In the temple-town of Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu, the great Thillai Nataraja temple enshrines Shiva as Nataraja, the Lord of the Dance, and represents the subtlest of the five elements — Akasha, space or ether. It is the foremost of the Pancha Bhoota Sthalas and the first of the 276 Paadal Petra Sthalams, the Shiva shrines glorified in the Tevaram hymns of the Nayanar saints. Here Shiva performs the Ananda Tandava, the cosmic dance of bliss within the golden hall (Kanaka Sabha) — the dance that sets creation in motion and dissolves it again.
The temple's deepest mystery is the Chidambara Rahasyam: beside the dancing Lord, behind a veil, the element of space is worshipped as formless emptiness — the boundless ether from which all things arise. Revered as the very heart of Shaiva devotion in the Tamil land, Chidambaram draws pilgrims to behold the Lord whose dance is the rhythm of the universe itself.
At Chidambaram the element is space — so there is no image in the innermost shrine at all. A curtain is drawn back to reveal empty air.
Source: Chidambaram Rahasya; Pancha Bhoota Sthala tradition
