Jaipur Jantar Mantar tracks monsoons

JAIPUR: The Jantar Mantar in Jaipur was built in 1728 to study the posi– tion of the planets and is one of the oldest astronomical observatories in India.

But the Jantar Mantar is also famous for it's monsoon predictions. Age old tradition This tradition of predicting the monsoon by studying the wind direction has been carried out in the state for over 200 years now. Each year pandits gather at the astronomical observatory to see what the rains will be like in Rajasthan. "Earlier there was no technolo– gy, and astrologers knew how to read the wind and predict the monsoons. That knowledge exists today, and is successful 80 per cent of the time," says Om Prakash Sharma, Suptd, Jantar Mantar, Jaipur. Average rains The monsoon is already one week late and after analysing the wind directions, this year's prediction appears to confirm what everybody is already afraid of just average rains for the desert state. "Finally the conclusion we have come to is that the winds are blowing in such a way that the state will have average to slightly below average rainfall," says Durga Dutt Shiv Dutt Shastri, Jaipur Ved Vidagan Sansthan. How accurate are these predictions is anybody's guess, but in a state where the monsoon is a vital lifeline these predictions are read with great interest.