MADURAI MEENAKSHI TEMPLE

ACOUSTIC
INTRODUCTION

•Madurai is a very old city of India, more

than 2,500 years old.

• It was built by the Pandian king,

Kulashekarar in the 6th century B.C. and
also is believed to be the home for the
classical language of Tamil.

•Madurai City The city was built around the temple complex as the focal point with a
combination of a concentric street pattern.

•Madurai , popularly known as the Temple city, also called as athens of the east, City of
Junction, City of Jasmine, city that never sleeps and City of four junctions

•Madurai is third major economic, industrial, commercial, political centre and a major
transportation hub for the southern Tamilnadu.
INTRODUCTION
Meenakshi amma temple is located on the southern bank of the Vaigai river in the temple city
of Madurai, Tamil nadu, India.
Its an Dravidian style Hindu temple
.
It is dedicated to Parvathi, known as Meenakshi, and her consort, Shiva, here
named sundareswarar.
Surrounding an area of the temple is about 45 acres

The temple was 1st constructed somewhere around the time by kulashekara
pandyan.
LAWS FOR ACOUSTICS

•Echoes and excessive Reverberation are bad boys of Acoustics. Flat surfaces create
standing waves which produce flutter echoes.

•Concave surfaces produce focused echoes. Convex surfaces diffuse reflections, i.e., it
breaks up and distributes sound.

• The concepts of white noise, pink noise, etc. and the space noise generated by the
space bodies are also there.

• Space noise and all noise of nature are White Noise only, which masks other noises
and has a soothing effect.

•All the stone pillars have sharp non-filleted edges, which are also good sound diffusers.

• All the statues have convex surfaces which diffuse sound.

•According to the Mass Law, “Transmission Loss ( TL ) or Noise Reduction ( NR ) of

airborne sound across a solid wall is proportional to the Logarithm of the Mass”.

•Hence ideal acoustic environment with good aesthetic charm is established by the
statues.
ACOUSTICS MARVEL OF MADURAI TEMPLE

• Ancient Tamils have used the principles of “vibration of bodies” in constructing

musical pillars in Madurai Meenakshi Temple, according to a study made by a team
of ENT specialists in Tamil Nadu on the acoustic beauty of this glorious temple.

• The sculptors have cleverly varied the length and diameter of the pillars to obtain
different musical sounds choosing the right type of stone.

• By using the same stone, but by varying the shape, they were able to achieve it.

• The huge icons on the unpolished pillars, the distribution of vents, the allocation of
open spaces all around, are all mechanisms to contain the noise level.
 •The noise level at the Ashta Sakthi
Mandapam situated near the road
was only 40 decibels during non
visiting hours.

• Near the Lotus Tank and adjoining

sanctum sanctorum (Garba Gruha),
the sound level is again in the order
of 40 DB.

• With this ambient noise it is possible for a person to contemplate and meditate the
divinity.

•The sound level recorded during the peak hours in the evening is of the order of 70 to
80 DB.

• What is remarkable is there is absolutely no echo in any part of the temple and even
with all the crowd around, the sound level seldom exceeds 80DB.

•There is built in mechanism for containing the echo and at the same time, the total
noise does not exceed a specific level.
•the Hall of Thousand Pillars is a classical example of perfect sound engineering
technique.

• The hall has got very low ceiling with 985 pillars—each pillar averaging about 12 feet in
height.

•All are exactly of the same size and shape and at mathematically accurate positions.

•Many can sit in this echo resistant hall to hear the entire proceedings in quietitude.
THANK YOU

MUDRA PRAJAPATI 15SA223

PAL SHAH 15SA227
UDIT SHARMA 15SA239
UNNATI PUROHIT 15SA240