Jantar Mantar in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

is an

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

, designed to be used with the naked eye. It is one of five

Jantar Mantar A Jantar Mantar ( Hindustani pronunciation: ͡ʒən̪t̪ər mən̪t̪ər is an assembly of stone-built astronomical instruments, designed to be used with the naked eye. There were five Jantar Mantars in India. All were built at the comm ...

in India. "Jantar Mantar" means "instruments for measuring the harmony of the heavens". It consists of 13 architectural

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

instruments. The site is one of five built by

Maharaja Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and Medieval India, medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a pri ...

Jai Singh II Sawai Jai Singh II (3 November 1688 – 21 September 1743), was the 30th Kachwaha Rajput ruler of the Kingdom of Amber, who later founded the fortified city of Jaipur and made it his capital. He became the ruler of Amber at the age of 11, after ...

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

, from 1723 onwards, revising the calendar and astronomical tables. Jai Singh, born in 1688 into a royal

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

family that ruled the regional kingdom, was born into an era of education that maintained a keen interest in astronomy. There is a plaque fixed on one of the structures in the Jantar Mantar observatory in New Delhi that was placed there in 1910 mistakenly dating the construction of the complex to the year 1710. Later research, though, suggests 1724 as the actual year of construction. Its height is . The primary purpose of the observatory was to compile astronomical tables, and to predict the times and movements of the Sun, Moon and planets. Some of these purposes nowadays would be classified as

. Completed in 1724, the Delhi Jantar Mantar had decayed considerably by 1857 uprising. The Ram Yantra, the Samrat Yantra, the Jai Prakash Yantra and the Misra Yantra are the distinct instruments of Jantar Mantar. The most famous of these structures, the Jaipur, had also deteriorated by the end of the nineteenth century until in 1901 when Maharaja Ram Singh set out to restore the instrument.

History

Jantar Mantar is located in New Delhi and built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur in the year 1724. The maharaja built five observatories during his rule in the 18th century. Among these five, the one in Delhi was the first to be built. The other four observatories are located in Ujjain, Mathura, Varanasi, and Jaipur. The objective behind the construction of these observatories was to assemble astronomical data and to accurately predict the movement of the planets, Moon, Sun, etc. in the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

. It was a one of a kind in its time when it was built. By the year 1867, when India was under the British Raj, the observatory had undergone considerable decay.

Purpose of individual structures

The 4 distinct instruments within the observatory of

: the Samrat Yantra, the Jayaprakash, Rama Yantra and the

Misra Yantra Mishra Yantra is an instrument in Jantar Mantar constructed between 1724 and 1730. A total of five Jantar mantars were constructed across North India in Jaipur, Delhi, Ujjain, Varanasi, and Mathura. They are one of the four astronomical instrumen ...

. * Samrat Yantra: The Samrat Yantra, or Supreme Instrument, is a giant triangle that is basically an equal hour sundial. It is 70 feet high, 114 feet long at the base, and 10 feet thick. It has a hypotenuse that is parallel to the Earth's axis and points toward the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

. On either side of the triangle is a quadrant with graduations indicating hours, minutes, and seconds. At the time of the Samrat Yantra's construction, sundials already existed, but the Samrat Yantra turned the basic hug sundial into a precision tool for measuring declination and other related coordinates of various heavenly bodies. The Vrihat Samrat Yantra can calculate the local time at an accuracy of up to two seconds and is considered the world's largest sundial. * Jaya Prakash Yantra: The Jaya Prakash consists of hollowed out hemispheres with markings on their concave surfaces. Crosswires were stretched between points on their rim. From inside the

Ram Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

, an observer could align the position of a star with various markings or a window's edge. This is one of the most versatile and complex instruments that can give the coordinates of celestial objects in multiple systems- the Azimuthal-altitude system and the Equatorial coordinate system. This allowed for the easy conversation of the popular celestial system. * Rama Yantra: Two large cylindrical structures with open top, used to measure the altitude of stars based on the latitude and the longitude on the Earth. * Misra Yantra: The

(Literally mixed instrument) is a composition of 5 instruments designed as a tool to determine the shortest and longest days of the year. It could also be used to indicate the exact moment of noon in various cities and locations regardless of their distance from Delhi. The Misra yantra was able to indicate when it was noon in various cities all over the world and was the only structure in the observatory not invented by

. *Shasthansa Yantra: Using a pinhole camera mechanism, it has been built within the towers that support the quadrant scales. It is used to measure specific measurements of the Sun such as the zenith distance, declination, and diameter of the Sun. *Kapala Yantra: Built on the same principle as the jai Prakash, the instrument is used more as a demonstration to indicate the transformation of one coordinate system to another. Not used for active celestial observation. *Rasivalya Yantra: Twelve of these structures were built, each referring to the zodiacal constellations by measuring the latitude and longitude of a celestial object at the very moment the celestial object crosses the meridian.

Other observatories

Between 1727 and 1734

built five similar observatories in west-central India, all known by the name Jantar Mantar. They are located at *

, *

Ujjain Ujjain (, , old name Avantika, ) or Ujjayinī is a city in Ujjain district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Pradesh by population and is the administrative as well as religious centre of Ujjain ...

, *

Mathura Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the states and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located south-east of Delhi; and about from the town of Vrindavan. In ancient ti ...

, and *

Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...

. While the purpose of the Jantar Mantar was astronomy and astrology ( Jyotish), they are also a major tourist attraction and a significant monument of the history of astronomy.

Gallery

File:Oriental Scenery Part 5 Fig 19.jpg, The Jantar Mantar, ca. 1790 by

Thomas Daniell Thomas Daniell (174919 March 1840) was an English Landscape art, landscape painter who also painted Orientalist themes. He spent seven years in India, accompanied by his nephew William Daniell, William, also an artist, and published several se ...

File:Oriental Scenery Part 5 Fig 20.jpg, Another view by Thomas Daniell File:Jantar Mantar observatory in Delhi in 1858.jpg, The Jantar Mantar in 1858, damaged by fighting during the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...

File:Jantar Mantar Delhi 27-05-2005.jpg, Jantar Mantar, New Delhi File:Jantar Mantar, New Delhi (Samrat Yantra 1).jpg, West tower of Samrat Yantra File:Jantar Mantar, New Delhi (Samrat Yantra).jpg, Centre tower of Samrat Yantra File:Jantar Mantar, New Delhi (Samrat Yantra 2).jpg, East tower of Samrat Yantra File:Jantar Mantar, New Delhi (Rama Yantra 2).jpg, Rama Yantra (north of the two Rama Yantra) File:Jantar Mantar, New Delhi (Rama Yantra 2 inside).jpg, Inside view of Rama Yantra 2 of Jantar Mantar File:Jantar Mantar - Rama Yantra - Inside View.jpg, Inside view of Rama Yantra of Jantar Mantar closeup File:Jantar Mantar - Rama Yantra - Detailed View.jpg, Inside view of Rama Yantra of Jantar Mantar details File:Jantar Mantar - Shastansh Yantra - East view.jpg, Shastansh Yantra - east side File:Jantar Mantar - Shastansh Yantra - West view.jpg, Shastansh Yantra - west side

References

Introduction
www.jantarmantar.org. *Awake (2005). Jantar Mantar An Observatory Without Telescopes. ''Awake,86'' (13),18-20.
Jantar Mantar
British Library

External links

Jantar Mantar – The Astronomical Observatories of Jai Singh II

Observations on Jantar Mantar in New Delhi

Step Inside Jantar Mantar in New Delhi

Architectural Astronomy Instruments
(video in English)
Jantar Mantar—An Observatory Without Telescopes
(in English)
जंतर मंतर—बगैर टेलिस्कोप की वेधशाला
(in Hindi) {{Portal bar, India, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Education, Science 1724 establishments in India Archaeoastronomy Archaeological monuments in Delhi Astronomical observatories in India Buildings and structures completed in 1724 Monuments of National Importance in Delhi New Delhi Rajput architecture Tourist attractions in Delhi