THE EMERGENCE OF INDIA's TEMPLE CITIES.....

The emergence of India’s temple cities The history of the temple city of Chidambaram illustrates this transformation of a local to a regional sacred place whose fame spread throughout India. Chidambaram is identified with the cult of Shiva as the ‘King of Dancers’ (Nataraja). The origin of the cult seems to have been the worship of a stone at a pond which subsequently became the temple tank. The stone was later identified as a Shiva lingam and was worshipped as Mulasthana (‘The Place of Origin’). There was also the cult of a goddess whose shrine was called Perampalam (‘Great Hall’). In addition, there was a Cidampalam (‘Little Hall’), associated with a cult similar to that of Murugan, a god served by priests who dance in a state of trance. The whole sacred complex was called Puliyur (Tiger town’) in Tamil. There is no reference to Chidambaram in the early Sangam literature of the first to fifth centuries AD or in the early epic Sanskrit. The identification of the local dancing god of Chidambaram with Shiva seems to have been established by the sixth century at the latest: Appar and Sambadar refer to the dance of Shiva in the Little Hall at Chidambaram in the early seventh century. The Chidambaram Mahatmya composed in the twelfth century provides insights into the subsequent evolution of the cult and also shows the process of Sanskritisation. The upgrading of the cult of the lingam and the Sanskritisation of the name of the temple town were the first achievements. Both were accomplished by inventing a legend according to which a North Indian Brahmin, Vyagrahapada, a devout Bhakta of Shiva, came to Chidambaram in order to worship the Mulasthana lingam. A Brahmin by that name—meaning ‘Tiger foot’—was mentioned in Late Vedic texts and so, by making this saint the hero of the legend, the Tamil name Puliyur (‘Tiger town’) was placed in a Sanskrit context. In the tenth century the ‘King of Dancers’ was adopted by the Chola kings as their family god, which meant that the reputation of the cult of the dancing Shiva had to be enhanced by inventing a new legend. Vyagrahapada’s worship of the Mulasthana lingam was now regarded as a mere prelude to the worship of the divine dancer who manifested himself at Chidambaram by dancing the cosmic dance, Ananda Tandava. The fact that the cult had originated in the ‘Little Hall’ while the neighbouring hall of the goddess was called the ‘Great Hall’ was felt to be somewhat embarrassing; the legend had to correct this imbalance. The Tamil word Cid-ampalam (‘Little Hall’) was therefore replaced by the Sanskrit word Cid-ambaram (‘Heavenly Abode of the Spirit’)—nearly a homophone, but much more dignified in meaning. Shiva’s cosmic dance performed for both Chola kings and humble Bhaktas now had a new setting in keeping with the greatness of the god. This etymological transformation, so typical of Hinduism’s evolution, then provided striking metaphysical perspectives. Chidambaram was praised to be the heart of the first being (purusha) ever created and at its innermost centre (antahpura) was the Brahman, the impersonal cosmic essence. By alluding to the Vedic myth of the Purusha—whose sacrifice had engendered the universe—and by equating this Purusha with the human body, the priest could now interpret the divine dance of Shiva as taking place in Chidambaram, the centre of the cosmos, as well as in the hearts of the Bhaktas. By this kind of Sanskritisation the autochthonous cult of a local god was placed within the context of the ‘great tradition’. At the same time the heterodox Bhakti movement was reconciled with the philosophical system of the Brahmins, who had taken over the control of the temple.