Constructed in 1724, Jantar Mantar’s sole purpose is to predict the astronomical movements and astrology. Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, is one among five such structures built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur in Rajasthan. As Mughal Emperor Muhammed Shah offered the Maharaja of revising the astronomical tables and calendar, he established architectural structures containing 13 astronomy devices in it. Rest of the five structures can be found in Jaipur, Varanasi, Ujjain and Mathura all designated with same name “Jantar Mantar”.
Samrat Yantra is a 70 feet high, 114 feet long and 10 feet thick giant triangular sundial. Its hypotenuse faces North Pole and other two sides have various marks indicating hours, minutes and Seconds. This instrument serves as precision tool measuring declination and relative coordinates of heavenly bodies.
Jayaprakash Yantra looks like a hollowed hemisphere. You can see the graduations on the concave surfaces and a crosswire connecting the rim’s edge. These wires can be altered and thus a position of star can be aligned with different window edges.
Instrument used for calculating shortest and longest day of a year is termed as Misra Yantra. The astonishing feature of this instrument is that by using it, one can easily predict the exact moment of noon all over world, no matter at what distance the location is from Delhi.
THINGS TO KNOW
Historical, Heritage, Monument
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