Jantar Mantar Observatory
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Frederic, Louis
Photographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham
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In the foreground, on the right, a Jai Prakash Yantra
in the background, two Ram Yantras. In 1734, the Maharaja of Jaipur, who was passionate[ly] interested in astronomical research, decided to verify the tables and calculations established 300 years earlier by Ulugh Beg of Samarkand. Rejecting such bronze instruments as the astrolabe, which he found inaccurate, he had 5 observatories built, in Delhi, Benares, Ujjain and Jaipur, where he replaced the known instruments by instruments of marble and concrete of his own invention. The principal instruments which Maharaja Jai Singh invented were the Samrat Yantra, for measuring solar time, the Ram Yantra, for measuring altitudes, and the azimuths of stars, and the Jai Prakash Yantra, for demonstrating the laws of spheres and showing the apparent movement of the sun. These monuments, built in red sandstone and marble, allow measurements of great precision. -- View from the top of the Samrat Yantra.
in the background, two Ram Yantras. In 1734, the Maharaja of Jaipur, who was passionate[ly] interested in astronomical research, decided to verify the tables and calculations established 300 years earlier by Ulugh Beg of Samarkand. Rejecting such bronze instruments as the astrolabe, which he found inaccurate, he had 5 observatories built, in Delhi, Benares, Ujjain and Jaipur, where he replaced the known instruments by instruments of marble and concrete of his own invention. The principal instruments which Maharaja Jai Singh invented were the Samrat Yantra, for measuring solar time, the Ram Yantra, for measuring altitudes, and the azimuths of stars, and the Jai Prakash Yantra, for demonstrating the laws of spheres and showing the apparent movement of the sun. These monuments, built in red sandstone and marble, allow measurements of great precision. -- View from the top of the Samrat Yantra.
Keywords
Mughal Architecture-- Mughal period Delhi, architecture, landscape
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Basham Collection
Date created
1959
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This item is provided for research purposes. Contact the Australian National University Archives at butlin.archives@anu.edu.au for permission to use.
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