The Astronomical Observatories of Jai Singh c13.36

c13.36

59. Early Descriptions.—In A.D. 1777⁵ Sir Robert Barker, who was for a short time Commander-in-Chief in Bengal, published a description of the instruments, together with a perspective drawing of the observatory as a whole, and detailed drawings of the Samrāṭ Yantra, done by Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, Chief Engineer of the Company's service. The perspective drawing is here reproduced (figure 67), and it shows that the main features of the observatory are the same to-day as they were nearly a century and a half ago. There are apparent differences, but some of them may be due to the nature of the drawing: e.g., the Narivalaya and the small Samrāṭ appear to have been displaced slightly; the wall that supports the east quadrant is different in detail; there are no graduated quadrants on the east wall of the gnomon; the edge of the plinth, on which the larger Samrāṭ stands, has changed its alignment; and, in the drawing, no plinth at all is shown for the other instruments. From the notes of Williams and Hunter it appears that the drawing is somewhat incorrect, or, at any rate, misleading for the south-east corner of the terrace, for it shows no trace of the second Nari Valaya, described by them.