These remarkable constructions appear to all intents and purposes as if they could have been built to create the set for a new science fiction blockbuster set on a planet light years away from Earth. Yet these are centuries old instruments, designed and used in Jaipur, India, to explore the heavens. Their production was ordered by a great Maharaja in the early decades of the 18th century and they have been in constant use ever since.
The name is derived from Yantra, instrument, and Mantra, for formula or, in this context, calculation. Therefore Jantar Mantar means literally calculation instrument.
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