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| Rama Yantra in Jantar Mantar, Delhi Observatory |
The Rama Yantra is located towards the southern edge of the site. It is composed of two complementary hollow cylindrical structures that are open to the sky and positioned close to one other along the north-south axis. The instruments are sunk two meters into the ground, so that the observer has to descend into the instrument to take the readings. Each cylinder is prescribed by a three-tiered circular wall, which steps back gradually from the periphery with every rising tier. The wall is about a meter thick at the bottom, narrowing to ca. 60 centimeters at the top, and is punctured at regular intervals of about a meter with keel-arched openings. The openings in the upper two tiers are about 1.5 meters tall and 1 meter tall in the lowest tier. The curved perforated walls describing the perimeter of each cylinder act as thresholds. Each instrument has a vertical pole marking the centre of the cylinder, which is about a meter and a half in diameter, constructed in stone and covered in plaster. The height of the wall and the pillar is equal to the inner radius of the cylinder. Inside the cylinder, a raised red sandstone floor supported on masonry arches is positioned at a height of one meter from the ground. It is divided into equal sectors radiating out from the central pillar. Every alternate sector has been removed to allow access for taking the readings on the solid sectors. The sectors and openings in one cylinder are the inverse of the other. Like the Jai Prakash Yantra, if the two cylinders were superimposed, they would form a complete cylinder. This division of a single instrument into two complementary units was done mainly to facilitate the readings for celestial bodies at night.
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