Sunday, November 13, 2011

Jantar Mantar

If you have seen the movie The Fall (2006), you may recognize the following structures as part of the maze in one of the beginning scenes. (If you have not seen the movie, you should!)

"Jantar Mantar" translates to "instrument" and "calculation", and that's exactly what these were built for, this first one being used to tell the time of places around the world:
 These were built starting in 1724 in India both in Delhi and Jaipur by Jai Singh II, ruler of the kingdom of Amber. The position of stars can be calculated with this:
This one is a giant sundial, aligned parallel to the Earth's axis and pointing toward the North Pole. The small copula at the top was previously used to announce eclipses and coming monsoons.

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