Telling time by shadows

Find out how shadows can tell us the time.

Shadows move in a regular way through the day, so they can tell us the time! Your book, Our Wondrous World (Chapter 10), says ancient people noticed this and made a device for telling the time from a shadow. It is called a sundial.

Raja Jai Singh of Jaipur built the Jantar Mantar in five cities: Jaipur, Ujjain, Delhi, Varanasi and Mathura. The Jantar Mantar has a giant sundial called the Samrat Yantra. It can tell the time accurately from its shadow.

People also have fun with shadows. You can make shapes with your hands in the light. And your book says that shadow puppetry, telling stories with the shadows of puppets, has been practised in India for a long time.

We can tell the time from shadows with a sundial; Raja Jai Singh of Jaipur built the Jantar Mantar, whose sundial, the Samrat Yantra, tells time accurately, and shadow puppetry is an old Indian art.

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