Counting Stars in Jaipur
Gastronomically, India is a mystery wrapped in a chapati. In Jaipur, the astronomical is laid out for you at Jantar Mantar. Constructed around 1730, a certain Maharajah by the name of Jai Singh ll constructed a big geometric playground (or is it a sculpture park?) that somehow tracks eclipses, the stars, the planets, and like walking through your high school geometry class, culminating in a ninety foot Samrat Jantar that stretches out into the sky, a sort of medieval approach to science. A big sundial made of masonry is constructed and fairly accurately (we were told) the daily time. This is quite a theme and maybe some day one of Jaipur hotels will pick up on it and design a hotel taking design cues from this impressive monument. I imagine a big sundial out by the pool where sun bathers can time themselves, and observatories for people to sit out at night and have gin and tonics and look at the stars through some device reminiscent of those at Jantar Mantar. Jai Singh would no doubt approve. He came to the throne of what was then called Amber and founded Jaipur. He really liked astronomy (as we can see) and had observatories built all over, including Benares and Delhi. This monument was restored in 1905. The word Jantar Mentar means a little like saying ‘instrument for calculation’ or so we were told. the whole place looks like nothing more than a gigantic park play ground for grown ups.
Apparently old Jai Singh sent out representatives all over the world to get the most up to date and accurate information on astronomy available and had the Jantar Mantar built entirely out of stone and pretty much immovable, once set in place. They must have felt very confidant about what they were doing.
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