Jantar Mantar, Jaipur

Topic: Regional Resistance: Rajputs, Ahoms, Sikhs · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Jantar Mantar, Jaipur, is an open-air astronomical observatory (a place to study the sky). It has about twenty large fixed instruments made of stone and masonry. Sawai Jai Singh II, the Kachhwaha Rajput ruler of Amber and founder of Jaipur, built it in the early 18th century (c. 1728–1734). It is the largest and best-preserved of his five observatories, has the world's largest stone sundial, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2010.

Explanation

Background: why a Rajput king built an observatory

Not every Rajput house resisted the Mughals. Mewar and Marwar are remembered for fighting the Mughals. The Kachhwahas of Amber chose a different path. From Akbar's time, they became close allies and high-ranking nobles of the Mughal empire.
Sawai Jai Singh II (ruled c. 1699–1743) came from this line. He served the Mughal emperors as a mansabdar (a noble holding an official rank in the Mughal service) and as a provincial governor.
"Sawai" means "one and a quarter". It was an honorific title. It suggested that the ruler was worth more than one ordinary man. By popular tradition, Aurangzeb gave him this title.
A practical problem drove him. The star tables and calendars of his day did not match what people actually saw in the sky. Calendars, festival dates and auspicious times all depended on these tables. Jai Singh wanted more accurate figures.
His solution was size. Small brass instruments gave errors. So he built huge masonry instruments, because a larger scale makes small readings easier to see.
His wider programme: he built five observatories, at Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura and Varanasi. The Delhi one came first (c. 1724). The Jaipur one, in his new capital city founded in 1727, is the largest.

Main features: the instruments

The name: "Jantar Mantar" comes from yantra (instrument) and mantra (formula or calculation). It means "instruments for calculation".
Materials: local stone and brick masonry, faced with lime plaster. A few instruments use marble and brass for the markings.
Samrat Yantra ("supreme instrument"): this is the giant sundial.
Its triangular gnomon (the part whose shadow tells the time) is about 27 metres tall.
It is the largest stone sundial in the world.
It tells local time to about 2 seconds.
Jai Prakash Yantra: two hollow bowls cut into the ground, like a mirror image of the sky. They show where the sun and stars are.
Ram Yantra: round, open structures that measure the height (altitude) and direction (azimuth) of a heavenly body.
Rashivalaya Yantra: a set of 12 instruments, one for each sign of the zodiac.
Other instruments measured eclipses, the positions of the planets, and the sun's declination (how far north or south of the equator the sun stands).

How it worked and what it produced

Naked-eye astronomy. There were no telescopes. Observers read shadows and sight-lines against scales cut into the stone.
A meeting of traditions. Jai Singh drew on three sources:
Indian jyotisha (traditional astronomy)
Persian-Islamic astronomy, especially the 15th-century observatory of Ulugh Beg at Samarkand
some European works, which he obtained through contacts
Result: new star tables. His work produced the Zij-i Muhammad Shahi, a set of astronomical tables named after the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah.
Later history: after Jai Singh died, the observatory fell into neglect. It was restored in the late 19th and early 20th centuries under the Jaipur state. Restoration work has continued since then.

Time, place and evidence

Period: early 18th century, in the late Mughal period, when regional rulers were gaining more freedom of action.
Ruler and dynasty: Sawai Jai Singh II, of the Kachhwaha Rajputs of Amber, later of Jaipur.
Place: in the old walled city of Jaipur, Rajasthan, next to the City Palace.
Related sites: his other observatories at Delhi, Ujjain, Mathura and Varanasi. The Mathura one no longer survives. Amber, the older Kachhwaha capital, has Amber Fort, one of the six Hill Forts of Rajasthan on the UNESCO list (2013). [1]
How we know:
the standing instruments themselves, with their stone scales
the Zij-i Muhammad Shahi star tables
records of the Jaipur court
the UNESCO World Heritage listing (2010)
Heritage status: UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed 2010. UNESCO describes it as the most important and best-preserved historic observatory of its kind in India.

Don't confuse with

Jantar Mantar, Delhi: also built by Jai Singh II, but earlier (c. 1724). It is not a UNESCO site. Only the Jaipur observatory is on the World Heritage List.
Amber Fort / Hill Forts of Rajasthan: Amber is a Kachhwaha fort. It is part of the Hill Forts of Rajasthan, a group of six sites inscribed in 2013. [1] Jantar Mantar is a separate observatory inscribed in 2010.
Kumbhalgarh Fort: built by Rana Kumbha of Mewar in the 15th century, with a 36 km wall. It is a defence site from the Rajput tradition of resisting the Mughals. Jantar Mantar is a 18th-century science site, built by a Kachhwaha ruler who allied with the Mughals.
Jaipur City (walled city): a separate UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed 2019) for the planned city Jai Singh founded. Jantar Mantar is a monument inside it, with its own 2010 listing.

Prelims Hooks

Jantar Mantar, Jaipur: built by Sawai Jai Singh II (Kachhwaha dynasty), c. 1728–1734.
UNESCO World Heritage Site: 2010. Do not mix it up with the Hill Forts of Rajasthan (2013). [1]
The five observatories of Jai Singh II: Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura, Varanasi. Jaipur is the largest, and Delhi was the earliest.
Samrat Yantra: the world's largest stone sundial, about 27 m high, at Jaipur.
Zij-i Muhammad Shahi: star tables prepared by Jai Singh II and named after Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah.
Trap: "Jantar Mantar used telescopes". False. All its instruments are naked-eye masonry instruments.

Mains Points

Science in the late Mughal age. Jantar Mantar shows that serious scientific work went on in 18th-century India.
It joined Indian, Persian-Islamic and some European astronomy.
This challenges the old view that the period after Aurangzeb was only a time of decline.
Useful for GS-I answers on Indian heritage and science and technology in medieval India.
Many Rajput responses to the Mughals. Mewar and Marwar stand for armed resistance. The Kachhwahas of Amber stand for alliance and service to the Mughals.
Jai Singh used his Mughal rank and resources to build Jaipur and its observatories.
This shows that the Rajput story is about both conflict and cooperation, not resistance alone.
Continuity and its limits. The observatory was a high point of naked-eye astronomy. But in Europe, telescopes were already changing astronomy at that time.
After Jai Singh's death the work was not carried on, and the instruments were neglected.
This shows how court science depended on one patron rather than on lasting institutions. It is a good point for comparing India with Europe on science.

Related concepts

The Rajputs: Mewar and Marwar traditions

Sources

1Hill Forts of Rajasthan — UNESCO World Heritage Centrewhc.unesco.org · tier 2