Astronomy & Cosmology
Jantar Mantar observatories
1720s-1734 CESawai Jai Singh IIJaipur (also Delhi, Ujjain, Varanasi)Rajasthan
1720
Monumental stone instruments including the ~27 m Samrat Yantra, the world's largest stone sundial; UNESCO World Heritage Site (2010).
- Dated
- 1720–1734
- As scholars put it
- 1720s-1734 CE
- Originator
- Sawai Jai Singh II
- Source text
- Jaipur (also Delhi, Ujjain, Varanasi)
- Region
- Rajasthan
- Discipline
- Astronomy & Cosmology
- Evidence
- Documented
- Confidence
- High
- Verification
- Verified-web
Meanwhile in the West
Comparable naked-eye observatories existed in Samarkand and Istanbul.
Fair to say
Naked-eye positional astronomy built just as telescopes were transforming the field; the '2-second accuracy' refers to reading the shadow.
Path to modern innovation
A celebrated monument of pre-telescopic astronomy.
Builds on
1370Transmission
Jai Singh studied Indian, Islamic and European astronomy.
References
- 1UNESCO (2010)
- 2Sharma, Sawai Jai Singh and His Astronomy
Further reading
Corrections and additional sources: edit IND-269 on GitHub.