CHITHAMBARA MUMMANI KOVAI
Chitambaram (Chith + Ambaram) is a very holy place of ancient fame and modern importance. The place has long been famous and continues to be renowned, because of its great temple to God Siva as Nataraja, the Lord of the Cosmic Dance. It is the House of God, "The Koil" par excellence for all Saivities. It is associated with great bakthas, great men of literature, leaders of men in philosophy and religion and saints of rare piety. "It rose on ancient site, some of the inner portions being of the remotest antiquity, preserved with care and enriched by devotees for several generations."
In the religions, philosophic and puranic literature, we find different names for this ancient place. It is called Thillai because of the abundant thillai shruns, on which was found the Suyambu Sivalinga, the earliest object of worship of this great shrine. It is named as Puliyur (ÒÄ¢ä÷) or Viyagrapura after the great devotees Viyagrapada ( the tiger-footed saint), who was the progenitor of the temple. As this place induces in people, a supreme attachment (¦ÀÕõÀüÚ) to the Lord and frees them from the wordly ties, it is called Perumbatrapuliyur (¦ÀÕõÀüÈôÒÄ¢ä÷). As God Siva is performing the Cosmic dance in this place in the Hall of Bliss it bears the name Chithambaram. As the town is conceived in the scriptures as the lotus-shaped heart (Irudaya Kamalam þվ¸ÁÄõ) of the Virat-purusha, another name is Pundarikapuram (Òñ¼Ã£¸ÒÃõ). When the Chith sabha came to be covered with gold plates, the place was called Ponnambalam. After the recovery of the Tamil Devotional Poetry of the Great Four Chithambaram was called "Koil" or the House of God and mentioned as such in all later-day editions of the Devotional Literature.
All the above details about the greatness of Chithambaram are aptly described in this piece of literary composition, by Kumaraguruparar. This is a garland of three gems, strung together in succession and laid at the Feet of the Dancing Almighty. The image of Siva-Nataraja is a synthesis of devotion, art and science - a crystallisation, which was matured in the minds of Sages and Saints and given verbal expression in the devotional hymns, to be again rendered into a concrete image by the sculptor-artist. The earliest reference to the cosmic dance with all its philosophical imports is thogai (¸Ä¢ò¦¾¡¨¸), a classic of Sangam fame, by the poet Nallanthuvanar. It refers to three types of His dance and brings out a series of pictures of the majesty and grandeur of the Lord's dance and of His supreme transcendent nature.
It is very absorbing to note and feel elated that the image of Nataraja has drawn forth universal praise as a work of art. At the same time, we find elaborate and subtle explanations in our religious books about the essential significance of His dance. In brief, it is the symbolic representation of His rhythmic play, being the source of all movements within the cosmos. Further, the dance has the specific purpose of releasing the countless souls from the grip of Anavam, the premordial principle of evil. It also represents the five-fold activity of the Supreme Being, viz. creation, preservation, destruction, obscuration and salvation.
In the garland of gems of triple lustre, Kumaraguruparar portrays the five-fold activity in the opening song in a very interesting way. The same can be rendered in English as follows: "O! My Lord! Thy hand holding the sacred drum has made and ordered the heavens, the earth and other worlds and the innumerable souls. Thy lifted hand protects all the animate and inanimate worlds which Thou hath created. All these worlds undergo change by Thy hand bearing fire. Thy sacred foot planted on the dwarfish demon Muyalakan lying on the ground gives an abode to the tired souls to rest after constant struggle in the toils of Karma. It is Thy lifted foot that grants eternal bliss to those that approach Thee. These five actions are indeed Thy handi-work."
This wonderful description brings to our mind the short and sweet song (verse-36) in Unmai Vilakkam (¯ñ¨Á Å¢Çì¸õ), viz.,
"§¾¡üÈõ Ðʾɢø §¾¡Ôõ ¾¢¾¢Â¨ÁôÀ¢ø
º¡üȢ¢Îõ «í¸¢Â¢§Ä ºí¸¡Ãõ - °üÈÁ¡ö
°ýÚ ÁÄ÷ôÀ¾ò§¾ ¯üȾ¢§Ã¡ ¾õÓò¾¢
¿¡ýÈ ÁÄ÷ôÀ¾ò§¾ ¿¡Î""Creation arises form the drum
Protection from the hand of hope
Destruction from the hand bearing fire
Obscuration form the planted foot and
Salvation from the foot held aloft"It is the Divine Mother who witnesses the dance for the sake of the souls and passes on its grace and force in a measure suitable to the souls. This act of grace of the Divine Mother is aptly described to be similar to the benevolent act of the worldly mother who takes the medicine intended for her child and passes on its effect mildly to the child through her milk, as the tender intestines of the child could not bear the force of the medicine, if administered direct.
The saint, then proceeds to elucidate the basic feature of the life of the house-holder and that of the ascetic and pleads that he has not the strength of mind to live up to either of the two ways. Having realised that it is extremely difficult to be born at Thiruvaarur or to have the earthly end at Varanasi to obtain freedom from births and deaths, he says, that he has come to Thillai, because the scriptures say that only one dharsan of Nataraja is enough to attain bliss.
He entreats the Lord to shower His Grace on him without taking note of any of his defects, even though he may not exhibit his yearning for the same in the measure expected, citing aptly an example that the medicine will certainly cure the disease, not withstanding the patient taking the medicine willingly or unwillingly. The first song of this garland is thus a granary of divine information.
As a true saivite saint, Kumaraguruparar is at his height of spirits whenever he refers to the association of the devotees of Siva. The exalted qualities of His devotees and the unparalleled benefits of their association are graphically described in one song (11). In another verse, he depicts the true meaning and import of complete renunciation which echoes the dictum in the sacred Kural, that even the body is superfluous to those who aspire for the freedom from the cycle of births. (ÁüÚõ ¦¾¡¼÷ôÀ¡ ¦¼Åý¦¸¡ø À¢ÈôÀÐì¸ø, ¯üÈ¡÷ìÌ ¯¼õÒ Á¢¨¸). Though the souls are intelligent beings, they are not fully free from the taint of ignorance unless they attain divine knowledge duly inspired by the Almighty. This fact is clearly brought out in one verse(17), where in the puranic story about Vyasa Muni is vividly told, who lost his hand when he lifted it to assert falsehood to establish the supremacy of Vishnu over Siva. The poet further asks that when the Veda themselves fail to show Him in unmistakable terms, how God can be comprehended by the shallow bookish knowledge of the frail souls who suffer from various diseases in a very short span of life?
In another verse, the poet dexterously pleads with the Lord to grant him His Feet in this very birth itself. He says that inspite of his eternal and beginning less e