Page 84 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

82  DELHI & THE NOR TH

q Nehru
Memorial Museum
and Library
Teen Murti Marg. Tel (011) 2301
7587. q Lok Kalyan Marg Station.
Open 9am–5:30pm Tue–Sun.
Closed Mon & public hols. Nehru
Planetarium: Tel (011) 2301 4504.
Open 9am–5pm Tue–Sun.
Closed Mon & public hols.
& Shows: 11:30am, 3pm.
∑ nehrumemorial.nic.in
Brick and plaster astronomical instruments in Jantar Mantar The residence of Jawaharlal Nehru,
India’s first prime minister, Teen
9 Jantar Mantar 0 Lakshmi Narayan Murti Bhavan was converted
Mandir into a museum and library for
Sansad Marg. q Rajiv Chowk.
Open daily. & Mandir Marg. q RK Ashram Marg. research scholars after Nehru’s
death in 1964. Originally built
Sawai Jai Singh II of Jaipur, a keen Open daily. in 1930 as the residence of
astronomer, built this observa tory Built in 1938 by the industrialist the Commander in Chief
– one of the five he constructed BD Birla, this was one of the of the British Indian Army, this
(see pp362–3) – in 1724 to earliest Indian temples without beautiful building became the
calculate plan etary positions and caste restrictions, and Mahatma residence of Jawaharlal Nehru
alignments, in order to perform Gandhi attended its first puja. in 1947. His bedroom and study,
sacred rituals and pujas (acts of A fairly typical example of still exactly as he left them, reflect
woship) at propitious moments. modern Indian temple his austere yet elegant person-
Jantar Mantar’s instruments are architecture, with its ality and his eclectic
large and fixed, making them marble entrance and taste in books.
resistant to vibration and ochre- and maroon The extensive
therefore exact. The Samrat shikharas (spires), grounds are home
Yantra, a right-angled triangle the Birla Mandir, as it to the Nehru
whose hypotenuse is parallel to is popularly known, Planetarium and the
the earth’s axis, is a gigantic sun- has images of square, three-arched
dial, with two brick quadrants Vishnu and his Kushak Mahal, a
on either side of it to measure consort Lakshmi 14th-cen tury hunting
the sun’s shadow. The Ram Yantra, in its main shrine. lodge built by Sultan
reads the altitude of the sun, and Subsidiary shrines Feroze Shah Tughluq
the Jai Prakash Yantra (invented set around the (see p91). On the
by Jai Singh II himself) verifies courtyard, are Teen Murti Memorial roundabout in front
the time of the spring equinox. inscribed with verses of the house stands
Now obsolete, the observatory from sacred Hindu texts and the Teen Murti (“Three Statues”)
lies in the centre of a park are decorated with paintings Memorial. This is dedicated to
surrounded by high-rises. Today, depicting scenes from the the Indian soldiers who died in
the area has become synonymous great epics, the Mahabharata World War I. The house derives
with dharnas (protests). and Ramayana (see pp30–31). its name from this landmark.

Teen Murti Bhavan, Nehru’s official residence, now the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
For hotels and restaurants in this region see p694 and pp706–707

082-083_EW_India.indd 82 26/04/17 11:42 am
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.6)
Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm