Jantar Mantar is one of the famous attractions of Delhi which is located on Parliament Street in Connaught Place. It is one of the five astronomical observatories built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur in 1710. He was an intelligent king with a keen interest in astronomy. The other astronomical observatories built by him are in Ujjain, Jaipur, Mathura and Varanasi. It is a masterpiece of Indian architecture and a great example of the scientific knowledge of ancient India.
Jantar Mantar consists of several stone-built instruments which were once used to measure time, predict eclipses and calculate other astronomical events. Construction of such stone-instruments which could give accurate astronomical readings was such a great achievement of that era. The instruments which were then called yantras have interesting names like jai prakash, niyati chakra, samrat yantra and ram yantra etc. All the yantras have their own unique features and were used to measure various astronomical events. After its construction it remained functional only for 7 years.
Some of the notable instruments of Jantar Mantar are:
Samrat Yantra was used to measure accurate time of the day
Mishra Yantra was meant for measuring the longest and shortest days of the year
Jai Prakash Yantra was constructed for measuring the Sun’s position at the time of equinox
Ram Yantra was used for measuring the altitude of stars
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