The Timeless Jantar Mantar

Between 1724 to 1730, Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur constructed five Jantar Mantars, located in New Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura, and Varanasi. The name ‘Jantar Mantar’ originated from Sanskrit, where ‘Jantar’ comes from ‘yantra,’ which means instrument or machine, and ‘mantar,’ comes from the verb ‘mantrana,’ which means to consult or compute.. Jantar Mantar, Jaipur is one the largest out of the five and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The monument is a massive array of nineteen astronomical instruments that spans an area of around eighteen thousand and seven hundred square metres and was built out of local stone and marble.

The Brihat Samrat Yantra is the world’s largest stone sundial and gives the local time an accuracy of two secs. It is called the “supreme instrument” and the main function of this yantra is to indicate local time. The primary purpose of building these observatories was to compile astronomical tables and ascertain the relative positions of the sun, the moon, and the planets. The Jantar Mantar features many instruments such as Samrat Yantra, Jai Prakash Yantra, Rama Yantra, Yantra Raj, Laghu Samrat Yantra, and Narivalya. Each of these instruments is used for various astronomical calculations. The desire for precision and the capacity to compare readings from various coordinates led to the decision to construct numerous Jantar Mantars that are at great distances from one another. Jantar Mantar was made to calculate approximate time in earlier times using shadow. Overall, it had amazing instruments.

Written by Akshat, Sarthak Shreya, Vanshika (Delhi Public School, Sector 132, Noida).

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