Jantar Mantar (Jaipur)

Jantar Mantar (Sanskrit, translated: " Magical Device") is the name of five historical astronomical observatories that Maharaja Jai Singh II 1724-1734 was built in Delhi, Ujjain, Mathura, Varanasi and Jaipur. As models were Nasir al- Din al - Tusi's observatory in Maragha and Ulugh Beg Observatory in Samarkand.

In all of these observatories, the scales were still further increased to achieve a precise angle reading. This way also Tycho Brahe had trod with his mural quadrant in his observatory on the island of Hven. In the following time you sat in Europe but on precision engineering, that is, more accurate markings of small instruments, and on the telescope.

Name

The name Jantar Mantar is derived from yantra and mantra instrument formula or calculation. Therefore the name means literally Jantar Mantar rake tool.

Jantar Mantar in Jaipur

Location: 26 ° 55 ' 28 " N, 75 ° 49' 27" O26.92457141944475.824257136111

The largest of these facilities was built after the model of the observatory in Delhi in the new capital of Jaipur from 1727 to 1733. It houses 14 by astronomical considerations designed buildings. These are, among others, the measurement of time, the prediction of eclipses, the observation of the planetary orbits, the determination of astronomical height and declination and the preparation of ephemerides. The largest building is the Samrat Jantar, a sundial with a height of 27m, which can display the time at about 2s accurate.

The system was restored in 1901 and declared a National Monument of India in 1948. 2010, the observatory was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Jantar Mantar in Delhi

The observatory in Delhi was built from 1724 and is the first of the five of Jai Singh II built facilities. The data served not only to pure astronomy but also the astrological tendencies of the ruler.

Jantar Mantar in Ujjain

The observatory at Ujjain, one of the seven sacred cities of India, was built on the longitude, to the immemorial all Hindu astronomers refer the ephemeris: 75.78 ° East (relative to Greenwich). It corresponds to our zero meridian by the Royal Greenwich Observatory. You can see even the sundial Vedha Shala.