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The city of Delhi is extremely rich in its great number of forts, mosques and tombs built by successive rulers of the Sultanate. The Turks, Afghans, Khiljis, Tughlaqs, Lodhis and Mughals built splendid palaces with exquisite decoration in stucco and marble. There is, however, a series of brick-and-plaster structures which baffles contemporary visitors. These futuristic instruments, collectively called Jantar Mantar were meant �to show�.the very age and body of the time � his form and pressure,� in Shakespeare�s words. Built by Sawai Jai Singh II of Amber in 1724, the Jantar Mantar in Delhi was one of five such instruments built in Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura and Varanasi. The Amber King was a keen scholar of astronomy. He studied the movement of the heavenly as a reputed astronomer in line with Ulugh Beg, Tycho Brahe and John Flamstead. He determined the sine of an angle of one minute, a century after Ulugh Beg had determined the time of one degree.
At the Mughal court in Delhi, under Muhammed Shah, Jai Singh constantly updated his knowledge by regular consultations with European Jesuits whose knowledge of mathematics, medicine and astronomy was commendable. Jai Singh even sent a mission to the king of Lisbon in 1730 which brought with it a telescope and a court astronomer, Xavier de Silva, to Jaipur. Jai Singh found fault with the traditional Hindu system, position of stars, planets and the moon in existing astronomical tables such as Phillipe de Lahire�s Tabulae Astronomicae, affecting the rituals and festivals of Hindus and Muslims. The Mughal king encouraged Jai Singh to build these observatories, the only mentionable architectural achievements of his age.
The Jantar Mantar is non-functional now and the whole setting is mysterious and incomprehensible to the common man but originally each instrument had a particular function and the exact time and moment could be calculated to absolute perfection.
The Samrat Yantra is an equinotical dial, consisting of a gigantic gnomon with the hypotenuse parallel to the earth�s axis. On either side of the gnomon is a quadrant of a circle parallel to the plan of the equator. It is mean to measure the time of the day, correct to half a second, and a declination of the sun and the other heavenly bodies. Sawai Jai Singh himself had designed this instrument, hence the name Samrat Yantra.
The Jai Prakash Yantra consists of two hemispherical structures used for ascertaining the position of the sun. It is an efficient dial showing at any instant the local time, the sun�s declination, and the sign of the zodiac.
Ram Yantra consists of two circular structures with a pillar at the centre of each structure, the walls and floor of which are graduated for reading horizontal (azimuth) angles of heavenly bodies. William Thorn, a traveler in 1818, observed: ��these duplicate structures were designed to prevent errors by obtaining different observations at the same time, and comparing the results. These (last) buildings�.circular�.open at the top have, each of them, at the same height in the centre, from whence proceed horizontally, at about three feet from the bottom thirty radii, so that each of these, with the space between, forms together, a complete sector of six degrees. Within the sides of the walls are recesses, on the edge of which are marked the tangents of the degrees of the sun�s altitude, as exhibited by the shadow of the perpendicular still in the centre and numbered from one degree to forty five; but when the sun exceeds that height, the degrees are marked on the radii, numbered from the pillar in such a manner as to note exactly the complement of the altitude�� Both Jaya Prakash and Ram Yantra are meant for study of stars and planets. These bowl shaped instruments are marked out for alternate hours so as to cover the complete passage of an object across the sky.
Misra Yantra is a composite of four parts: Niyata Chakra in the centre indicating the meridian (noon at four places, two in Europe, and one each in Japan and the Pacific Ocean; part of Samrat Yantra on either side; Dakshinottara Bhitti Yantra on the east wall for obtaining meridian altitude; Karka Rasi Valaya on the north wall, indicating the entry of the sun in the Cancer. The two pillars on the south �west of Misra Yantra are meant of determine the shortest and longest days of the year. Quite interestingly in December one pillar casts its shadow completely over the other pillar. In June it casts no shadow at all upon it.
Jai Singh�s observatories remained out of use for most of the time. In fact he could only update the Tara Sarini, related to the studies of Ulugh Beg. He first wanted to improve upon the worn out instruments without realizing that the positions of the heavenly bodies asper older studies were wrong due to �procession of the earth�s axis� of which he was unware. It is also possible that Jai Singh�s fascination for these concrete instruments was inspired by Ulugh Beg in the 15th century Samaarkand where one quadrant stands majestically to a height of 54 meters. Jai Singh took no note of the Copernican theory of the Universe for lack of interest in cosmology and excessive faith in Ptolemy. He had a great desire to study western scientists and his assistant, Jagannath, translated into Sanskrit Ptolemy�s Almagest (from its Arabic translation) as Siddhanta Samrat. Latin books were translated into Persian and he knew about Lahire�s and Flamstead�s researches.
King Muhammad Shah was not pleased with Jai Singh�s work and he regarded the whole project as a gigantic folly. To a king given over to dance; drink and damsels, Jantar Mantar was a wastage of money. He even contemplated demolishing the observatory and dismissing Jai Singh from his patronage. For fear of upsetting the delicate balance of power between the Rajput state and Delhi, the Mughal king reconciled himself to the Amber prince and his queer creation.
Jai Singh�s Jantar Mantar may not be an architectural marvel but has remained one of Delhi�s most spectacular buildings. Foreign visitors were drawn towards it. When Thomas and William Daniell visited Delhi in 1789 they were fascinated by the shape of the instruments. Jantar Mantar can be classed as the most abstract and romantic structure in Delhi.
Following Nadir Shah�s invasion of Delhi in 1739 Jantar Mantar became part of the magnificent ruins.
In our days of quartz watches, these astronomical instruments, massive and magnificent, speak eloquently of the scientific, temperament of a prince when all his contemporaries were so much engrossed in court intrigues and fought hand to hand battles on horses and elephants with swords and spears.
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