Daksinottara Bhitti Yantra

Jai Singh must have considered the Daksinottara Bhitti an important instrument as he built it at all of his observatories. Those at Varanasi and Ujjain include two arcs, and the instrument at Jaipur has three.
  • Introduction

    The Daksinottara Bhitti is based on the meridian dial of earlier times. It incorporates a quadrant or half-circle inscribed on a north-south wall, with a metal rod at the center. The meridian is an imaginary plane running north-south in line with the earth’s axis and extending directly overhead.

  • How it works

    At midday, the sun casts a shadow of the rod onto the quadrant scale, giving the meridian altitude. The instrument may also be used at night to obtain the meridian altitude of other celestial bodies. Although seemingly basic, meridian-altitude measurements can be used to determine other astronomical data such as local latitude and the obliquity of the ecliptic.

Daksinottara BhittiThumb

Daksinottara Bhitti, perspective view, west face..

Daksinottara Bhitti elevation thumb

Daksinottara Bhitti, elevation, east face.
Click or tap any of the images to enlarge.

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