Saturday, March 28, 2015

Vitthala temple with musical pillars, Hampi

Vitthala temple with musical pillars, Hampi
MYSTERIOUS ARCHITECTURE
These pillars when struck or tapped make different musical notes like an instrument. These highly decorated stone musical pillars are considered to be audio marvels. The hall of the Vittala temple here contains some rows of stone pillars, which are called musical pillars. It was built or considerably, enlarged in the reign of Krishnadeva Raya in the 16th century A.D. Afterwards, many such pillars were constructed at various temples of South India. The temples in which musical pillars were built include the one at Tadpatri and Lepakshi (Andhra Pradesh) and in the Minakshi temple at Madurai, Vishnu temple at Alvar Tirunagari, the Nellaiyappar temple in Tirunelveli, Thanumalaya temple at Suchindram, and few other places in Tamil Nadu.
The sthapathis (sculptors) of the Vijayanagara era were master craftsmen and well versed in the science of building acoustics. It is proved from these marvels, which they have created during that period. They made thorough search to find out these resonant stones and they discovered them after facing great difficulties. They worked with these stones and created these fascinating stone pillars emitting music. They experimented with these rare stones and therefore they had to carve upon them with great agilityand skill to produce such unique marvels. Apart from their music producing quality, these stone pillars are also praised for their beautiful carvings and sculptures. The music emanating quality is added and awe striking feature of these pillars of South India.


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