Astronomical Observatory of Jaipur Jai Singh, the great Maharaja of Jaipur who not only founded Jaipur but built five stone observatories in India. Although Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh is known as great scientist of astronomy, despite the fact that he had great difficulties in establishing himself. Fortunately in 1708 he obtained complete charge of the province of Amber. In 1719 he was appointed the governor of Agra by Emperor Mohammad Shah and later the governor of Malwa. He died in 1743 A.D. two hundred years after Copernicus, and “his wives, concubines, and science expired with him on his funeral pyre”. Inspired by his mother about the knowledge of astronomy, he first chose certain observation places at Amber Fort, basically for knowing the position of planets and stars. At an early age Jai Singh showed a predilection for astronomical work and, according to his own account, by constant study he obtained a thorough knowledge of its principles and rules. Of the work of his predecessors and contemporaries there is evidence that Jai Singh was acquainted with the following: Ptolem’y almagest; the astronomical tables of Ulugh Beg; some treatises on the Astrolabe; la hire’s Tabulae Astronomical; and Flamsteed’s Historiacoelestis Britannica; western mathematical works such as Euclid’s Elements a treatise on plane and spherical trigonometry and on the construction of logarithms. P.de la Hire was a French scholar of repute who lived from A.D. 1604 to 1718. He wrote many mathematical works and in 1702 published his Tabulae Astronomicae of which the first part had appeared in 1687. This work contained, besides the usual tables a refraction table and a description of a machine invented by a Hire to show the theory of eclipses. Jai Singh did not rely altogether upon information contained in books. He sent to Europe several skilful was overhead and Muhammad Mahil was sent to the further islands. In 1728 Jai Singh sent Father Figueredo, a Portuguese Jesuit, to Portugal. The other European who lived at Jaipur during the period of Jai singh was Don Pedro de Sylva, who was a physician and an astronomer and resided at Jaipur. De Sylva died in A.D. 1792. His descendents live even today at Subhash Chowk area of Jaipur. Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II the ruler of Jaipur and Governor of Malwa, Agra and Aurangabad for Mughals, built five stone astronomical observatories. First in Delhi and later Mathura, Ujjain, Varanasi and last at Jaipur. The three Delhi, Varanasi, Jaipur of them, are still functioning and are still existing. The two, one at Mathura was destroyed by Muslim invaders and the one at Ujjain submerged with the adjoining river Sipra. In forthcoming chapters you will find the description and functioning of the instruments for observing the positions of planets, stars and other heavenly bodies. ~ Daulat Singh Rajawat
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 12:06:56 +0000
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