The Timeless Jantar Mantar

We are students of Shah International School. We travelled to Jaipur with a team of Journey Mentors from EdTerra Edventures. We were divided into teams on the journey. There were four members in our team – Ayushman Choudary, Ranveer Singh, Pratyaksh Sehgal and Paras Chopra.

We studied many things on this journey. Jantar Mantar was commissioned by the genius Sawai Jai Singh II. There are five Jantar Mantar in India – New Delhi, Varanasi, Jaipur, Ujjain and Mathura. Jantar means ‘instrument’ and Mantar means ‘calculation’. There are many instruments in Jantar Mantar used for calculating the position of astronomical objects. The Brihat Samrat Yantra is the largest sundial in the world that measures the time to an accuracy of 2 seconds. The base of its gnomon is 44 metres in length. It is believed that Indian astrologers still gather at the Samrat Yantra on the full moon days of June and July to study the movement and direction of the wind, which they believe helps them forecast the rains in the coming three months. Jai Prakash Yantra also helps in the calculation of time.

The first thing we observed was that the Jantar Mantar is still working properly even after being made in 1729. We believe that Sawai Jai Singh was very creative. We learnt that technology is not very important as the Jantar Mantar, made in 1729 can do high calculations as well.

Written by Ayushman, Paras, Pratyaksh & Ranveer (Shah International School,  Paschim Vihar).

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EdTerra Edventures conducts various other programs for the youth. If you go to school and are under 17 years of age, ask your school to contact us to arrange a visit to your school for an introduction to “Jaipur: Make an Impression” and other journeys under EdTerra’s India Discovery Program.

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