If you have time, you can find hundreds of wonderful sculptures in India’s major Hindu temples.
One of those wonders is Musical Pillars.
Enter through the north gate of the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple. To your left you will find wonderful Musical Pillars. Since all the visitors abused the pillars with granites and hammers, the pillar has been protected by a fence.
What is a musical pillar? Around a larger central column smaller axes are grouped; each having a different thickness and different rifling, it produces different notes when struck with a hard substance such as a pebble or hammer or with a rubber head.
Sha, Ri, Ka, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, Sha are the seven basic notes of karnatic music. These notes could be produced on these wonderful pillars.
In 1983, a team headed by Dr. Kameswaran, a specialist in otorhinolaryngology, carried out an exhaustive analysis of them in the Madurai Meenakshi temple, in southern India.
Computer analysis of the sounds produced by the musical pillars shows that the principles of vibration of bodies have been applied in the construction of these pillars. The length and diameter of the pillars have been cleverly varied to obtain different musical sounds. Several musical pillars have been carved from the same stone, each producing different sounds. This has been achieved by varying the length, diameter and shape of the musical pillars. A geological analysis of the musical pillars reveals that the rock is a common variety found in what are known as Archean formations (the oldest formation) of South India. This particular rock is quite abundant near Hospet. It is a rock rich in silica. Alumina, potash and soda are other important components. The iron content is not high. The team used ultrasonic instruments for rock sampling.
There is an excellent article written by Dr. T. Marimuthu in 1994 on these pillars. He has done extensive research on the pillars and has given all the wonderful details.
According to him, these are not found in the temples built earlier by the Chola, Pandya and Chera. The pillars appear from the Vijayanagar empire period.
Pillars are found in many temples and each temple has its own way of designing and building musical pillars.
A remarkable and thinner pillar 4 cm in diameter and 1.6 meters long is found in the Thanumalaya Perumal temple at Suchindram near Cape Comorin.
These pillars are found in many temples including Alwarthirunagari temple, Thirunelveli Nellaiappar temple in southern part of India.
It is a pleasure to see these pillars and to listen to the music they produce. Recently, musicians, scientists, engineers and sculptors are showing great interest in musical pillars. In keeping with their profession, they are providing wonderful new information that makes us proud of these permanent monuments to the artistic, architectural, scientific, engineering, technical and technological talents of our ancient craftsmen.