Ruler / astronomer
Sawai Jai Singh II
Also recorded as: Jai Singh · Jai Singh II, Maharaja of Jaipur, 1686-1743 · Maharaja Jai Singh
Rajput ruler who built the great masonry observatories (Jantar Mantar) and their giant sundials.
Sawai Jai Singh II of Amber founded the city of Jaipur in 1727. To improve astronomical tables he built observatories at Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Varanasi and Mathura in the 1720s–30s. Their monumental instruments include the Samrat Yantra, a giant equinoctial sundial at Jaipur that reads local time to about two seconds, and the Jai Prakash hemispherical dials. The Jaipur Jantar Mantar is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Country
- India (Amber / Jaipur)
- City / centre
- Jaipur
- Life / active
- 1688–1743
- Status
- Historical individual
- Key people
- Sawai Jai Singh II
Innovations & specialities
- Samrat Yantra and other monumental instruments
- Masonry observatories (Jantar Mantar)
Works by Sawai Jai Singh II in the catalogue
Open in the catalogue →
Instruments · 1884-1886
Model of astrolabe (Yantra Raj) and altitude circle, scale 1:24, in the Jaipur Observatory
Science Museum Group, London
Instruments · 1884-1886
Model of Celestial hemispheres (Kapali), scale 1:24, in the Jaipur Observatory.
Science Museum Group, London
Instruments · 1884-1886
Model of double equinoctial dial (Narivalaya), scale 1:36, in the Jaipur Observatory
Science Museum Group, London
Instruments · 1884-1886
Model of equatorially mounted circles (Chakra Yantra), scale 1:24, in the Jaipur Observatory.
Science Museum Group, London
Instruments · 1884-1886
Model of North equinoctral dial (Ayn Yantra), scale 1:24 in the Jaipur Observatory
Science Museum Group, London
Instruments · 1884-1886
Model of pointer to the North Pole (Druv Nal), scale 1: 24, in the Jaipur Observatory
Science Museum Group, London
Linked through the Atlas maker authority list, which reconciles the spellings used by different institutions. Attributions are as stated by each holding institution or auction house.
