Jantar Mantar

Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh's II very own..

The capital city, Jaipur seems to encapsulate all the magic of Rajasthan. The majestic Amber Fort, the delicate Hawa Mahal, the City Palace with its famous museum housing some exquisite miniature paintings, the bustling bazaars, with entire roads selling fabrics in tie - and - dye, ikkat, block-prints, gold and silver brocade, the unique sights and sounds that characterise this place.all invite and seduce the traveller. But apart from these, the mesmerising city of Jaipur is the prized owner of one of the most timeless and culturally independent pieces of architecture in the world - the Jantar Mantar.

The monument was named so because of the huge masonry instruments that were kept here to measure the harmony of the heavens. It was conceived by Sawai Raja Jai Singh II as a quest for discovering the mysteries of the cosmos. The purpose to built this great piece of architecture was not only to verify the astronomical observations made at Jaipur but also to stimulate people's interest in astronomy and to free the masses from the clutches of superstition and religious jargon.
Jantar Mantar - No Magician's Mantra
It took about seven years from 1728 to 1734 to complete the structure. Each instrument that forms a part of this observatory is used for a particular purpose. The Samrat Yantra is a large sundial that looks like a triangular structure and is marked with hours and minutes. The arc at the left shows the time from sunrise to midday while the arc at the right side shows the time from midday to sunset. The time is read by observing where the shadow is sharpest at the time. The sundials have been constructed on latitude 27o north and to adjust the reading to the Indian standard Time (IST), one has to add anything between 1 minute 15 seconds to 32 minutes according to the time of year and solar position.

The Dhruva Yantra is used to locate the position of 12 Zodiac signs and also the Pole Star at night. In addition to all these there are several other instruments here that muses the tourists who hail to the city of Jaipur from all parts of India and abroad.

The De Facto
Location - Jaipur
Built In - 1724
Best Time To Visit - Mid September to March
Timings - 9 am to 4.30 pm
Entrance Tariff - Rs. 10
Access
Jaipur is 262 kms. from Delhi, and is well connected by road, rail and air from all over the country.
Air:
The Jaipur Airport is called Sanganer Airport . There are domestic flight connections to Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jodhpur and Udaipur. There is a single international flight to Dubai.
Train:
Connections are from Delhi, Agra, Mumbai ,Chennai, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Ahmedabad. Well connected from other states like UP, MP .
Road:
A convenient mode of travel to Jaipur is by road. Regular bus service of AC and Deluxe Coaches are available.

Did You Know?

• The Jantar Mantar of Jaipur is one of the five observatories built by Sawai Jai Singh II.
• The period when these observatories were built was termed as the dark age of the Indian history as the last Mughal emperor had died and the Mughal empire was declining.
• Jai Singh adopted the style of renowned Arab astronomer Prince Ulugh Beg, builder of the famous 15th-century observatory at Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
• It was Aurangzeb who gave the title of Sawai to Jai Singh II, the title meant one and a quarter of an average man in worth.
• The Jantar Mantar remained operational only for seven years.