It was a usual sunny day in Delhi with the temperature soaring around 45� c when i decided to head to Jantar Mantar �the offbeat heritage site which is still unvisited by people. It is located in the heart of the capital Connaught place so I took the Delhi metro to reach Rajiv Chowk, the nearest station to the site which was quite accessible and economical. It is a 10 minute walk from metro to where the site is situated. The moment I reached the spot suddenly the weather took a turn. It started to drizzle followed by hailstorm and strong cool winds which made the visit all the more fun. Jantar Mantar is a historical place constructed around 17th century by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur who is accredited for making a replica in Jaipur, Mathura as well.. It is an astronomical instrument built for the purpose of revising the calendar and astronomical tables. In the earlier centuries, the astrologers had to manually feed in their calculated predictions using these instruments to predict findings which today has been made easy partially through computers for studying planetary movements. They are four instruments within the observatory The Supreme Instrument, is a giant triangle that is basically a sundial. It is a hypotenuse that is parallel to the Earth’s axis and points towards the North Pole. There is a tool in the shape of a hollow hemisphere to predict the position of a star and other two instruments helps in determining the shortest and longest days of the year and predicting the times and movements of the sun, moon and planets. The instruments are not in use due to the construction of the tall buildings around. Still it is one of those few Monuments that has been well maintained by the Government of Delhi and attracts tourists and visitors from the entire globe who come to view this ancient astronomical delight. My visit was concluded at Fa Yian for a delicious Chinese lunch where spring rolls is a must have. It was indeed a great experience where I had a chance to restore and revive our heritage culture that fill in my curious mind about the significance of astronomy and the usage of the various tools and methods applied during those past centuries for calculations and predictions.
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PRAKRITI SETHI