Anathandapuram is a village in Mayiladuthurai

Mayiladuthurai

Mayiladuthurai , formerly known by its Sanskrit names Māyavaram and Mayūram is a town in the Nagapattinam District of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the headquarters of the Mayiladuthurai taluk of Nagapattinam district and is the second-largest town in the district...

 taluk, Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

. The nearest town, Mayiladuthurai is located 5 kilometers to the south. Anathandapuram is famous for its beautiful small railway station which is located within the limits of the village. From this village we can take direct trains to Chennai

Chennai

Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

, Tiruchirapalli

Tiruchirapalli

Tiruchirappalli ) , also called Tiruchi or Trichy , is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli District. It is the fourth largest municipal corporation in Tamil Nadu and also the fourth largest urban agglomeration in the state...

, Thanjavur, Chidambaram

Chidambaram

Chidambaram is a fast growing industrial city in Eastern part of Tamil Nadu and the taluk headquarters of the Cuddalore district. It is located in 58 km from Pondicherry, 60 km from Karaikal, and 240 km south of Chennai by rail...

, Vaitheeswaran Temple

Vaitheeswaran Temple

Vaitheeswaran Temple or Pullirukkuvelur is a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Shiva located in Tamil Nadu, India. Shiva is worshipped as Vaitheeswaran or the "God of healing" and it is believed that prayers to Vaitheeswaran can cure diseases. It is one of the nine Navagraha temples associated...

 etc.
The village is famous for its Perumal , Shiva (BruhanNayaki) and VeerappaSwamy temples.

The Name 'Anandathandavapuram'

Once upon a time there was a hermit by the name Ananda. He was a devout Saivite. Being a person of yogic abilities, he would go to any shrine of Shiva of his choice flying through the sky. Daily he used to go to Rameswaram by air to take a bath in the sea and then go to Chidambaram from there again by air. From Chidambaram, he used to go to Mahendramalai for meditation. This had become his daily routine. By night he would return to his village of Anandathandavapuram. This was going on for quite some time.

One cold morning Lord Shiva decided to test his devotee. It was Thiruvathirai, an auspicious day for Shiva puja and all the Shiva temples wore a festive look. Ananda was about to leave for his daily routine when the skies poured out. Rain started lashing and it didn’t stop and the hermit couldn’t use his yogic abilities too on this day. The rain didn’t stop even at night and Ananda couldn’t have a glimpse of his Lord the whole day. He was very angry too with nature for having spoilt his day. Immediately, he decided to end his life as he couldn’t have darshan of the Lord that day. As he was about to kill himself, Shiva and his consort appeared before him and also danced for him, the ananda thandavam (Happy Dance). Since Shiva danced in this village, it got is present name of Anandathandavapuram, a.k.a Anathandapuram.

Demographics

As per the 2001 census, Ananthandavapuram had a population of 3560 with 1796 males and 1764 females. The sex ratio was 982 and the literacy rate, 76.4.

People

The people from this village are devotees of Sri Nataraja

Nataraja

Nataraja or Nataraj , The Lord of Dance; Tamil: கூத்தன் ;Telugu:నటరాజ is a depiction of the Hindu god Shiva as the cosmic dancer Koothan who performs his divine dance to destroy a weary universe and make preparations for god Brahma to start the process of creation...

 at Chidambaram

Chidambaram

Chidambaram is a fast growing industrial city in Eastern part of Tamil Nadu and the taluk headquarters of the Cuddalore district. It is located in 58 km from Pondicherry, 60 km from Karaikal, and 240 km south of Chennai by rail...

 Temple. The housewives here need a special mention. They are very much united and very heplful to each other. In the afternoons they conduct classes for Slokas, devotional songs, Sai Bhajans, Abhangs, Ashtapathis weekly and make valuable use of their time. A direct disciple of Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer

Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer

Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer is considered to be one of the greatest Carnatic vocalists of the twentieth century...

 is a resident of this village.

Facilities

The people in this village enjoy all the facilities like residents of Big Towns. Apart from the temples and the Railway Station they have a POST OFFICE, GOVT SCHOOL, PHARMACY with DOCTOR Consultation and a good GROCERIES shop at the Agraharam.

Famous Personalities

The great Carnatic composer and lyricist "Sri Gopalakrishna Bharathi

Gopalakrishna Bharathi

Gopalakrishna Bharati was a Tamil poet and a composer of Carnatic music. He wrote a katAkALatcEpam , NantanAr Carittiram , two other works in this genre, and many independent kritis....

" was born in this village. As a tribute to this great man, a music festival in the name of Gopala Krishna Bharathi is conducted in this village annually when renowned musicians from all over the country like Sudha Raghunathan

Sudha Raghunathan

Sudha Raghunathan is a Carnatic music singer from South India. She was awarded a Padma Shri for excellence in singing. She was born in Bangalore and went to Good Shepherd Convent. She did higher education at Bangalore, Karnataka and obtained a Masters Degree in Economics.She started singing at...

, Sanjay Subramanian come to this village and render wonderful performances on Sri Gopala Krishna Bharathi's creations.