The Jantar Mantar observatory
of Jai Singh, Delhi
Pencil drawing, anonymous, 1826, British Library
Situated about two miles from Delhi, the Jantar Mantar, or Observatory,
consists of a scattered group of curiously shaped buildings suggestive
of the figures of a puzzle. At the request of Muhammad Shah, then
in the third year of his reign, the Observatory was erected by the
most famous astronomer of the age, Jai Singh II, Maharaja of Ambar
and founder of the noted city of Jaipur. Although the original design
was never completed, quite enough was done to prove considerable
astronomical skill. In evidence of this the great equatorial dial
still stands, its unusual dimensions having gained for it the title
of Samrat Yantar, or 'Prince of Dials'. Besides the immense gnomon
there are two on a smaller scale. The three are connected by a wall
on which a graduated semi-circle is described for measuring the
heights of objects lying due east or west.
Rather south of the Samrat Yantar are two round buildings open to
the sky, with a central column in each. These were designed for
observing the sun’s azimuth as well as lunar and stellar altitudes
and azimuths. The fact that one is the facsimile of the other is
attributed to a desire on Jai Singh’s part that observations made
in the first should be verified or corrected by others taken in
the second.
The Jantar Mantar sustained some damage at the hands pf Jats and
other invaders, but was restored by a descendant of Jai Singh II,
the Maharaja of Jaipur, in honour of King George’s visit to Delhi
in 1911. A large and complete Jantar Mantar exists within the palace
precincts at Jaipur.