Jantar Mantar

Prayer Wheels
A prayer wheel is a cylindrical \'wheel\' on a spindle made from metal, wood, stone, leather, or even coarse cotton. Traditionally, the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is written in Sanskrit externally on the wheel. According to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, spinning such a wheel will have much the same meritorious effect as orally reciting the prayers...
Bhutan: Photo gallery | Bhutan travelogue

[tag]Jantar Mantar[/tag], located near [tag]Connaught place[/tag], the heart of [tag]Delhi[/tag]’s commercial area, is infact an ancient [tag]astronomy observatory[/tag]. Built during the period AD 1724-1730 by [tag]Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh[/tag] II of Jaipur, the various structures in the complex are instruments that were used to keep track to celestial bodies. The structures are not functional anymore, but nevertheless they are an integral part of India’s scientific heritage. The Rajput ruler also built similar observatories at Jaipur, Varanasi, Ujjain and Mathura.