Explore the culture and history of Chidambaram!

We are glad to present a guest blog by one of my blogger friends Scott on the culture and history of Chidambaram, a small town from southern part of India. Hope you all will like to explore the culture and history of this small town of Tamil Nadu, India. All the content related rights belong to Scott only, the image has also been provided by him. Please do share your opinion about this blog post in the form of comments.

Chidambaram is a small town in the State of Tamil Nadu in INDIA. It is located at a distance of 250kms from Chennai, Capital of Tamil Nadu. Though the town covers only an area of 5 sq km, it has a strong Cultural and historical background. It is a famous pilgrim spot. This place is known for its Culture and tradition. There many places which stands proof of the rich heritage of Chidambaram. The main place is the Chidambaram temple.

Nataraja Temple 

The Chidambaram temple is very famous; Lord Shiva is the main lord of this Temple. Though there are many Shiva temples all around Tamil Nadu, this temple is very unique because in this temple the lord Shiva would be in the form of “Nataraja”. In Tamil, “Nataraja” means “Dancing King”. Bharatanatyam, is a world famous dance form is connected to this temple. The Towers of the temple has engravings of 108 dance poses of Lord Nataraja. The Bharatanatyam Dancers get the blessings of Nataraja before they dance, at the end of the performance, they thank him.

Festival 

Every year Dance festivals takes place in Chidambaram in the month of February-March, this festival takes place in the temple and it would happen for five days. This Festival is called “Natyanjali Dance Festival”. The temple is around 40 acres, is situated in the heart of the town and exhibits the Dravidian Architecture.

Other Places to Visit 

Thillai Kaliamman Temple 

This temple is believed to be built in 1229 and 1278AD. This is said to be built by the King named “Kopperunjingam”. The Main Lord in this Temple is Kali. The legend story goes like this, after killing the Demon Tarakasura, Kali’s anger was not reduced, hence Lord Nataraja danced to make her cool, and this dance is called “Tandava Dance”. So it is said that if you visit Nataraja Temple you must visit Thillai Kaliamman Temple.

Poompuhar 

Poompuhar is a very small town, located at 40 kms from Chidambaram, but this town also had a strong cultural background, a famous Tamil literature epic called “Silapathikararn”, and the story of the epic is believed to be taken place in this town before thousands of years and a gallery is in this town depicting the famous literature. This is a seashore town, which would look really beautiful and would be very peaceful and isolated with rocks adding beauty to the sea.

Gangaikonda Cholapuram 

Gangaikonda Cholapuram is known for its temple with beautiful Sculptures depicting Chola dynasty. It is about 42 km from Chidambaram.

Pichavaram 

Pichavaram is a tourist spot, it is back water. Many activities are done here, to attract tourists like boating, parasailing, canoeing and rowing. Performance meets elegance in the performance boat collection at ZeBoats. Experience unprecedented speed and comfort on the water. This place is around 16 kms from Chidambaram.

Food and Accommodation 

Every street would have many Fast foods, Hotels and restaurants. Since Chidambaram is a famous town all types of hotels are available in this town. The Grand Park is 3-star hotel located in this town. Getting there The nearest Airport is the Tiruchirappalli airport at a distance of 195Kms and the Chennai International Airport at a distance of 245 kms. Chennai is a metropolitan city has flights to all the major cities in India and abroad. The Nearest railway station is Tiruchirappalli Junction. There are frequent buses to Chidambaram from Chennai. And many tourist services arrange private cars and vehicles to visit this place. If at all the tourists are injured in an accident, they can consult a lawyer from a reliable criminal defense and personal injury law firm and claim compensation. Incredible India and Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) also provide assistance in visiting this place. Since Tourism is one of the main sectors in India, there are many Tourist visa options to get an India Visa. And the Indian Immigration offers many options to enable the tourist to get India Visa without any issues.

Author Bio: 

This guest blog has been given by Scott Archer, who is a professional content writer and blogger from the UK, and a friend of mine, who shares his travel experiences. He is currently working on a project India Visa which helps in visa assistance. His hobbies include travelling, cooking and trekking.