KOLHAPUR: The rays of the setting sun on Wednesday reached upto the waist of the idol at the Mahalaxmi temple and stayed there for another three minutes. Experts were expecting the rays to cover the entire idol but it did not happen on the third day of the four-day festival.

Hundreds of devotees crowd the temple to get a glimpse of the architectural marvel, where rays steadily reach the sanctorum of the temple on particular days of the year.

Milind Karanjkar, associate professor of astrophysics at the Vivekanand College, said that the sun rays were bright enough in the evening. "When the rays were at second step at the entrance of the temple, the intensity of the light was 232 Lux. But with rays reaching towards the sanctorum, the rising humidity and other gases brought down the intensity to 19 Lux only."

He added that the rays were at the first step of the entrance of the temple at 5.38 pm. It took another five minutes for the rays to reach the sanctorum. The rays touched the feet of the idol by 5.45 pm and ascended further till the waist by 5.46 pm.

Karanjkar and four students from the department of astrophysics have undertaken a study of the festival of rays and possible hurdles for it at the temple. His team has been visiting the temple in the evening every day and measuring the light intensity, keeping a record of the journey of the rays and possible hurdles.

"As the rays were there for three minutes and disappeared by 5.50 pm, it was clear that the rays would have reached to the neck of the idol. The biggest hurdle has been the humidity and other gases present inside the temple during the period," he said.

He explained that the refractive index of water is 1.33; hence dispersion of sun rays is more when the humidity inside the temple goes up. The normal air refractive index is one. "There are three units counting humidity inside the temple, which will support our claim, when we make our statement at the temple," he said.

Karanjkar said, "Around noon on Wednesday, I realised that it was a bright day and if no clouds do not form in the evening, there would be better chances for the festival of rays. But by evening, humidity levels went up and affected the intensity of the rays."

