Day 9: Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal

Thursday morning, we again had a yummy breakfast at our hotel before heading out for the morning.

Matthew, Sarah, Grandma and Megan.

Megan, Me, U and Grandpa. (Somehow Megan ended up at both tables. I guess she was super hungry.)

Bus of school girls that we waved to and they waved to us. Sarah loved doing "Namaste" to people she saw as well.

Our first stop for the day was Jantar Mantar, an observatory built by Jai Singh in the early 1700s. He built five total, with this one being the best preserved. The instruments are quite remarkable and some are still used today.

This is the Kantivrita Yantra, they had it locked in place but the metal frame can actually rotate and the tool is used to measure celestial latitude and longitude.

The Yantra Raj translates as "king of instruments" and is an oversized astrolabe.  The disks are two meters in diameter and have several engraved lines demarking orbits and star locations.

Laghu Samrat Yantra, a sundial that is accurate to 20 second intervals. It was very impressive!

U and Matthew at the base of the sundial. 

Across the way is the Samrat Yantra, a sundial that is 10 times as big and is accurate to 2 seconds! It's amazing!  They also use it to predict the timing and length of the monsoon season.

This sundial is aligned so that you can use one side in the winter and one side in the summer.   This is the summer side.

This is the winter side.  Notice that it is hanging over us.  Because of the angle, it will only work when the sun is in the southern hemisphere.

Jai Singh built a lot of the instruments on a smaller scale first and then built bigger structures.  This instrument is the Kapeli Yantra.  You can track the position of the sun in the heavens by the shadow cast by the washer suspended over the bowl.  It is marked with altitude, azimuth and declination as well as all the signs of the zodiac.

This is effectively the same instrument blown up.  The Jai Prakesh Yantra is very large and there are two of them to allow the astrologers to enter them and make more accurate calculations.  Between the two bowls they show all the heavens and researchers would have to move between them as the sun would move.

The planets in many languages.

There is a good description of what these next instruments do below but the basic explanation is that they were used at different times depending on which sign of the zodiac was at its height.  They would use them to determine the position of not only the sun but also other planets and then give horoscopes accordingly. Indians still use horoscopes, dates and stars a lot to determine things like who they should marry and when they should get married.

You can see the difference in the angle of each tool depending on the time of year that the zodiac sign is ascendant.

Me and Sagittarius.

Matthew, U and Capricorn.

Sarah and Gemini. Notice how much shorter this one is than the previous two.

Grandpa and Megan with Virgo. Matthew wanted in on the fun, too.

Panoramic of the Rashivalaya Yantra area.  Our guide is at the right edge of the photo.

The Ram Yantra was another tool for measuring the location of the sun and various other celestial objects.  There were two smaller versions of the tool (one filled in the gaps of the other) and two larger versions that were more accurate.  The first picture shows the smaller version.

U and Me standing in the larger version

Here we are at the Samrat Yantra. It's a very striking structure.

At the base. Each large block is 15 minutes that are divided into 15 increments (so each is one minute).

Each of the minute increments is divided into 10 increments (6 seconds each), which are divided into 3 increments (2 seconds each). Remarkable!

To keep a consistent scale, the dial has to curve up.  These stairs let you continue to read it.

A good picture to show the scale of this massive sundial.

The whole group standing at the upper level.

Time for a rest!

Next stop: the Hawa Mahal, which is the tall building in the background.

Walking to the Hawa Mahal. We wound our way through some back roads to get there.

Cow.

A man selling his goods.

Here we are at the entrance to the Hawa Mahal. You enter on the back side of the building.

This is the front side, which we saw the previous day. It's beautiful and is the most distinctive landmark in Jaipur (meaning if there's one picture of a building in Jaipur, it's likely the Hawa Mahal). It was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh to enable the ladies of the royal household to watch life in the city. That was nice of him, I'm sure, but I'm very glad that my glimpses of the city weren't confined to what I could see behind the screens.

A fountain just inside the entrance that the kids liked watching. It had different spray cycles.

Grandma and Sarah in front of a beautiful archway and door.

Close up of the door.

Sarah watching the same fountain as pictured above.

The signs were a bit confusing.... 

The Hawa Mahal is five stories and there are windows on each level. There was lots of beautiful stained glass as well.

Sarah and Matthew looking at the fountain in the courtyard below.

Fun picture of Sarah and Matthew.

Here's the courtyard. Notice the painters on the roof? The one on the right is cleaning while the one on the left is painting. My first thought was about how many safety violations they would get in the USA.

Megan and Me.

The top of the backside of the Hawa Mahal, above where we entered. The ladies could also look out this way although since it's an alley, it probably didn't draw as many women.

We loved exploring all the hallways and rooms in the Hawa Mahal. The kids found this stage and put on a little show for us.

Looking down on a room below. We think the structure in the center is a drain, possibly with water storage.

Sarah.

Megan.

Megan was excited that she could see the big sundial from Jantar Mantar.

Grandma, Sarah and Grandpa.

Megan, Me and Matthew looking over the city.

Sarah and U.

"Hello down there!"

Peekaboo!

Matthew and Me looking down on the streets of Jaipur from the top of the Hawa Mahal.

This is the view from the top of the Hawa Mahal looking away from the street. In the center of the image is the rear entrance and then beyond that is the Jantar Mantar.

Zoom in on Samrat Yantra at Jantar Mantar.

Narrow stairways between the 4th and 5th levels.

Grandpa enjoying the view.

"Hi there!"

Megan, taken from the same tower grandpa is in.

View from the tower to the front of the Hawa Mahal. Notice that the front is just large enough for people to be in to look down on the city--it is not living quarters or a room.

From the same tower looking over the courtyards towards the rear entrance.

View of the streets of Jaipur below.

Matthew and Me hurried ahead of the others and hid in this little room on the ramp down to try to surprise/scare them.