ARCHITECTURAL

CONSERVATION
TAR - 807
Kritika Panwar
B.arch 8th Sem
3/24/20
 JANTAR MANTAR -JAIPUR
OVERVIEW
• The Jantar Mantar, in Jaipur, is an astronomical observation site built in the early
18th century.
• It features the world's largest stone sundial, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
It is located near City Palace and Hawa Mahal.
• It includes a set of some 19 main fixed architectural astronomical instruments.
Designed for the observation of astronomical positions with the naked eye.
• This is the most significant, most comprehensive, and the best preserved of India's
historic observatories. It is an expression of the astronomical skills and cosmological
concepts of the court of a scholarly prince at the end of the Mughal period.

HISTORY

• Jantar Mantar is a big astronomical observatory built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II
who was born in 1688 A.D. crowned in 1699. Sawai Jai Singh Ji founded Jaipur in
1727. A learned man who build observatories at Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura, and
Benaras.
• The first Jantar Mantar was constructed in the 18th century.
• Its construction came about due to heated disagreements between Hindu and
Muslim astrologers failing to reach conciliation due to inaccurate astronomical tables
at a time when Emperor Muhammad Shah had to leave for a journey and thus
wanted an auspicious date.
 • Jai Singh thus requested Emperor Muhammad Shah to allow him to undertake the
responsibility of constructing this observatory, which was given to him seeing his
passion for math and astronomy.

JANTAR MANTAR
Jaipur Jantar Mantar was the second and more sophisticated observatory Jai Singh built. The
instruments were so big and accurate, as they were built of stone, masonry and marble, that
he found errors in the astronomical tables then in use. There are 19 instruments in the
Jaipur observatory. Thru his Portuguese friend he procured latest astronomical books and
instruments from Europe. Some he had translated in sanskrit. Some of these translated texts
are on display in the City Palace Museum.

1. Chakra Yantra (four semicircular arcs on which a gnomon casts a shadow, thereby giving the
declination of the Sun at four specified times of the day.
2. Dakshin Bhitti Yantra (measures meridian, altitude and zenith distances of celestial bodies)
3. Digamsha Yantra (a pillar in the middle of two concentric outer circles, used to measure
azimuth of the sun, and to calculate the time of sunrise and sunset forecasts)
4. Disha Yantra
5. Dhruva Darshak Pattika (observe and find the location of pole star with respect to other
celestial bodies)
6. Jai Prakash Yantra (two hemispherical bowl-based sundial with marked marble slabs that map
inverted image of sky and allows the observer to move inside the instrument, measures
altitudes, azimuths, hour angles, and declinations)
7. Kapali Yantra (measures coordinates of celestial bodies in azimuth and equatorial systems,
any point in sky can be visually transformed from one coordinate system to another)
8. Kanali Yantra
9. Kranti Vritta Yantra (measures longitude and latitude of celestial bodies)
10. Laghu Samrat Yantra (the smaller sundial at the monument, inclined at 27 degrees, to
measure time, less accurate than Vrihat Samrat Yantra)
11. Misra Yantra (meaning mixed instrument, it is a compilation of five different instruments)
12. Nadi Valaya Yantra (two sundials on different faces of the instrument, the two faces
represent north and south hemispheres, the accuracy of the instrument in measuring the
time is less than a minute)
13. Palbha Yantra
14. Rama Yantra (an upright building used to find the altitude and the azimuth of the sun)
15. Rashi Valaya Yantra (12 gnomon dials that measure ecliptic coordinates of stars, planets and
all 12 constellation systems)
16. Shastansh Yantra (next to Vrihat Samrat Yantra, this instrument is a 60-degree arc built in
the meridian plane within a dark chamber. At noon, the sun's pinhole image falls on a scale
below enabling the observer to measure the zenith distance, declination, and the diameter
of the Sun.)
17. Unnatamsa Yantra (a metal ring divided into four segments by horizontal and vertical lines,
with a hole in the middle; the position and orientation of the instrument allows
measurement of the altitude of celestial bodies)
18. Vrihat Samrat Yantra (world's largest gnomon sundial, measures time in intervals of 2
seconds using shadow cast from the sunlight)
19. Yantra Raj Yantra (a 2.43-metre bronze astrolabe, one of the largest in the world, used only
once a year, calculates the Hindu calendar)
INTEGRITY AND AUTHENTICITY

• The observatory of Jantar Mantar in Jaipur has been affected by its outdoor situation
in a tropical area, and then by its temporary abandonment in the 19th century.
• It resulted in frequent maintenance interventions and then various restorations over
a period of more than a century.
• Nevertheless, the general integrity of the site has been essentially maintained and
partially restored.
• On the other hand, establishing the authenticity of each individual instrument is
more complex, as a result of the many interventions which have taken place.
• While authenticity is generally unquestionable with regard to the astronomical
function, it is more difficult to establish with regard to plasters, instrument
graduations, some architectural interpretations and the immediate landscape
environment of elements of the property.

PROTECTION AND MANAGEMENT MEASURES

• The Jantar Mantar is protected under the Rajasthan Monuments Archaeological Site
and Antiquities Act, 1961, under Sections 3 and 4.
• It was designated a monument of national importance in 1968.
• The main challenges for the property, which could potentially represent a threat, are
controlling the development of tourism, and allowing for urban development in the
immediate vicinity of the Jantar Mantar.
• Major projects to upgrade the district and modify traffic have been announced, and
these may affect the buffer zone, and more generally the landscape and cultural
environment of the property.
• It is in particular necessary to specify the measures taken to protect the buffer zone,
and to include these measures in the upcoming Master Plan of the municipality of
Jaipur.
• The system for the management of the property is appropriate.
• It is necessary to strengthen the scientific expertise of the bodies in charge of
managing the property.