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Jantar Mantar
Jantar Mantar is very popular among tourists and the people of Delhi.
The structure is another great masterpiece of Indian
architecture which shows the scientific
acumen of ancient India. Jantar Manter is situated at Parliament
Street, very close to Connaught Place. Jantar Mantar is also called
Delhi Observatory. It is maintained by the Jaipur government because
it was built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II
of Jaipur in 1710 A.D.
It is a remarkable structure which consists of fourteen geometric
devices used for measuring time, forecasting weather changes, predicting
behaviour of planets and finding extraterrestrial altitude. All
these devices are fixed structures and point to a specific direction.
The largest device or instrument is the Samrat Jantar which is 90
feet high and its shadow is plotted in such a manner so that is
shows the exact time of the day. Any weather change or the onset
of monsoons can be ascertained by the Hindu Chhatri, which is a
small domed structure.
The whole structure is made of stone and marble with each of then
having an engraved astronomical scale. Jantar Mantar finally got the
status of a national monument in 1948. It has always attracted architects,
historians and scientists from all over the world.
Maharaja Jai Singh was a fanatical astronomer himself who studied
various works from Hindu, Muslim and European astronomy. He had the
perception that the tables used by the pundits were deceptive and
the actual planetary changes and predictions of eclipses would not
have been possible through these measuring parameters. So he thought
that he would find an improved and efficient means through which exact
prediction could be made. It was his own inspiration and foresightedness
that gave shape to such an instrument. He built other observatories
at Jaipur, Ujjain, Benares and Mathura to have an exact calculation.
It took almost seven years before the whole structure was fully operational
because he wanted to be fully satisfied with the accuracy of the instruments
at Jantar Mantar.
Some of the
major instruments at Jantar Mantar are:
- The Samrat Yantra 'Prince of Dials' (the largest device)
- The Ram Yantra - two circular buildings
- The Jai Prakash
- The Misra Yantra (north-west to the Samrat Yantra)
- Pillars on the southwest of Mishra Yantra used to measure the
shortest and longest days of the year.
The Samrat Yantra measured the accurate time of the day. It also measured
the declination of the sun which can be seen by the shadow moving
around the structure.
The Jai Prakash shows the sun's position at the time of equinox. There
is a hole near the bottom of the structure which witnesses sunshine
only once in a year that is on 21 march, called vernal eqinox.
Another important structure called the Ram Yantra, consists of two
large buildings with open top. Both these two buildings form a complete
device. The device is used to measure the altitude of stars which
is equivalent to the latitude and the longitude on the earth.
To the north-west of the Prakash Yantra, there is a structure or instrument
called Mishra Yantra. It consists of five instruments. Pillars on
the southwest of Mishra Yantra are used to measure the shortest day
(21 December) and the longest day (21 June) of the year.
It is no denying the fact that the structure does represent the scientific
heritage of India, though not being used in the modern scientific
research. Having said that, we must give accreditation to the Jantar
Mantar for its scientific acumen which could have reaped more fruits
had there been appropriate motivation and resource given for research
and development.
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