Historic Wednesday

  Jantra-Mantra : An Astronomical Heritage of India.   Introduction Jantra Mantra commanly know as jantar-mantar. Jantra means yantras or instruments and mantra means formulas. Jantar Mantar is an astronomical observatory and equinoctial sundial that dates to the 18th century. A visit to this place will help you explore old-word astronomy and understand how people of bygone eras determined the time and discovered the location and movements of celestial bodies.                                     Fig: Jantar mantar, Delhi It consists of 13 architectural astronomy instruments, built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur, from 1724 onwards. as he was given by Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah the task of revising the calendar and astronomical tables. In fact, the king had established five observatories during his reign in the early 18th century and the one in Delhi was the first to be...

  The word ‘renaissance’ means ‘rebirth’ in French. The Renaissance was a period of cultural, artistic and scientific rebirth in Europe from the 14 th to the 17 th century. The Renaissance eventually gave way to the Enlightenment or the Age of Reason. It is believed to have originated in Florence, Italy in the early 1400s. The Renaissance led to a significant shift in European world view. Art, philosophy and literature started becoming more human-centric.                                     A Timeline of important events in the Renaissance The Medici Bank created in 1397 eventually became the largest bank in Europe during the Renaissance, thereby allowing the Medici family to gain political control over Florence. Having amassed considerable wealth, they became patrons of the arts and were known to have supported a variety of famous Renaissance artists including Michelangelo and Leonardo Da ...