Jantar Mantar is an astronomical observatory situated in the heart of the capital city of India – Delhi. This is a phenomenal marvel of architectural brilliance whose shape represents a big sundial. Since its construction, this observatory has seemingly contributed to the study of both time and space. Maharaja Jai Singh laid the foundation stone for constructing this magnificent structure in the year 1724. Likewise, today, we have four more observatories situated in the cities of Varanasi, Jaipur, Mathura, and Ujjain.
The primary aim underlying the construction of this massive observatory was the preparation of astronomical charts. These were then used to track the local time zones by keeping an eye on the movement and transitions of the sun, the moon and the different planets that constitute our solar system. It thus follows that a highly precious observatory of the ancient past never fails to surprise the technology-influenced astronomers and researchers.
The Delhi’s Jantar Mantar has a got a whopping height of around 723 feet and is comprised of different astronomical instruments totalling to a count of 13 units. Amongst these, the most precious and widely acknowledged ones are – Samrat Yantra, Misra Yantra, Ram Yantra, and Jai Prakash Yantra. The sundial, which forms the chief attraction here, is highly influenced by the ancient Egyptian Ptolemaic Structure. It strictly adheres to the sequential celestial orders of the local arrangement of the equatorial, ecliptic, and the horizontal-zenith planes.
Thus, Delhi’s Jantar Mantar brings close the three different dimensions of belief, universe, and society. It conjoins the aspects of astronomical skills with cosmological concepts arising out of the court of a scholarly prince.