The Jantar Mantar, Jaipur is the world’s largest stone sundial. The name Jantar is derived from yantra a Sanskrit word, that means “instrument, machine”, and Mantar derived from mantrana, another Sanskrit word that means “consult, calculate”. It is a collection of 19 astronomical instruments built by the Rajput king Sawai Jai Singh II, the founder of Jaipur, Rajasthan. Historical accounts say that, in 1719, Moghul emperor Mohammad Shah was leaving for an expedition. But planets, weren’t in “right” spot in the night sky. This misalignment due to failed predictions spurred Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II to build a series of observatories including Jantar Mantar that was completed between 1728 and 1734, now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The sundial is part of the golden triangle in Jaipur, the other two being Jaipur City Palace and Hawa Mahal.
The sundial was meant to observers of astronomical studies watch sun’s positions with the naked eye. The monument features instruments that operate in each of the three main classical celestial coordinate systems; namely the horizon-zenith local system, the equatorial system, and the ecliptic system.
Booking.comThe Kanmala Yantraprakara works with two systems and allows transformation of the coordinates directly from one system to the other. The Jantar Mantar was declared a national monument in 1948. It is one of the five sundial’s built by Sawai Jai Singh II, the founder of Jaipur; with the other being in Delhi, Varanasi, Ujjain, and Mathura. It was used to determine the position of celestial objects, and match with the positions calculated on the table called Zij-i Muhammad Shahi. The sundial helped create a more accurate Zij table that were continuously used in India for over a century.
After Jai Singh’s death the Jantar Mantar was either falling in disuse or in active use but was routinely maintained by Jaipur rulers. The monument suffered many damages in the 19th century and was restored under the supervision of Major Arthur Garrett, an amateur astronomer, during his appointment as Assistant State Engineer for the Jaipur District. Pratap Singh, a descendent of Sawai Jai Singh II, however, built Bhairav temple inside the premises and used the observatory as a gun factory. The nineteen instruments in the observatory are used for measuring time, predicting eclipses, track location of major stars as earth orbits sun, ascertaining declinations of planets, and determining celestial altitudes and related ephemerides.
The instruments used in the sundial are named as per Veda and Sanskrit scriptures and as follows:-
- Chakra Yantra measures time 4 times a day. It still matches the Greenwich time accurately to this day.
- Dakshin Bhitti Yantra measures meridian, altitude and zenith distances of celestial bodies.
- Digamsha Yantra calculates the time of sunrise and sunset.
- Disha Yantra
- Dhruva Darshak Pattika, observe and finds the location of pole star with respect to other celestial bodies.
- Jai Prakash Yantra are two hemispherical bowl-based sundials that map inverted images of sky and allow the observer to take astronomical measurements.
- Kapali Yantra measures coordinates of celestial bodies in azimuth and equatorial systems.
- Kanali Yantra
- Kranti Vritta Yantra measures longitude and latitude of celestial bodies.
- Laghu Samrat Yantra is the smaller sundial, inclined at 27 degrees, to measure time.
- Misra Yantra is a compilation of five different instruments.
- Nadi Valaya Yantra are two sundials on different faces of the instrument representing north and south hemispheres and are used to measure time to an accuracy of less than a minute till date.
- Palbha Yantra
- Rama Yantra is used to find altitude and azimuth of sun.
- Rashi Valaya Yantra are 12 gnomon dials that measure ecliptic coordinates of stars, planets and all 12 constellation.
- Shastansh Yan0tra is an instrument with 60-degree arc built in the meridian plane within a dark chamber. It is used to measure the zenith distance, declination, and diameter of Sun through sun’s pinhole image that falls on a scale inside the chamber.
- Unnatamsa Yantra is a metal ring divided into four segments with a hole in the middle is used to measure altitude of celestial bodies.
- Vrihat Samrat Yantra is the world’s largest sundial, and is used to measure time in intervals of 2 seconds using shadow cast from sun. It is 27 meters (90 feet) tall, and is so large that its shadow moves at a speed of 1 millimeter per second, meaning move 6 centimeter or 2 1/3 inches every minute.
- Yantra Raj Yantra is a 2.43-metre bronze astrolabe. One of the largest in the world, it is used only once a year, to calculate the Hindu calendar.
The sundial was built using local stone and marble. Each instrument has an astronomical scale, marked on the marble inner lining. Bronze tablets, bricks and mortar were also used in building the instruments. Jantar Mantar is managed under Archeological Sites and Monuments Act of Rajasthan since 1961, and protected as a National Monument of Rajasthan since 1968.
Jantar Mantar in Jaipur remains open from 9:00 am to 4: 30 pm all seven days of the week. Generally, visitors can see the whole Jantar Mantar monument in a guided tour that lasts between 30 to 45 minutes. However, best time to visit Jantar Mantar is around noon time. This is because during mid-day, when the sun is almost vertically above head. This makes it easier to understand/interpret readings of each instrument.
Entry fee of Jantar Mantar, Jaipur is just INR 50/person for Indians and INR 200/per person for foreigners. Entry fee for Indian students is INR 15/person and for International students it is INR 25/person. Students can avail this discount by showing any valid ID proof. In order to boost tourism of Jantar Mantar, Jaipur government is taking several steps. One of them is a 45-minute light and sound show that has been started in the past years. The timings of this light and sound show changes according to season and is educational in a simple manner.
During winter season from October to Feb, the show starts 6:30 pm onwards. During peak summer of March and April, the show starts 7:00 pm onwards, and during rainy season of May to September the show starts from 7:30 pm onwards. The light and sound show pays a tribute to the ingenuity of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, who was an astute politician, mathematician, and town planner par excellence. He engaged himself with scientifically oriented adventures, even during politically turbulent times.
The episodes narrated in the show describe the making of Jantar Mantar and the need felt by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II to shift the Kachwaha capital from Amber to the new capital city of Jaipur. The episodes also include stories about important astronomical finding done using these instruments that are described using graphical imagery, scintillating light effects and evocative music. The monument is an exemplification of architectural innovations that was built on ideas from different religious and social beliefs in 18th-century India.
