Magical Jantar Mantar……..

Jantar Mantar was constructed by Maharajah Jai Singh II of Jaipur during 1727 and 1734 He constructed five astronomical observatories in west central India. The observatories are nothing but “Jantar Mantar”. Jantar Mantar is one of the most timeless and culturally independent pieces of architecture in the world. It is a place of religion and science still in its own unsecularized integrity. It can be only comparable with the witnesses in stone of the archaic cultures.
The Jantar-Mantar is in a Sanskrit world translated from “Magical Device”.

These Jantar Mantar incorporate multiple buildings of unique form, each having a specialized function for astronomical measurement. These structures have striking combinations of geometric forms at large scale, which can captured the attention of architects, artists, and art historians world  and art historians world wide, but then alsoit is largely unknown to the general public.

Jantar Mantar  provides the observatories to all public through a variety of media and information sources, making it possible to explore and learn about these historic sites. It provide these through interactive panoramic “VR” photographs, time lapse sequences, and 3D models as well as articles, drawings, and historic texts.  It is a one of the comprehensive resource for exploration of the observatories in depth.

Jai Singh has designed Jaipur, whose structure shows an ancient idealistic Hindu doctrine. The city is mainly divided into seven rectangular areas, which follows the caste system and preordination. The 7th rectangular area which was most centered area lies the Palace, which houses the womens chambers and the holiest sanctum. In this holy area Jai Singh created  the Jantar Mantar, which is not a temple.

As shown above picture the observatory consists of oversized stone observation devices. These observation devices get a good degree of accuracy due to their enormous dimensions. Out of its five observatories, it is the biggest observatories built by Jai Sing II. The most significant observatories which can built by famous Ulugh Begh (1394-1449) in Samarkand has been an inspiring example for Jai Singh. But his instruments for development of observatories are unique as concerns precision, size and architectural perfection. After 120 years also the invention of the telescope they still provided amazingly results.

These Jantar mantar consist of different types of Yantra. Each yantra has its own features & it tell something intresting. We see one by one in detail as below……….

Jai Prakash Yantra:

There is a Jai Prakash Yantra consisting of hemispheres as shown in above picture. This is a multi-purpose  instrument. It tells the time,again measures the coordinates of celestial bodies, and it also tells the zodiac symbol of the day.

Above one is view from the big sundial to the small sundial.

And below one is bottom left one of the twelve zodiac gnomes.

Next  is closer view of one of the hemisphere…

It’s possible to climb inside between the slabs.These set of hemispheres are present in the ground. Basically it is one marble hemisphere set in the ground about 4 metres in diameter. Which can be itself a master piece. Here above a cross a metal ring is applied. Coordinate lines are covered inside the surface. There is a magic behind this coordinate lines.That magic is during the day time the shadow of the metal ring allows to read the exact position of the sun on the coordinate lines, and of course the time. During the night time a simple tube was used as a sighting device for observation.

Laghu Samrat Yantra ( Small Sundial):

The small Sun dial is also called as Laghu Samrat Yantra. It is the instrument used for time calculation. From one side wall is inclined at an angle of 27 which is equivalent to latitude of jaipur.  To find out the declination angle of the sun, it is graduated to the scale of tangent.

There are two quadrants, on each side of gnomon. These quadrants indicates time. The left quadrants for time in the morning and right quadrants for afternoon. Both the left & right quadrants are divided by 6 hrs., 60 min. and each minute by 60 seconds. We find out the time of jaipur, by using the shadow of the gnomon which falls on one of the quadrants

The white arc at the left in above picture determines the time. These time is Jaipur local time.  Each town had its own time, before standard time, which was completely accurate, though out of step with other places.The small instrument on the right is called Dhruva Darshak Yantra. It is used to measure the position of the pole star.

Yantra Raj:

Yantra Raj is multi-function instrument. It is having fine engravings of longitudes, latitudes and planets. It is used to track planetary position and rotation speeds, which can determine the dates of eclipses.

It is made of 7 alloys to prevent expansion and contraction. Their is hole in the centre, which shows the position of Polaris. Using the instrument it is possible to calculate the dates of solar and lunar eclipses, Sun rise & set, moon rise and set etc….

Nadivalaya Yantra:

Nadivalaya Yantra is having two faces to this sundial, parallel to each other, one face is used when the sun is in the northern hemisphere & other face is used when sun is in the southern hemisphere.

Nadivalaya Yantra is instrument follows the passage of the sun between the northern and southern hemispheres. From March 21 to September 23 the sun is in the Northern hemisphere.And after that from September to March it’s in the southern hemisphere. When one side of the Nadivalaya Yantra is in the sun, the other, identical side is in the shadow.

Rasivalaya Yantra:

Rasivalaya Yantra is a set of 12 instruments. It was invented by Jai Singh. It is correspond to the signs of the zodiac.