Jantar Mantar, Jaipur, India

Jantar Mantar, Jaipur, India

If you follow astronomy, you've probably been watching the planets Jupiter and Venus put on a spectacular light show in the night sky as they draw together for their once-in-a -life-time conjunction on March 15.  What does that have to do with the collection of odd-looking structures to above? They look rather like a post-modern playground or the beginnings of a Dadaist Disneyland, don't they?
         Actually, it's an astronomical observatory.  Where's the telescope? There isn't any.  Built between 1727 and 1734 by Jaipur's Maharaja Jai Sing II, the Jantar Mantar was not intended to help astronomers to get a closer view of the stars, rather it was a means of keeping tabs on celestial movements. The name Jantar Mantar can be translated from Hindi as "instrument [for] calculation." The structures of the observatory were designed to pinpoint planetary conjunctions, eclipses, solstices, and other astronomical events.  Combined with Vedic astrology, this information enabled the Maharaja to pick the most auspicious day for everything from getting married to invading a nearby province.
     Astrology aside, however, the Jantar Mantar is a masterpiece of geometrical planning.

Samrat Yantar the Supreme Sundial

The triangle at right is the world's largest sundial.  Called the Samrat Yantra, or Supreme Instrument, it stands 88.5 feet high and is accurate within a range of 2 seconds.  Tourists are sometimes mesmerized just by watching the shadow sweep around at a steady pace of 1 millimeter per second, or about 2.4 inches per minute.
   Though the Jantar Mantar fell into disrepair during the 19th century, it was fortunately saved by British military engineer Arthur Garrett who undertook the first restoration in 1901.  The state of India declared it a protected monument in 1968 and it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010.  Today it is one of Japuir's most popular attractions.  And it's still used by local students to study astronomy.  How cool is that?

Links:
If you want to know more about the Jantar Mantar of Jaipur and other similar structures visit JantarMantar.org, the site maintained by Barry Perlus, Professor of Art at Cornell University.  Be sure to look at his time-lapse videos of the Samrat Yantra! The ever-interesting Web Urbanist has a great article with a collection of pictures and the  World Heritage page has some excellent background information, too.

Photo Credit: Unesco World Heritage