2002. Jantar Mantar (India) MacDougall, B.G., Jantar Mantar: architecture, astronomy and solar kingship in Princely India, The Cornell Journal of No 1338 Architecture, 5, Ithaca, 1996. Technical Evaluation Mission: 29 September-4 October 2009 Official name as proposed by the State Party: Additional information requested and received from the State Party: ICOMOS sent a letter to the State Party on The Jantar Mantar, Jaipur 14 December 2009 concerning the following points: Location: • Confirmation of whether the Disha Yantra and the Astronomers’ House are in fact inside the Rajasthan boundaries of the nominated property. India • Considering the extension of the buffer zone to the south of the property (zones 8 and 12 on the layout Brief description: plan). • The Jantar Mantar, Jaipur, is an astronomical Strengthening the comparative study to take into th account the scientific and cultural concepts that led observation site built in the early 18 century. It includes to the construction of the Jantar Mantar. a set of some twenty main fixed instruments. They are • monumental examples in masonry of known instruments Indicating when the Management Plan was but which in many cases have specific characteristics of promulgated, or when it will be promulgated; stating their own. Designed for the observation of astronomical the timetable for its implementation and operation; positions with the naked eye, they embody several stating which bodies are in charge of coordinating architectural and instrumental innovations. This is the the management of the property by the various most significant, most comprehensive, and best partners. preserved of India’s historic observatories. It is an • Justifying the serial nomination that has been expression of the astronomical skills and cosmological announced and setting out the objectives and limits, concepts of the court of a scholarly prince at the end of as well as the process by which a nomination for the Mughal period. inscription on the World Heritage List could be made. Category of property: The State Party replied on 26 February 2010. An In terms of categories of cultural property set out in analysis of the documentation provided is included in Article 1 of the 1972 World Heritage Convention, this is a this evaluation. group of buildings. Date of ICOMOS approval of this report: 17 March 2010 1. BASIC DATA 2. THE PROPERTY Included in the Tentative List: 28 January 2009 Description International Assistance from World Heritage Fund for preparing the Nomination: None The property is the Jantar Mantar observatory in Jaipur. It includes a monumental ensemble of eighteen main Date received by the World Heritage Centre: 28 January instruments (nineteen in the table on page 12 of the 2009 nomination dossier), containing a total of 35 instruments. They are arranged inside an enclosure, and are for the Background: This is a new nomination. most part monumental in form. Their highest point is 19m above ground level. The masonry structures are Consultations: ICOMOS consulted the International clad in lime mortar, usually red with white elements. The Astronomical Union and independent experts. surface and alignment finishes used for scientific purposes are in very fine lime plaster and marble. In Literature consulted (selection): some cases the instruments have metal parts, such as graduated scales in cast lead. Four instruments have a Perlus, B., Jantar Mantar: architecture in the service of science, mainly metallic structure (Unnathamsa Yantra, Chakra the astronomical observatories of Jai Singh II, Cornell’s Yantra, Krantivritta II, and Yantra Raj). The fixed CyberTower Website, 2003. instruments are interconnected by paved pathways. Bouchard, A. E., Le célèbre gnomoniste de l’Inde, le Raja Jai The orientation of the astronomical instruments is Singh II (1686-1743), Le Gnomoniste, vol. IX, 4, December 107 primarily in the cardinal directions. However, the The Great Ram Yantra is a set of two cylindrical boundaries of the astronomical enclosure are aligned structures (4.5m high, with an inside diameter of 6.95m) with the axes of the city plan, forming an angle of 15° with a central gnomon. Its primary function is to measure with the instruments. the altitude and azimuth of celestial objects. The main instruments can be classified as follows in The Small Ram Yantra has the same design as the terms of their siting: Great Ram Yantra, but on a smaller scale. • instruments sited relative to the horizon and the Dhruva Darsaka Yantra is a small trapezoidal structure, zenith of the site, i.e. horizontal coordinate the upper surface of which points to the Pole Star. instruments (Ram Yantra and Digamsa Yantra); • instruments sited relative to the equatorial plane Nadivalaya Yantra is an equal-hour sundial used to and to the axis of the Earth, i.e. equatorial ascertain the arrival of the sun at the equinox. It consists coordinate instruments (Samrat Yantra); of two parallel vertical discs with diameters of 3.7m. • instruments sited relative to the ecliptic plane, i.e. ecliptic coordinate instruments (Rasivalaya Nadivalaya II is a horizontal sundial. Yantras). Krantivritta Yantra is a large incomplete instrument for The State Party has defined the levels of precision of the direct measurement of celestial latitudes and thirteen of the eighteen fixed instruments. Four are said longitudes. It has a circular plate with a diameter of 3.4m to be high-precision (Brihat Samrat Yantra, Laghu oriented in a plane parallel to the equator, but the Samrat Yantra, Sasthamsa Yantra, and Dakshinottara superstructure is missing. Bhitti Yantra); the others are said to be medium- or low- precision. Krantivritta II is similar to the previous instrument, smaller but complete. It has a graduated ecliptic scale The eighteen monumental sites that make up the inclined at 23,27° to the plane of the equator. nominated property are as follows: Dakshinottara Bhitti Yantra comprises two instruments Brihat Samrat Yantra is a horizontal sundial with a for measuring the zenith distances and meridian gnomon in the form of a very large triangular meridian altitudes of celestial objects. wall (height 22.6m, including 3.5m below ground, hypotenuse 50.1m.). It is completed by two quadrant Yantra Raj is a monument mounted on three pillars scales with a 15.15m radius. This is probably the largest supporting two beams that carry metal disc instruments, instrument of its type in the world. It enables local in a plane aligned at an angle of 23° to the plane of the astronomical time to be measured with a precision of 2 meridian. The first is an astrolabe and the second a seconds, and also the declination of the stars at night. circular plate. The dimensions of these metal The summit of the gnomon is the highest point of the instruments are very large. With a vertical height of property; it is accessible by a staircase leading to a small 2.43m, the astrolabe is probably the largest instrument cupola at the summit. The Brihat Samrat Yantra is of its type in the world. The circular plate is 2.1m in traditionally associated with forecasting the monsoon diameter. The engravings enable the planets in the and harvests. zodiac to be observed, their speed of rotation to be determined, and the dates of eclipses to be predicted. Sasthamsa Yantra is formed of four independent units of a meridian dial for measuring angles from 0 to 60 Chakra Yantra comprises two large moulded brass rings. degrees, with two instruments in each of two chambers The rings are vertical and can move around the vertical accessible through doors on the northern and southern axis. They measure the hour that a celestial object sides. They provide a measurement of the declination reaches the meridian and its declination. An axial hole is and zenith of the sun or stars. provided for the use of a sighting tube. Jai Prakash Yantra is a huge hemispherical sundial, Digamsa Yantra comprises a vertical pillar about 1m which produces an inverted image of the sky with a high, surrounded by two coaxial walls. It is used to coordinate system. It is a multi-functional instrument. It measure angular distances in a vertical plane in relation has two complementary concave hemispherical bowls, to the north point. each with a diameter of 5.4 m. The shadow of a suspended disc indicates the trajectory of the sun Unnathamsa Yantra is a large circular brass ring with a through the signs of the zodiac and its azimuth and diameter of 5.35m, supported by pillars and axial beams. equatorial coordinates. A hole in the disc also makes It is used to measure the height of celestial bodies. A nocturnal observations possible. The instrument sighting tube may be added to the instrument. constitutes a complex architectural ensemble with pathways inside the representation of the skies. The Rasivalaya Yantra is a set of twelve independent hemispheres function alternately. The Jai Prakash instruments, each of which measures the latitude and Yantra is a significant structural innovation. longitude of a celestial object in one of the constellations 108 of the zodiac. They are built on the same principle as the etc., which were given very large dimensions in order to Samrat Yantra. The vertical gnomons range from 4.2m maximize their observational performance. Several to 6.2m and the radius of the quadrants varies from innovations, which at the least reflected instrumental and 1.24m to 1.68m. architectural originality, were introduced by Jai Singh II and his astronomers: the combined architecture of the Kapala Yantra is a set of two complementary giant sundial of Brihat Samrat Yantra and of the instruments with two hemispherical concave bowls laid chambers of Sasthamsa Yantra, the huge sundial of the out on an east-west axis. The western bowl is designed Jai Prakash Yantra consisting of two complementary to measure the coordinates of the sun in the horizon and hemispherical bowls, the set of twelve instruments of the the eastern bowl to transform graphically the horizon Rasivalaya Yantra for the twelve signs of the zodiac, and system of coordinates into the equatorial system.