The story about the Chidambaram temple is found in the Chidambara-mahatmya text from the 12th century. The central episode states that in the mythical Pine Forest, Shiva visits sages in the form of a beggar accompanied by Mohini, in the avatar of a beautiful woman none other than Vishnu. Mohini triggers the sages 'lustful interest, while Shiva performs Tandava dance which triggers the carnal interest of those sages' wives. In the end the sages understand how superficial their austerities were. The episode is getting widely known. Two sages called Patanjali and Vyaghrapada want to see this "dance of happiness" repeatedly performed in the Thaillai forest, Chidambaram.They set up a Shivalinga, they pray, they meditate and they wait. Their asceticism impresses Shiva, who appeared before them in Chidambaram and performed "the dance" in the blessed hall of consciousness against "the wall." According to the Mahatmya found in the Tamil Sthalapurana this is how this temple started. According to Kulke, a process of Sanskritisation may represent the late medieval text Chidambaramahatmya, where these North Indian named sages with Vedic ties were incorporated into the regional temple mythology.
History of Nataraja Temple
The temple of Nataraja has ancient origins, from the 5th century at least. Textual evidence, such as that of the Sangam tradition, indicates a temple that existed here in ancient times along with Madurai. The earliest mention of the "Chidambaram dancing god" as Shiva is found by Appar and Sambadar in texts from the 6th and early 7th centuries. The Suta Samhita embedded in Sri Kanda Puranam and describes the Chidambaram dance in different forms dating between the 7th and 10th centuries. The remaining temple of Nataraja retains a foundation traceable to the early dynasty of Chola.Chidambaram was the early capital of this dynasty and their family deity was Shiva Nataraja. The Chidambaram temple town remained important to the Cholas when Rajaraja Chola I moved the capital to Thanjavur, constructed a new town and the huge Brihadeeswarar Temple dedicated to Shiva in the early 11th century, albeit with the competition from other temple towns.
Nataraja Shiva can be found in various texts, such as Tatva Nidhi, which describes seven styles of dance and their divine significance, Kashyapa Silpa, which describes 18 dance forms with iconographic descriptions and design directions, and Bharata 's ancient treatise on performing arts, Natya Shastra, which describes among other things 108 dance postures.The earliest historically verifiable Shiva temple at Chidambaram is traceable in inscriptions dating back to the rule of Aditya Chola I in the early 10th century, and much more during the rule of Chola King Parantaka I of the 10th century. For them, the dancing Shiva was the family guide or deity and Chidambaram was the capital they founded.
Parantaka I (907-955 CE) copper plate inscriptions identify him as the "bee at Shiva's lotus feet" that created Shiva 's golden house with Chit-sabha, Hema-sabha, Hiranya-sabha and Kanaka-sabha. He is referred to as "Pon veinda Perumal" which means the Chit-sabha of Chidambaram "one who covered with gold." Both Aditya I and his successor Parantaka I to Chola were committed supporters of the arts and the building of temples. As the building blocks in dozens of places across South India, they converted many older brick and wooden temples into more lasting temples from cut stone.After hearing short extracts of the Tevaram in his court, Raja Raja Chola I (985-1013 CE) embarked on a quest to recover the hymns of the 63 Nayanmars. He sought support from Nambiyandar Nambi who was a priest in a temple. It is believed that Nambi found the presence of scripts through divine intervention, in the form of cadijam leaves half eaten by white ants in a chamber inside the second precinct of Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram.The brahmanas in the temple are supposed to disagree with the king by saying the works were too divine, and that they would allow the chambers to be opened only by the arrival of the "Naalvar"(the four saints) Appar, Sundarar, Tirugnanasambandar and Manickavasagar. Nevertheless, Rajaraja produced idols of them, and prepared to carry them through a procession to the temple. But Rajaraja is said to have prevailed. Thus Rajaraja was known as Tirumurai Kanda Cholan which means one who rescued the Tirumurai.
According to inscriptions found in South India and Southeast Asia, the temple was also historic recipient of a precious jewel from the King of Angkor who founded the Angkor Wat through Chola king Kulothunga, who submitted it to the temple in 1114 CE. Kulothunga I and his son extended six times the expanse of the Chidambaram Nataraja temple.
In 1311, Muslim general Malik Kafur of Ala ud Din Khilji and his forces for the Delhi Sultanate went deeper into the Indian peninsula for plunder and setting up annual tribute paying Muslim governors. The records left by the Delhi Sultanate court historians state that Malik Kafur raided Chidambaram, Srirangam and other Tamil towms, destroyed the temples, and the Chidambaram Shiva temple was one of the sources of gold and jewel booty that he brought back to Delhi.
The bejeweled image of Lord Nataraja as the principal deity is a unique feature of this temple. This portrays Lord Shiva as the lord of Koothu-Bharata Natyam and is one of the few temples in which Lord Shiva is depicted by an anthropomorphic murthi instead of the traditional, aniconic Lingam.