The Astronomical Observatories of Jai Singh c13.31

c13.31

The astronomical instruments were added by Jai Singh about A.D. 1837.¹ The date is not certain, and nearly every writer gives a different one. Sir Robert Barker, who was almost a contemporary of Jai Singh,² said that the observatory was built by Akbar; Prinsep wrote: "The building was converted into an observatory by Jysing, A.D. 1680" and refers to a supposed description of it by Tavernier³; another writer gives A.D. 1693⁴ and another 1700. Father Boudier who visited Benares in 1734 and made astronomical observations there makes no mention of the observatory. Jai Singh himself tells us that, in order to confirm the observations made at Delhi, he constructed instruments of the same kind at Jaipur, Mathurā, Benares and Ujjain; and the Delhi observatory was probably built about 1724; that at Jaipur was built in 1734, and Williams' date for the observatory at Benares, 1737, may be accepted.