Jantar Mantar, New Delhi
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| Misra Yantra |
Many of us who have lived in Delhi would have passed this historical site repeatedly without really knowing what exactly it is and the significance of its creation. I would pass by Jantar Mantar, located in New Delhi's Parliament Street often and spare a glance at the nearest visible structure thinking maybe one day it would be worth a visit. In fact, I've done that for most of New Delhi's monuments in the last 10 years and as a result, missed out on the extremely rich and interesting cultural heritage of the city. A mistake I plan to rectify immediately!
It took a visit to the Taj Mahal with my young son, which got him totally fascinated with historical monuments around the world and going through the literature with him, the enthusiasm in turn rubbed off on me. It was then that I realized that the Jantar Mantar is actually an observatory with a set of four main astromical structures to measure time and the movement and alignments of celestial bodies like the sun, moon and other planets.
The name Jantar Mantar was derived from the words Yantra, meaning instruments and Mantra, meaning formula. The observatory was one of five built across northern India by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur and construction seems to have started in 1724, the exact dates unknown. The site comprises four Yantras and has a total of 13 instruments made in red sandstone.
The Ram Yantras, comprises of two circular stone buildings without ceilings quite resembling the colosseum in Rome. This instrument is used to measure the vertical (altitude) and horizontal position of the stars. The twelve stone triangles fixed a bit above the ground within this structure shows the movement of the stars.
The Samrat Yantra is the large sundial measuring time.
The Jai Prakash Yantra, shaped like two bowls, sees the position of a celestial object and determines local time among other things. It makes observations at night too.
The Misra Yantra, the most strikingly shaped one synonymous with the site has a central sundial and two arcs on either side of it and is a combination of five instruments. This was used to measure noon in different cities around the world and was the only one not built by Jai Singh but his son Madho Singh. The structure also determined the shortest and longest days of the year.
I must honestly admit that this was one of the hardest posts to write and took a really long time and my head spun trying to translate all the various functions in a manner that people including me would understand as well as maintain accuracy. Not much official information is out there which can be translated to something understandable by anyone who can read English. All the other sites I trawled trying to get a concise understanding of the functions of the various instruments had differing explanations.
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| Samrat Yantra |
The Samrat Yantra is the large sundial measuring time.
The Jai Prakash Yantra, shaped like two bowls, sees the position of a celestial object and determines local time among other things. It makes observations at night too.
The Misra Yantra, the most strikingly shaped one synonymous with the site has a central sundial and two arcs on either side of it and is a combination of five instruments. This was used to measure noon in different cities around the world and was the only one not built by Jai Singh but his son Madho Singh. The structure also determined the shortest and longest days of the year.
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| Ram Yantras |
It would have been a wonderful experience had there been some literature about it on site or headsets with recorded information. There's nothing but steel boards next to each instrument describing it in a way that only Sheldon of the Big Bang Theory would understand or get excited about. The information above, I've collated from various sites on the internet like Wikipedia and tried to put it across in the most simple way possible but unfortunately my attempts at providing more information failed.
Otherwise there are tour guides offering their services for a fee but the whole thing being unregulated, I generally avoid them because I don't really know whether they're really giving you facts or making up a whole bunch of fiction for the gullible tourist.
The structures are in mild disrepair. Entry into them is not permitted, at least it wasn't on the day I went. The accuracy of the readings apparently have also gone because of the tall buildings surrounding the site. Wish the government would do more to preserve these historical jewels and maintain them in a manner that would ensure visitor delight and appreciation of the truly wondrous history and culture of our land.
Otherwise there are tour guides offering their services for a fee but the whole thing being unregulated, I generally avoid them because I don't really know whether they're really giving you facts or making up a whole bunch of fiction for the gullible tourist.
The structures are in mild disrepair. Entry into them is not permitted, at least it wasn't on the day I went. The accuracy of the readings apparently have also gone because of the tall buildings surrounding the site. Wish the government would do more to preserve these historical jewels and maintain them in a manner that would ensure visitor delight and appreciation of the truly wondrous history and culture of our land.
