Pancha Sabhai

| Category

| Temple

| Location

| Element

|Tandava

| Image

| Details

| Vada Aaranyeswarar Temple

| Thiruvalangadu
{{coord|13|07|48|N|79|46|30|E}}

| Emerald

| Kali Tandava

| Image:Thiruvalangadu (18).jpg

| At Sage Munjikesa Karkodaka's request, Shiva reached this temple's site. Kali challenged Shiva to a dance and said that she would give her right in the place to the deity if he won. The dance began. Shiva dropped his earring on the ground, picked it by the toe of his left leg and fixed it back on his ear in the dance. Kali accepted her defeat and said she could not do such a marvellous dance. Shiva said that he alone was equal to her and said further that those coming to worship him here, should worship her first to reap the full benefit of the worship. Since then, Kali has her own temple to grace the devotees.

| Natarajar Temple

| Chidambaram
{{coord|11|23|58|N|79|41|36|E}}

| Gold

| Ananda Tandava

|Image:Chidambaram Temple.jpg

| Chidambaram, the name of the city and the temple literally means "atmosphere of wisdom" or "clothed in thought", the temple architecture symbolizes the connection between the arts and spirituality, creative activity and the divine.{{cite book|author=James G. Lochtefeld|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5kl0DYIjUPgC|year=2002|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-8239-3179-8|page=147}}{{cite book|author1=Donald Frederick Lakh|author2=Edwin J. Van Kley|title=South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YPPiumz4vx0C |year=1993|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-46754-2|pages=1002–1003}}[https://www.britannica.com/place/Chidambaram Chidambaram], Encyclopædia Britannica The temple wall carvings display all the 108 karanas from the Natya Shastra by Bharata Muni, and these postures form a foundation of Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance.{{cite book|author1= Constance Jones|author2=James D. Ryan|title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC&pg=PA107|year= 2006|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-0-8160-7564-5|page=107}} Shiva as Nataraja is the primary deity of the temple, it reverentially presents major themes from Shaktism, Vaishnavism, and other traditions of Hinduism. The Chidambaram temple complex, for example, has the earliest known Amman or Devi temple in South India, a pre-13th-century Surya shrine with chariot, shrines for Ganesha, Murugan and Vishnu, one of the earliest known Shiva Ganga sacred pool, large mandapas for the convenience of pilgrims (choultry, ambalam or sabha) and other monuments.{{cite journal | last=Barrett | first=Douglas | title=James C. Harle: Temple gateways in South India: the architecture and iconography of the Cidambaram gopuras | journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies | publisher=Cambridge University Press | volume=27 | issue=2 | year=1964 | doi=10.1017/s0041977x00096063 | pages=462–463| s2cid=162883647 }}Pal 1988, p. 36 Shiva himself is presented as the Nataraja performing the Ananda Tandava ("Dance of Delight") in the golden hall of the shrine Pon Ambalam.Ca Ve 1985

| Meenakshi Amman Temple

| Madurai
{{coord|9|55|22|N|78|7|12|E}}

| Silver

| Sandhya Tandava

|Image:Madurai, India.jpg

| The temple is a historic Hindu temple located on the southern bank of the Vaigai River{{cite book|author=Vijaya Ramaswamy|title=Historical Dictionary of the Tamils|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ALUvDwAAQBAJ |year=2017|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-5381-0686-0|pages=9–10, 103, 210, 363–364}} in the temple city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is dedicated to the goddess Meenakshi, a form of Parvati, and her consort, Sundareshvarar, a form of Shiva.[https://www.academia.edu/33832897/Minaksi_or_Sundaresvara_Who_is_the_first_principle Rajarajan], R.K.K. 2005. Minaksi or Sundaresvara: Who is the first principle? South Indian History Congress Annual Proceedings XXV, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, pp. 551-553. The temple is at the center of the ancient temple city of Madurai mentioned in the Tamil Sangam literature, with the goddess temple mentioned in 6th-century-CE texts.{{cite web |title=This Temple Is Covered in Thousands of Colorful Statues |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/asia/india/meenakshi-amman-hindu-temple/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804112508/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/asia/india/meenakshi-amman-hindu-temple/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 4, 2017 |publisher=National Geographic |access-date=26 February 2019 |date=2 August 2017}}

| Chepparai Temple

| Tirunelveli
{{coord|8|43|43|N|77|41|17|E}}

| Copper

| Muni Tandava

|Image:Nellaiappar temple tower.jpg

| During Puranic times, the place was called Venuvana, a forest of bamboos. The deity in the current temple was believed have appeared inside the bamboo forest. Vishnu is believed to have witnessed the wedding between Shiva and Parvati at this place. There is an image of Vishnu with a metallic gindi, a vessel with a spout, in the temple depicting the legend.{{cite book|title=South Indian Shrines: Illustrated|page=24|last=Ayyar|first=P. V. Jagadisa|publisher=Asian Educational Service|year=1993|isbn=81-206-0151-3|edition=2nd|location=New Delhi}} Shiva is worshipped as Nellaiappar (also called Venuvananathar) represented by the lingam and his consort Parvati is depicted as Kanthimathi Amman.

| Kutralanathar Temple

| Courtallam
{{coord|8|55|45|N|77|16|9|E}}

| Art

| Tripura Tandava

| Image:The Kutraleeshwarar temple Gopuram.jpg

|The sage Agastya, at Shiva's request, proceeded southward to stabilize the balance of the earth, and relieve the instability caused by the multitude of entities at Shiva's and Parvati's wedding in the Himalayas, to wait for a glimpse of the divine couple. There he is said to have created the Shivalingam here by shrinking an image of Vishnu, hence the name Kutralam. Architecturally the Chitrasabha resembles that of the other Nataraja Sabhas elsewhere in Tamil Nadu, and its interior is decked with hundreds of murals, depicting images from the Indian epics. Nataraja is brought here during festivals from the Kurumpalaveesar temple. The temple tree is called the Kurum Pala and the temple tank is called Chitranadhi. Nataraja is depicted with the Nritya Tandava posture.{{cite book|title=Temples in South India|last=V.|first=Meena|publisher=Harikumar Arts|location=Kanniyakumari|page=9}}