Ancient Hindu temples had musical pillars

Washington, June 13 : Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the USA have discovered that some of the Hindu temples, dating back as far as the 7th century, had musical pillars.

Paul Calamia and Jonas Braasch say that the pillars were often carved from a single piece of stone, and tune by size.

According to them, such pillars were "played" during certain ritual performances.

In Spain also, Arturo Sevillano of the Univ. Politecnica de Valenica has unearthed evidence of the likely vibrational modes of bronze vases stationed in various Greek and Roman theatres in such a way that they would make up for some of the acoustic deficiencies of the theatre.

On the other hand, Jonathan Abel of Stanford University in the US has made some findings about the acoustics of Chavin de Huantar, a site in Peru that ante-dates the Inca empire by 2000 years.

The researcher says that of interest is a series of underground galleries used for ritual purposes.

He says that the gallery architecture produces acoustics that adds an auditory dimension to the disorienting underground, maze-like environment.

A presentation each on the discoveries made at each of the three countries will be made during a session on archeological acoustics on July 3.

ANI