I first saw the Jantar Mantar in 1989 while in Delhi waiting for permission to photograph ancient temple sites across India. In Delhi I was just a tourist, carrying a lightweight medium format camera with black and white film and no tripod. Nothing could have prepared me for the experience that followed as I entered through a low archway into the observatory compound. As a photographer, this first encounter was wordlessly visual and profound. The precise geometry and unusual size of the Jantar Mantar structures was arresting, and I sensed in them a body of knowledge that I could feel but not comprehend. Barry Perlus