Natraj mandir
Shri Uttar Chidambaram Nataraja Mandir, satara in Maharashtra, established in the year 1985 is a replica of Shree Nataraja temple at Chidambaram in Tamil-Nadu,Built at the holy confluence of rivers Krishna & Venna. The Mandir has fullfilled one of the most cherished desires ofMahaswami Chandrashekhrendra Swamigal, run by a public trust, it conducts various religious, spritual and social activities. A very popular temple,it attracts lakhs of devotees and pilgrims to pay worship to Lord Shri Nataraja,Shri Goddess Shivkamsundari & other deities. Post Emergency, Paramapoojya Shri Chandrashekharendra Saraswati of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, popularly known as the Mahaswamigal, set out on his last padyatra of South India. After his stay at Kalavai, Hubli, Belgaum and other places, the Mahaswamigal came to the holy place of Ugar in December 1979. Paramapoojya Shri Narayanand and Saraswati of Ugar was specially attending to the Mahaswamigal. From Ugar, the next year, in June 1980, the Mahaswamigal came to Satara, situated at the holy confluence of Krishna and Venna rivers. At Satara, once the capital of Shivaji Maharaj's empire, he stayed on for eleven months at the famed Shankara Mutt of Vedic tradition till April 1981. To seek the blessings of the saintly Mahaswamigal, there was a stream of devotees. One among them was a humble, religious and philanthropic personality of Satara. He was Late Shri K. Shamrao D. Shanbhag popularly known to everybody as "Shamanna". Once, Shamanna placed a small bagful of money with great devotion in front of theMahaswamigal as offering, but the latter did not accept it. Shamanna, obviously felt very disturbed. He began to wonder whether he should have packed more money. And he executed that thinking in action the next day. The Mahaswamigal was pleasantly amused at Shamanna's increased offering of money. He asked Shamanna not to bother with monetary offerings to him, because he was not in the habit of accepting money. Instead, he probed Shamanna about his desire. Shamannaconfessed that for long he had been cherishing a dream of constructing a temple of Radha-Krishnaand for that he sought the blessings from the Mahaswamigal. As if on hue, the saintly sage immediately suggested to Shamanna to build, instead,a temple of Nataraja, the destroyer of evil forces and protector of ardent devotees. However, before making up his mind, the Mahaswamigaladvised Shamanna to visit the one and only Chidambaram Temple in Tamilnadu, with three generations of his family.
Shri Uttara Chidambaram Nataraja Mandir Trust, Immediately after returning from the visit to the Chidambaram temple, an awe struck Shamanna came to see the Mahaswamigal. The sprawling span of that temple was still before his eyes, and the worry of the construction of a Nataraja temple in a smaller size was making him restless. However, the Mahaswamigal through his blessings strengthened the belief of Shamanna and steered him to commence the work by making a Sankalpa. And once Shamanna made his firm resolution(Sankalpa),a Trust,under the administration of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, was formed. The first big problem before the Trust was selecting the site and land for the temple. Shamannahimself solved it and donated a plot of land of 2 ½ hector, which belonged to him, as the site for the temple. The Mahaswamigal accepted the donation of the land and on 19 October 1980 performed the Bhoomipooja. By 1981, many pious devotees of the Mahaswamigal, from far & wide, joined Shamanna to accomplish the construction of the Nataraja Mandir. The Western Main Gopuram which is the entrance to the temple came to be called 'Maharashtra-Gopuram' because the Government of Maharashtra financed it. The Northern Raja Gopuram, also known as ‘Andhra–Gopuram’, was financed by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The Eastern Gopuram, financed by the Government of Karnataka is called 'Karnataka-Gopuram'. The Southern Gopuram by the Tamilnadu Government is 'Tamilnadu Gopuram'. The Kerala Government provided seasoned wood of high quality for the entire Temple including 'Dhvaja-Sthambha’ (the flag-mast).
Thus, the Shri Uttara Chidamabaram Nataraja Mandir is a symbol of larger participation and an inspiring National effort in temple building. The world famousshilpi Shri M. S. Ganapati Sthapathi and his brother Shri M. Mutthayya Sthapathi, at the request of the revered Sage and under his guidance, personally looked into the sculpture work and the construction of the whole temple. The Kumbhabhisheka ceremony of the temple was accomplished at the holy hands of Peethadhipati of Kanchi Kamakoti, Shri Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal, on 9 June 1985 as per the wish of the Mahaswamigal. The Nataraja Mandir at Krishnanagar, Satara is considered by many among the followers of the Mahaswamigal as a completion of a long cherished inspiration of the sage. It is said that he was inspired to replicate the Chidambaram during his maiden visit to the Chidambaram Temple in Tamilnadu in 1933. But it took almost five decades for him to translate the inspiration into reality.
Mandir Rahasya
The Mandir is called 'Uttara' Chidamaram since it is north of the first Chidambaram at Tamilnadu. In Shri Uttara Chidambaram Nataraja Mandir, Shree Nataraja and His spouse Goddess Shivakamasundari have come to stay for ever. As in Chidambaram, to the right of Shri Nataraja, there stays 'Chidamabara-Rahasya' behind a curtain. Main Mandapa of the temple is supported by 18 pillars, carved beautifully, again as in the older Chidambaram temple. They symbolize 18Puranas. The remaining 6 pillars are pictured with 6 shastras. The temple has a rich and unique 108 Karnas of Nataraja, commonly called the nrithya poses ofShiva and Parvati. These Karnas are stone carved and embedded around the Mandapa, or the main temple. The Mahaswamigal personally took a special interest and gave his guidance in evolving each and every one of the unique 108 Karnas or poses.The Mandapa, where the image of Nataraja and Shivakamasundari are located, is known asChithsabha. There are 5 steps that connect it with Kanaka-sabha, they are called as Panchakshara steps (i.e. Na-Ma-Shi-Vaa-Ya). Four pillars situated behind the Chithsabha are the symbols of the four Vedas. Besides, there are temples of Shri Ganesha, Shri Hanuman, Shri Radha-Krishna, Shri Mulanatheshwar, Shri Umadevi, Shri Adi Sankaracharya, Shri Navagraha and Shri Ayyappa. Plus, there is a pair of padukas of the Mahaswamigal. The Mandir is open to all from 7 am in the morning. It closes at 12 noon and reopens at 3pm. till at 8.30pm normally. During festivals the timings undergo a change to suit the rising popular demand.
Sankalpa & Nitya Pooja
By the grace of Lord Shri Anand Nataraja and Goddess Shri Shivakamsundari and by the blessings of Mahaswami Shri Chandrashekharendra Saraswati Swamigal, Shri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal and Shri Shankarvijayendra Saraswati Swamigal of Kanchi Kamkoti Peetham, Vedapathashala
Maintainance & Renovation of Mandir
Bhakta Niwas & Renovation of existing Kalyan Mandapam
Development of Mandir premises to attract devotees and pilgrims
Promoting social and sports competition activities
Organizing religious and spiritual discourses.
The Silver Jubliee Celebration of Shri Uttara Chidambaram Nataraja Mandir was concluded gloriously. For the trustees of the Mandir, the Silver Jubliee celebration was a dream comes true,The trustees however feel that the completion of 25 long years devotional seva is in fact the beginning of another step forward with optimism and inspiration in their efforts to undertake new programmes and developmental activities, few of them in the agenda are,
Daily Annadanm
Go-shala and Gaja-shala