with one of his golden legs. The “God of Dance” Shiva is decorated with a tiara of real diamonds. The rest of the statues of the gods are also decorated with numerous precious stones, and the roof of the main sanctuary is covered with real sheet gold.

Chidambaram can be considered a huge temple complex – in addition to Nataraja, many small temples were built here. And in June and December there is a grand dance festival dedicated to Shiva.