Places to Visit in Chidambaram

A Vishnu temple (Thiruchitrakoodam) that sits inside the Thillai Nataraja Temple complex and ranks among the 108 Divya Desams of Vaishnavism. Vishnu is worshipped here as Govindaraja Perumal alongside his consort Pundarikavalli. It is one of only two Divya Desams housed within a Shiva temple; the idol was removed under Kulothunga Chola II and later reinstated by Krishnappa Nayak in the 16th century.

The octagonal "Hall of True Knowledge" built in 1872 by the saint Ramalinga Adigal (Vallalar), centre of the Suddha Sanmarga movement, alongside a perpetual free-food house.

Satyagnana Sabha, Vadalur is best understood through its defining feature, its relationship with Chidambaram and the evidence that survives at the site today.

An ancient Vishnu temple on the banks of Veeranam Lake, granted by Chola king Parantaka I in the 10th century to Vedic scholars. It is revered in Srivaishnavism as the birthplace of the 9th-century acharya Nathamuni, who collected and compiled the 4,000 hymns of the Divya Prabandham. Later renovations were carried out by the Pandya king Sadayavarman Sundara Pandyan in the 13th century.

A Shiva temple built in granite in 1113 CE during the reign of Kulothunga Chola I. It is a rare surviving example of the chariot-shaped Karakoil style, with the sanctum resting on a base shaped like a horse-drawn chariot with wheels and horses. The 88th Paadal Petra Sthalam of the Tevaram, it houses an unusual ten-armed Dasabuja Rishaba Thandavamoorthy sculpture of Shiva.

Historic Coromandel port settled by the Portuguese in the 1590s as "Porto Novo", later Dutch and British, site of India's first iron-and-steel works (1830).

Two unhurried days on the Coromandel coast — the cosmic dance of Shiva at Chidambaram, then a maze of mangrove waterways at Pichavaram, finishing on one of Tamil Nadu’s longest beaches.

Parangipettai (Porto Novo) is best understood through its defining feature, its relationship with Pichavaram and the evidence that survives at the site today.

Quiet golden-sand Bay of Bengal beach midway between Cuddalore and Chidambaram, home to the coastal Pinnai Vazhi Amman shrine.

Samiyarpettai Beach is best understood through its defining feature, its relationship with Pichavaram and the evidence that survives at the site today.