Jantar Mantar, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh’s Observatory in DelhiThe Delhi Jantar Mantar is an enigma. Its huge and arresting forms evoke awe even today when architecture seems to consist primarily of strange shapes and proportions. Most people who see it are left with many questions. • What is it really? • Why is it called Jantar Mantar? Is it linked to the performance of some mystical religious rites? • How were its gigantic structures made? • Do they form part of a maze? Are they forerunners of abstract art installations? • Or are they buildings? If so, what is this strange architectural style, so different from the other buildings of its time? • How, if at all, is it linked to astronomy? This informative history and fi eld guide explains all this and more. Based on over a decade of extensive research, it uses archival images, photographs, drawings and sketches, to unravel how the 300 year old Jantar Mantar Observatory looked and worked in the past. Each instrument of the Jantar Mantar is explained separately as a guided ‘walk’. The book includes information on traditional Indian astronomy, and on the political and cultural background of this ‘royal observatory’ established by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. It not only traces its transformation into ‘an archaeological monument’, but also charts the way ahead by which the Delhi Jantar Mantar’s historical function may be revived and conserved for future generations. Carry this book to the Jantar Mantar and walk around the instruments with it. Or read it before and after your visit to understand one of the world’s most unusual and intriguing works of architecture. |
Contents
Section 1 | viii |
Section 2 | 4 |
Section 3 | 5 |
Section 4 | 6 |
Section 5 | 8 |
Section 6 | 15 |
Section 7 | 25 |
Section 8 | 27 |
Section 10 | 205 |
Section 11 | 215 |
Section 12 | 216 |
Section 13 | 217 |
Section 14 | 218 |
Section 15 | 219 |
Section 16 | 220 |
Section 17 | 221 |