Jantar Mantar, Jaipur

Jantar Mantar, Delhi was built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur within the year 1724. In fact, the king had established five observatories during his reign within the early 18th century and therefore the one in Delhi was the primary to be built among these five. the opposite four observatories are located in Jaipur, Varanasi, Ujjain, and Mathura.

The main objective of building the observatory was to assemble astronomical tables and to accurately predict the movements of the planets, moon, and sun. At that point, it had been a one-of-its-kind observatory to be inbuilt India. But by 1867, Jantar Mantar in Delhi underwent considerable decay. Much later, the govt of India took several initiatives to revive the heritage observatory and sell it as a tourist destination in Delhi.

The huge observatory contains a variety of astronomical structures and instruments, all of which are built entirely of masonry. These instruments were built using brick, limestone, and rubble, and eventually plastered. Another unique feature of Jantar Mantar, Delhi is that it's an outside observatory. All the instruments here are installed within the open instead of being enclosed within buildings or rooms.

Though the structures and instruments have stood the test of your time, they did need a touch of repairing and restoring over the years. But as of date, no significant alterations are made to those structures inside the Jantar Mantar in Delhi.

1. When this observatory was designed, the solarium was already in use. However, within this observatory, the Samrat Yantra transformed the original timekeeper into a precision instrument for deciding various factors related to heavenly bodies.
2. During the control of the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi, Jantar Mantar was used as a brand.
3. Instruments built and maintained within the observatory show intelligence that observers can note the positions of celestial objects with the naked eye. 
4. The observatory remained in operation for about seven years, during which all information was collated, calculated and handed over to the ruling king. However, it stopped giving accurate information after high-rise buildings were built around the structure.
5. The name Jantar Mantar is derived from 2 words jantra or yantra meaning instrument and mantra, which suggests to calculate. Thus once coined, these words mean "calculating instrument".

📅 Last update: 2024-06-20 || ✍ Author: Sandhya Chauhan

Meet Sandhya, exploring India with curiosity and wonder. She shares info and tips in simple language, inviting you to join the journey. She is graduated in tourism and writes about the places of India.