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It was all very, very romantic. The night sky above the Amber fort, atop the craggy hills overlooking what is now Jaipur city, was at its most enchanting. And on a terrace watching the moon and the stars were a princess and a king. The princess had only that day been rescued by the king from a gang of brigands. They were both comely and in love with each other. |
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But, alas for romance. Though the princess did say it was heavenly, with something of a sigh of rapture,the question she asked was one that no Hollywood or Bombay film script writer would have ever thought of putting into the mouth of any of his heroines. The question was, "How far away are these stars and the moon?" If the lover in the king was abashed by the question, so also was the astronomer in him. For the king, Sawai Jai Singh II, who had long been interested in astro- nomy, did not know the answer. |
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When the princess gently chided him for his ignorance, all thoughts of romance fled and he decided that he must find the Ianswer to her question. The princess he had rescued, a Muslim, thus set the Hindu king to a course that made him one of the greatest astronomers and mathematicians of his time . |
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Astronomers were invited to his court for study and discussions and the king read all the treatises he could find on the subject. Although history has forgotten the name of that beautiful princess, the Jantar Mantar ( observatories) which the king built to gain her love and admiration still stand in New Delhi, Jaipur ,Varanasi and Ujjain. Unfortunately, the one at Mathura was destroyed by building contractors who wanted the stones. |
When Jai Singh was born in 1686, the Moghul , Empire was about to disintegrate. He managed to keep good relations with Emperor Aurangzeb from the age of 13, when he succeeded to the throne of Amber. He even won the Emperor's heart when in 1701 he defeated the Marathas in battle and captured the Vishalgarh fort. The Emperor honoured him with the title of "Sawai," meaning that he was a quarter more than a man. |
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With the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the Moghul empire began to crumble. Conspiracy, assassination and dirty politics became apart of the proceedings at the Delhi court. Finally, Muhammad Shah, a young lad of 19, was installed on the throne in Delhi in 1719 and surprisingly survived all attempts to dethrone and assassinate him.. His 20-year rule ended when Nadir Shah defeated him in the battle of Panipat, sacked Delhi and took away the famous Peacock Throne. |
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During those turbulent times, King Jai Singh was consolidating not only his political position but his stature as astronomer and architect. In 1727 he planned and designed a new capital Jaipur (Jai's City), marvellous example of town planning and architecture. He made Pandit Jagannath, a Maratha .Brahmin well versed in Persian, Sanskrit and Arabic, his guru. He collected astronomical treatises and tables from Portugal, Arabia and Europe. His collection included the English astronomer, John Flamsteed's Historia Coelestis Britannica, Pere de la Hire's Tabulae Astronomicae,Ulugh Beg's tables, Zij Ulugh Begi, and Ptolemy'sA Imagest. |
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He ordered the translation of these treatises into Sanskrit and gave them Sanskrit names. For instance,he called Ptolemy's treatise Siddhantasurikaustubha,Ulugh Beg's tables Turusurni and la Hire's tables Mithiajeevachayyasurni. He also got a telescope from Europe and even began to build telescopes. |
