India has always enjoyed a place of repute in the world whether it is in the field of architecture or science and technology. Combining the country’s expertise in both these fields is the Jantar Mantar at Delhi, a part of a series of five observatories built by Raja Sawai Jai Singh of Rajasthan during the early 18th century AD across Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura and Varanasi.
Legend has it that the origin of the Jantar Mantar or Yantra Mandir(literary translated into Temple of Instruments) was brought about by a disagreement amongst scholars about celestial positions. It was the dream child of Swai Jai Singh II, a great astronomer of India. Built in 1724, the Jantar Mantar was built at a time that is generally referred to in history as the Dark Period of Indian History. The Mughal Empire was on a state of decline after the death of Aurangzeb and Muhammad Shah, the then Mughal emperor was desperately seeking alliances with the Hindu Rajput nobility. One of these was Sawai Jai Singh II of Amber. Passionate about astronomy, Sawai Jai Singh II once chanced upon a debate amongst the Hindu and Muslim astrologers in Muhammad Shah’s court over the planetary transits of the period. It was then, that he offered to rectify the existing planetary tables, which had been left untouched since the Vedic period, an offer that was accepted by the grateful Mohammad Shah.