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Fast facts about Jantar Mantar in Jaipur
When it was built : 1728
By whom it was built: Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II
Nature of the building: Observatory
History of Jantar Mantar in Jaipur
Emperor Muhammad Shah had asked Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the Rajput ruler of Amber and the founder of Jaipur, to make corrections in the astronomical tables. The task took him seven years after which he built constructed five astronomical observatories in west and central India including Jantar Mantar in Jaipur between 1727 and 1734. The name 'Jantar Mantar' was derived from the Sanskrit words- 'Yantra Mantra' meaning instruments and formulae.Legend says that the emissaries, who were sent by Jai Singh to various corners of the world, brought manuals and astronomical tables including La Hire's "Tables", on the basis of which the observatory in Jaipur was constructed.
Since brass instruments could not be used in this observatory, the style of the Arab astronomer, Prince Ulugh Beg, famous for building the observatory at Samarkand in Uzbekistan, was followed.
Features of Jantar Mantar in Jaipur
- Each instrument of the observatory was introduced for a specific function like measuring local time, the sun's declination, altitude, declination of stars, planets and eclipses.
- Samrat Yantra is a sundial marked with hours and minutes with which you can calculate time by observing the positions the shadow of the curved structure on both sides of the yantra.
- While t he Dhruva Yantra locates the position of the Zodiac signs and the Pole Star, the Narivalya Yantra is a sundial with two dials for calculating time on the basis of movement of the sun.
- Jai Singh's seat or Kranti Yantra measure the longitude and latitude of the extraterrestrial bodies
- Raj Yantra or the King of Instruments is used annually to calculate the Hindu calendar
- Unnsyhsmsa yantra offers the altitudes of the heavenly bodies and the Chakra yantra provides the angle of an object from the equator
- Dakshina yantra, finds out the position and movement of heavenly bodies when they pass over the meridian
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