Amanda Lang, Charissa Medrano, Dea Permana, Erika Arriola

Jantar Mantar

Overview
The Jantar Mantars are astronomical observatories constructed at five sites in west-central India between 1724 and 1735.¹  The first observatory was built at Delhi (shown here), followed by Mathura, Ujjain, Varanasi and Jaipur.¹  These are open-air sites containing massive masonry instruments, called yantras, that are large enough to make astronomical observations with the naked eye.¹

Cultural Context
Astronomy and cosmology were strongly linked to religious and philosophical beliefs in 18th-century India.  It was widely believed that the gods communicated through celestial phenomena such as the movement and position of the stars.²  The accuracy of astronomical observations was deemed crucial as they impacted all aspects of life, from the scheduling of religious rituals and agricultural practices to decisions about marriage, succession or waging war.³
Arts and architectural works at the time were almost exclusively commissioned by the ruling Mughal emperors as expressions of social status.⁴  The Jantar Mantars were built to improve decision-making by correcting key astronomical records, such as the Table of Zij, and to create places for cosmological practitioners to gather.⁵

Design & Construction
Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the regional ruler credited with building the Jantar Mantars, was an astronomer, a mathematician, a planner, and a scholar.⁶  He secured commissions from the Mughal Emperor to build the instruments after uncovering troubling discrepancies in existing astronomical records.⁶
Although telescopes were available, these massive instruments were favored in order to promote Indian religious and philosophical virtues such as interconnectedness, decentralization, and multiple uses.¹  Enabling observers to scan the skies as a whole, orient themselves with particular celestial objects, and deepen their relationship with the universe promoted interconnectedness.¹  Instrument design that required minimal training for use and allowed anyone to develop their own powers of observation and analysis served to decentralize access to knowledge.¹  Multiple-use was incorporated by ensuring each instrument could be used to take a variety of readings.¹  The construction of the Jantar Mantars was precise, using materials with perfect stability and paying close attention to geometry, location, and latitude.⁷  The composition of each instrument was based on the highly-respected Ptolemaic structure of positional astronomy.⁵  Although relatively unadorned, architectural details such as ogee arches, sandstone, and marble reflected the traditional Mughal style of architecture.⁴

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MISRA YANTRA
Well known for its ‘heart shaped form’, the Misra Yantra utilizes five instruments that work
together to identify the longest and shortest days of the year.¹  It is also capable of indicating noon
in various locations, regardless of their distance from the Dehli site.¹  It is the only instrument
that was not constructed by Jai Singh II, but by his son after his passing.¹

SAMRAT YANTRA
Also known as the “Supreme Instrument,” the Samrat Yantra is a large equinoctial sundial.¹  It measures time precisely to an accuracy of two seconds.¹  It is approximately 70 ft. high and 10 ft.thick with a triangle-shaped body called the gnomon in the centre.¹  On a sunny day when the sun passes, the shadow cast by the gnomon falls onto the scale of the quadrants which indicates the time in hours, minutes, and seconds.¹  The one in Jaipur is considered the world’s largest sundial.¹

JAI PRAKASH YANTRA
The Jai Prakash Yantra is two hollowed out hemispheres with different markings on the interior surface.¹ Each bowl shape has a crosswire and sighting plate across the top which allows the observer to make observations from below the instrument.¹ It can also provide the coordinates of celestial objects in the sky.¹

RAMA YANTRA
The Rama Yantra consists of two large cylindrical structures that measure the altitude of the stars and planets and the azimuth (the angle between North around the observer’s horizon and a celestial body).¹