Among the five great Shaiva temples of Tamil Nadu — each representing one of the five elements (Pancha Bhuta) — Chidambaram holds the element of Akasha, meaning space or sky. Shiva here is not worshipped in the form of a stone lingam but as the formless expanse of consciousness itself. This is called the Chidambara Rahasya — the secret of Chidambaram.
The principal murti, however, is Nataraja — Shiva performing the Ananda Tandava, the dance of bliss. The Skanda Purana speaks of this form: arms extended, one foot raised, surrounded by a ring of fire. Every pose and every object in the Nataraja image carries meaning — the drum (creation), the flame (dissolution), the raised foot (liberation).
Chidambaram is so famous in Tamil Nadu that it is simply called 'Koil' — the Temple — no other name needed.
The temple complex covers about forty acres and has four towering gopurams (gateway towers) — each encrusted with sculptural figures from top to bottom. This Dravidian style architecture, with its painted and gilded surfaces, is among the grandest examples of temple-building in India.
Chidambaram has been a center of Tamil Shaiva bhakti (devotion) for over a thousand years. The Nayanmars — Tamil Shaiva poet-saints — composed some of their most celebrated verses about this place. The temple's management by a community of hereditary priests, the Dikshitars, continues an ancient tradition.
- Open year-round; the Nataraja form is the principal darshan.
- The four gopurams are visible from far and mark the four cardinal directions.
- The Akasha lingam tradition — formless space as the deity — is a profound meditation.
- Arudra Darshan in the Tamil month of Margazhi is the temple's largest festival.