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Jantar Mantar loses out to sands of time: The Pioneer
Delhi, June 18: Bad timing, bad news or a little of both? Jantar Mantar`s equinoctial dial - Samrat Yantra - has become completely dysfunctional, buried under the sands of time, so to speak.
Delhi, June 18: Bad timing, bad news or a little of both? Jantar Mantar's equinoctial dial - Samrat Yantra - has become completely dysfunctional, buried under the sands of time, so to speak.
Surprisingly, the fact that the dial of the yantra is only partially above ground is not well-known, given that hordes of tourists are explained the working of the dial. The structure, which was 68 feet high when built in 1724, stands a shortened 60.8 feet above the surface now.
If historians are to be believed, Hindu and Muslim priests argued, sometime in the 1720's, on fixing the right time (mahurat) for their emperor Muhammad Shah to wage a war. At this time the emperor had Maharaja Jai Singh of Jaipur as a state guest. To solve this problem, Jai Singh built the Jantar Mantar in Delhi, on the emperor's orders.
The central building of the observatory is the Samrat Yantra. This dial makes an angle equal to the latitude of Delhi and is parallel to the earth's axis. Its main function, being a sundial, is to show the time - mahurat, lagan and rashi.
However, the structure was built with one flaw. It's bottom was lower than the surrounding water level and, consequently, water percolated and covered the lower portion of the instrument. Because the drainage was not proper and the water could not be pumped out, the pit filled up.
But 280-odd years and several small scale restoration projects later, the dial is useless as everytime the pit was filled, the ground level increased and the dial went deeper in.
Architect and conservation expert Prabir Kumar Das reasons that "every historical monument has many interventions during its making and every such intervention leaves a mark on the structure. Because many hands were involved in making this structure, it is very difficult to say who was responsible for filling up of the pits, at least initially."
"The graduations and markings on the edges of the gnomon, which help in reading the time also need restoration badly," said another expert and teacher at the TVB school of architecture Peu Das. Though the instrument has been repaired and restored repeatedly, there has been no large-scale restoration yet.
A visit to the site reveals that the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) has been blissfully ignorant and has layered the structure time and again to deal with water-logging. According to Mr Das, "The restoration will not cost more than a couple of lakhs. Installing a small pump to get the logged water out and putting a concrete floor at the original formation level will make the monument function, as the dial will be fully above the earth's surface then." "Though the building will have to be cut back to original formation level and the original parts will be damaged, there are techniques of restoring the monument with minimal damage," he added.
Architect and conservation expert Prabir Kumar Das reasons that "every historical monument has many interventions during its making and every such intervention leaves a mark on the structure. Because many hands were involved in making this structure, it is very difficult to say who was responsible for filling up of the pits, at least initially."
"The graduations and markings on the edges of the gnomon, which help in reading the time also need restoration badly," said another expert and teacher at the TVB school of architecture Peu Das. Though the instrument has been repaired and restored repeatedly, there has been no large-scale restoration yet.
A visit to the site reveals that the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) has been blissfully ignorant and has layered the structure time and again to deal with water-logging. According to Mr Das, "The restoration will not cost more than a couple of lakhs. Installing a small pump to get the logged water out and putting a concrete floor at the original formation level will make the monument function, as the dial will be fully above the earth's surface then." "Though the building will have to be cut back to original formation level and the original parts will be damaged, there are techniques of restoring the monument with minimal damage," he added.