Elements of Hindu Iconography v1.c7.109

v1.c7.109

A similar occurrence may be seen in relation to the names Chidambarēśvara and Chitsabhēśa. These names have also come into vogue as the result of the Sanskritisation of a distinctly Tamil word. The old name of the place in which the temple of this god now stands was Tillai or Tillai-vanam. In Tillaivanam, there was evidently a temple of small proportions, called Chirrambalam or the small temple. When the god of this temple became the family deity of the Chōḷa kings, the temple began to receive much royal consideration. Gradually ‘ the small temple’ grew in size by the addition, by successive kings, of *prākāras* and *gōpuras*, *maṇḍapas* and tanks, and so on; still it retained the old name of Chirrambalam. It is in fact praised in song as Chirrambalam by Tirujñānasambandha and Appar and also by the much later Sundaramūrti. The popular pronunciation of this word Chirrambalam is generally as Chittambalam; and this became quite easily Sanskritised in form into Chidambaram, which again was paraphrased as Chidākāśa. Therefore the Liṅga worshipped in this temple is conceived to represent the element *ākāśa* or ether. There is yet another modification which Chirrambalam underwent in the hands of such Sanskritisers of Tamil names, and that is into the form Chitsabhā. The origin of this form is easily made out, if the previous modification of the name is borne in mind. The word *ambalam* in Tamil means a hall which is translatable in Sanskrit as *sabhā*. Thus arose Chitsabhā, and the god therein became Chitsabhēśa, that is, the Lord of the Mind-hall. Thus the two names Chidambarēśvara and Chitsabhēśa came into existence; thus also must have arisen the association of the *sphatika-liṅga* of the temple with these names.