Timekeeping : India
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A brief history of (Indian) time
India Today.in , A Brief History of (Indian) Time “India Today” 13/2/2017
A Brief history of Indian Time
The concepts of standard time and Prime Meridian
The earliest postulation of standard time in the Indian context came from the 4th century CE Sanskrit treatise Surya Siddhanta. An incredible astronomical work for its time, rivalling Ptolemy’s 'Geographia ' from a few centuries earlier, it described a Prime Meridian passing through the cities of Rohitaka (modern-day Rohtak) and Avanti (modern-day Ujjain).
Thus, in Indian astronomical traditions, Ujjain has always occupied a central position, with some modern scholars calling it India’s Greenwich (although Indian Standard Time is mentioned with respect to the observatory in Mirzapur).
In 1719, Sawai Raja Jai Singh of Jaipur built a famous observatory in the city, one of the five he built during his reign.
