Study of impact of increased number of devotees on indoor environmental quality of heritage temples of goddess Mahalaxmi at Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India

India has a great cultural heritage of temples across the country. There is a wide variety of temples of variety of deities constructed from East to West and North to South of India. Most of the temples are built centuries ago and still are in good condition and the centre of cultural activities. Mahalaxmi temple precinct is a very old precinct in Kolhapur, built in 8 th century by Chalukyan rulers. Every year lacs of devotees are visiting this temple of goddess Mahalaxmi from most of the part of India. The temple is constructed of basalt stone with beautiful intricate carving on it. This paper focus on indoor environmental quality of the temple which is deteriorated due to the impact of increased number of devotees. Some of the devotees face the problem of suffocation, fatigue, fainting, irritation, nasal congestion; as provision of vents are absent and natural ventilation is not available inside the shrine of goddess Mahalaxmi. Due to lack of air exchange and natural ventilation the indoor environmental quality is deteriorated. It is observed that the CO 2 level is increased, decreased in O 2 level, rise in temperature and humidity above the standard level causing discomfort.