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Jantar Mantar
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Jantar Mantar Description : |
 Maharaja Jai Singh's observatory
Jantar Mantar, is located near the
junction of Parliament street and Connaught Circus. Built with the
main objective of standardizing almanacs, the place is filled with
huge concrete astronomical innovations, this international sports
stadium is also served by a network of specially built flyovers.
Jantar Mantar is an astronomical observatory with masonary
instruments, built in 1724 by Jai Singh, the mathematician and
astronomer king. The Samrat and Yantra supreme instrument, the largest
structure shaped like a right-angled triangle, is actually a huge
sun-dial; the other five instruments are intented to show he movements
of the sun, moon etc.
The Jantar Mantar of Delhi is only one of the five observatories built
by Sawai Jai Singh II, the other four being located at Jaipur,
Varanasi, Ujjain and Mathura. All of these were built as far back as
AD 1724-1730 during the period generally known as the dark age of
Indian history, when the last great Mughal emperor Aurangzeb had died
and the Mughal Empire was rapidly declining.
During this period of turmoil, Muhammad Shah ascended the throne of
the Mughal Empire. As many enemies surrounded him, he sought the
alliance of the Hindu rulers. Of these, the most notable was Sawai Jai
Singh II of Amber, who came into limelight since the days of Aurangzeb.
When Jai Singh ascended the throne of Amber in 1699, he was barely
eleven, but sharp and shrewd far beyond his years.
The then Mughal emperor Aurangzeb was so impressed with the young
ruler that he gave Jai Singh II the title of 'Sawai', meaning one and
a quarter of an average man in worth. As Jai Singh repeatedly proved
himself a worthy ally of the Mughals, Muhammad Shah, who was seeking a
dependable ally, zeroed in on Jai Singh and duly raised him to the
rank of governor of Agra and later, of Malwa. |
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