Jantar Mantar

The Jantar Mantar, Jaipur, is an astronomical observation site built in the early 18th century. It includes a set of some twenty main fixed instruments. They are monumental examples in masonry of known instruments but which in many cases have specific characteristics of their own. The Jantar Mantar is an expression of the astronomical skills and cosmological concepts of the court of a scholarly prince at the end of the Mughal period.

The Jantar Mantar observatory in Jaipur constitutes the most significant and best preserved set of fixed monumental instruments built in India in the first half of the 18th century; some of them are the largest ever built in their categories. Designed for the observation of astronomical positions with the naked eye, they embody several architectural and instrumental innovations. The observatory forms part of a tradition of Ptolemaic positional astronomy which was shared by many civilizations. It contributed by this type of observation to the completion of the astronomical tables of Zij. It is a late and ultimate monumental culmination of this tradition.

Through the impetus of its creator, the prince Jai Singh II, the observatory was a meeting point for different scientific cultures, and gave rise to widespread social practices linked to cosmology. It was also a symbol of royal authority, through its urban dimensions, its control of time, and its rational and astrological forecasting capacities. The observatory is the monumental embodiment of the coming together of needs which were at the same time political, scientific, and religious.

History of Jantar Mantar
Sawai Jai Singh was an accomplished scholar himself and was commissioned the task of confirming and rectifying the current data available on the movement of celestial bodies by Emperor Muhammad Shah. Jai Singh wanted to refine the ancient Islamic zij tables so that the exact hour of the day could be determined. Eventually, he wanted to define a precise calendar and make accurate astrological predictions for both individual and social benefit. To achieve this, he decided to build Jantar Mantar in the year 1718. He made extensive studies on the astronomical principles of Hindu, European, Islamic and Persian civilizations and built five different observatories across North India. The construction of Jaipur's Jantar Mantar took place in the period between 1727 and 1733 and was renovated time and again. The instruments here were built such that they covered a very wide range of cosmological applications which further accelerated developments in this field. It got featured on UNESCO's list of World Heritage in the year 2010 and has been an even greater attraction ever since.

The architecture of Jantar Mantar Jaipur –
The astronomical observatory of Jaipur – Jantar Mantar, is a collection of both astronomical and architectural instruments. In all, you may find around 19 major geometrical devices here. Each one of them has got its own specific application. These devices are used to measure time; ascertain the declination of the planets and the planetary system; prediction of the eclipses; determination of the celestial altitudes, and tracking of the orbital stars.

Sheltering so many instruments, the entire observatory extends to a land stretch of 18700 metres. Interestingly, some of the instruments available here are amongst the largest in their own species. The instruments of this astronomical observatory were carved out purely from stone and marble as they have got a tremendous potential to withstand climatic changes. Some of them were designed by Raja Sawai Jai Singh II himself. A few of these instruments were carved out from copper and still are recognised for their undeniable accuracy. In terms of its dimensions, the Jantar Mantar at Jaipur is the largest of all its counterparts present elsewhere in India.