[6][7][8] The temple wall carvings display all the 108 karanas from the Natya Shastra by Bharata Muni, and these postures form a foundation of Bharatanatyam, an Indian classical dance.

[10] While Shiva as Nataraja is the primary deity of the temple, it reverentially presents major themes from Shaktism, Vaishnavism, and other traditions of Hinduism.

[11][12] Shiva himself is presented as the Nataraja performing the Ananda Tandava ("Dance of Delight") in the golden hall of the shrine Pon Ambalam.

[15] The town used to be called Thillai, following Thillaivanam, derived from the mangrove of Tillai trees (Excoecaria agallocha) that grow here and the nearby Pichavaram wetlands.

[16][17] The site became the capital of Cholas in the 10th century, and they renamed it to Chidambaram and built the current temple for their family deity of Nataraja Shiva.

[20] Additional names for Chidambaram in Pallava era and North Indian texts include Kanagasabainathar, Ponnambalam, Brahmastpuri and Brahmapuri.

[37] It is believed that by divine intervention Nambi found the presence of scripts, in the form of cadijam leaves half eaten by white ants in a chamber inside the second precinct in the temple.

[36][37] The brahmanas (Dikshitars) in the temple are supposed to have disagreed with the king by saying that the works were too divine, and that only by the arrival of the "Naalvar" (the four saints)—Appar, Sundarar, Tirugnanasambandar and Manickavasagar would they allow for the chambers to be opened.

[50] The Islamic invasion in the 14th century, states George Michell – a professor and art historian of Indian architecture, brought an abrupt end to the patronage of Chidambaram and other temple towns.

[52] The decline and dissolution of the Vijayanagara Empire in the late 16th century by an alliance of Sultanates, followed within a few decades by entrance of Portuguese, French and British colonial interests brought geopolitical uncertainties to Chidambaram and other temple towns.

[53] The Portuguese began building forts, garrison and churches in Coromandel Coast region after the demise of Vijayanagara, triggering the intervention of the French and the British.

The central episode states that Shiva visits sages in the mythical forest in the form of a dancer mendicant (Bhikshatana) accompanied by Mohini, Vishnu in his avatar as a beautiful woman.

[56] According to Kulke, the late medieval text Chidambaramahatmya may reflect a process of Sanskritisation, where these North Indian named sages with Vedic links became incorporated into regional temple mythology.

[66][67] The scenes include multiple panels about the legend of Shiva-Parvati wedding with Brahma, Vishnu, Saraswati and Lakshmi attending, dancing Ganesha, Shiva in his various aspects, Durga in the middle of her war with a demon, Skanda ready for war, seated Nandi, musicians, dancers, farmers, merchants, sadhu in namaste posture, dancing dvarapalas near the vertical center line and others.

The artists and architects who built these gopura may have had a rationale in the relative sequence and position of the artwork with respect to each other and on various levels, but this is unclear and a subject of disagreement among scholars.

The artwork on it includes Durga fighting the evil, shape shifting buffalo demon and Skanda sitting on peacock and dressed up for war.

[72] The surviving south gopuram called the Sokkaseeyan Thirunilai Ezhugopuram was constructed by a Pandya king identified from the presence of the dynasty's fish emblem sculpted on the ceiling.

[76][77] The eastern gopuram is credited to king Koperunsingan II (1243-1279 CE) as per epigraphical records[78] and was repaired with support from a woman named Subbammal in the late 18th century.

The eastern gopuram is renowned for its complete enumeration of 108 poses of Indian classical dance – Bharathanatyam, detailed in small rectangular panels along the passage that leads to the gateway.

[79] The Chidambaram Rahasya is the "formless" representation of Shiva as the metaphysical Brahman in Hinduism, sometimes explained as akasha linga and divine being same as Self (Atman) that is everywhere, in everything, eternally.

[84] After the turmoil of the 14th century when the temple was attacked and looted, there was period when some priests sought to restore only Shaiva iconography according to extant Portuguese Jesuit records.

The scholar Vedanta Desika re-established the co-consecration in 1370 CE, about the time Vijayanagara Empire conquered Chidambaram and northern Tamil lands from the Madurai Sultanate.

[90][91] The main Devi shrine in the Nataraja temple complex is offset towards the north of the sanctum inside the third prakara, and found to the west of the Shivaganga pool.

Another set of frescoes are secular depicting temple festivities and daily life of people, while a stretch narrates the story of Hindu saints named Manikkavachakar and Mukunda.

Below the kapota, the structures show reliefs of seated people, many in namaste posture, some with a beard and yogi like appearance representing saints and rishis.

[104] The Deva sabha (divine gathering hall) houses the temple's revered collection of historic bronze sculptures and modern era frescoes.

[116] The temple and the deity were immortalized in Tamil poetry in the works of Thevaram by three poet saints belonging to the 7th century - Thirugnana Sambanthar, Thirunavukkarasar and Sundaramoorthy Nayanar.

The Chitsabha houses a small Spatika Lingam (Chandramoulisvara), believed to be a piece that fell from the crescent adorning Lord Shiva's head and installed by Adi Shankara.

[118] Several hundreds of thousands of people flock the temple to see the anointing ceremony and the ritualistic dance of Shiva when he is taken back to the sanctum sanctorum.

Lord Shiva, in his incarnation of Nataraja, is believed to have been born on full moon day in the constellation of Ardra, the sixth lunar mansion.