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Telling Time in an Astronomical Garden in Jantar Mantar, India
It wouldn’t be hard to mistake Jaipur’s iconic Jantar Mantar for a well-manicured stone garden, if you’ve forgotten to carry along an audio guide. Take a closer look and the ingenuity of its creators is revealed to you. Literally translated, the Jantar Mantar means "Calculation Instrument." This intricate labyrinth of stone instruments was built by Maharaja Jai Singh II in the mid 17th century and uses ancient principles of astronomy to calculate the local time as well as the orbits of celestial bodies. While most of the devices leave visitors struggling to understand the mathematics upon which they are based, the spherical sundial never fails to draw happy smiles. The sheer pleasure of calculating the local time using a giant 17th-century time piece, despite having a 21st-century wristwatch, makes all the effort of understanding the math worth it.
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- Adam Rugel (Editor) Congratulations! You won Honorable Mention Photography in the Weekly Worldwide Contest.
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- Megan Cytron (Editor) Great--loved your take on this place. It's interesting that scientific instruments used to be much more like public monuments/art--now they're all hidden away. Please do keep entering!
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- Cheryl D'souza Am definitely looking forward towards participating in many more similar contests.
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- Cheryl D'souza Thanks Megan! I wasn't expecting this at all!
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- Megan Cytron (Editor) Congratulations! You won Honorable Mention in the Weekly Worldwide Contest.
