Joint Issues : India - Korea

Stamp Design/Theme: Architecture, Astronomy & Space.
Occasion: 30th Anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Korea.

India:
Issue Date: 10.12.2003
Setenant Pair, Sheetlet
Denomination: Rs. 15 each, Sheetlet Rs. 240

Korea
Issue Date: 10.12.2003
Setenant Pair, Sheetlet of 8 pairs.
Denomination: 190 KRW each

Cheomseongdae is an astronomical observatory in Gyeongju, South Korea. Cheomseongdae means star-gazing tower in Korean. Cheomseongdae is the oldest surviving observatory in East Asia. It dates to the 7th century to the time of kingdom of Silla, which had its capital in Gyeongju. Cheomseongdae was designated as the country's 31st national treasure on December 20, 1962. This is one the oldest astronomical observatories of its kind in Asia. Ancient records show that people climbed to the top of the tower using a ladder to observe the skies and to study the movements of the celestial sphere.

The Jantar Mantar is the largest astrological observatory of India, it is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments, built by Sawai Jai Singh who was a Mughal Commander and served Emperor Aurangzeb and later Mughals. It was built to observe the movements of the constellation, sun, moon and planets in consideration of the astrological rule, location of the equator, the latitude and longitude. The name is derived from jantar ("instrument"), and Mantar ("formula", or in this context "calculation"). Therefore jantar mantar means literally 'calculation instrument'. This observatory has religious significance, since ancient Indian astronomers were also Jyotisa masters. The observatory consists of fourteen major geometric devices for measuring time, predicting eclipses, tracking stars' location as the earth orbits around the sun, ascertaining the declinations of planets, and determining the celestial altitudes and related ephemerides. It has been inscribed on the World Heritage List as "an expression of the astronomical skills and cosmological concepts of the court of a scholarly prince at the end of the Mughal period".