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The observatories built in the 18th century by the Indian Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur ( 1686-1743 ) are little understood wonders of architecture and science. Cosmic Architecture in India is a major contribution to the understanding of these mysterious buildings, popularly known as Jantar Mantar, and to the history of astronomical science. Fully illustrated with colour photographs, technical drawings and contextual illustrations, this volume sheds new light on these fascinating monuments. Situated in Delhi, Jaipur, Benares, Ujjain and Mathura, the buildings show no similarities with contemporary Mughal architecture-indeed their simple geometrical forms inspired Le Corbusier, the great modernist. So what was the real significance of these observatories ? In a fascinating investigation Andreas Volwahsen reveals how Hindu priests and mystics as well as Indian mandala theory were the main influences on Jai Singh`s architectural projects. Rather than the accurate measurement of the heavens-for which the observatoies were in any case useless-the Maharaja`s aim was to create a representaion of his own earthly powers and ultimately display his own superior knowledge. Andreas volwahsen wrote his PHD on Jai Singh`s observatories and in doing so prepared the first complete survey of all the instruments. He recently returned to the topic in order to present Jai Singh`s architecture as an outstanding example of humanity`s continuing effort to understand and represent the rules of the universe. ISBN: 81-85822-87-5
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