Spying for the Raj: The Pundits and Mapping the Himalayas

I always wanted to know who measured and mapped the great trans-himalayan range and how it was done. What kind of people undertook this difficult task of mapping this vast mountain range? I had a basic idea that it was a band of people from the Survey of India way back in the 19th century who undertook this task.

I filed away this piece of information and promised myself that I will look up this information at a future date. You know how these things are...once you carefully file it away it remains firmly wedged in the back of your mind...much like a piece of paper caught in the back of your filing cabinet. You see it every now and then when you go to retrieve something from your mental filing cabinet and then you shrug your shoulders and mutter to yourself, "One of these day, one of these days."

Well, my quest came to a rather abrupt and pleasant end last week when I was in London. I discovered that Jules Stewart has recently published a book titled Spying for the Raj: The Pundits and the Mapping of the Himalayas. Jules talks about this fascinating subject in his book and provides details on how this mountain range was finally measured and mapped by the British administration in the 19th century.

I heard about Jules's book when I was talking to another author - Roy Moxham, who is in the process of writing his third book. Mr. Moxham is a great source of information about the British Raj, and has a vast fund of footnotes at his disposal. For instance I was looking for a particular book about a 19th century British Commission in India, and without batting an eyelid Mr. Moxham gave me the title and the publisher's name. It did not surprise me since he was a conservator of old books in a London University. If you have not read his books, you might want to give them a shot. His first book, The Great Hedge of India is interesting. Anyway it was Mr. Moxham who pointed me towards Jules Stewart and his new book.

As luck would have it, I was able to meet Jules in person and interview him about his book. The book traces the 30-year process of mapping the Himalayas that the British undertook. The official name for the survey was "The Great Trignometrical Survey of India," and lasted from 1864-1894. Captain Montgomerie was the person who headed this survey. He recruited a small band of local people from various parts of the Himalayas and trained them in how to use basic measuring equipment. He also devised clever and ingenious ways to measure the progress made by this small group of dedicated spies, who were called "Pundits."

These pundits consisted of Tibetans, Kumaonis, Garhwalis and Mongolians among others. For instance there was Nain Singh from the Kumaon-Garhwal region, who was part of the expedition and did some daring feats in order to map the terrain of the Himalayas. Then there was Kinthup, an illitereate tailor's assistant from Darjeeling. Kinthup spent four years measuring the Himalayas, but in the end his work came to a naught, zilch, nada, nothing.

One of the reasons why the British wanted to undertake this survey was to fill their gaps about their knowledge of the trans-himalayan range like the terrain, Tibet, the rivers from Mt. Kailash etc. By the end of the survey the British had a much better idea and knowledge of the mountain range.

A primary reason that drove the British to undertake this task was to contain Russia's interest in this part of the world. Tsarist Russia in the mid-19th century was on a quest for a warm water port in this region (in what is today Pakistan area). Jules mentioned that at point the Russsians were literally at the gates of India. This need to contain Russia is what propelled the British administration to undertake this survey. It was against the back-drop of this "Great Game," that a small band of "pundits" went on a secret mission to map the Himalayas.

The book makes for some fascinating reading. It filled a gap in my knowledge about how and why the Himalayas were finally mappped.

Jules is in the process of finishing his third book about the history of the Northwest frontier in Pakistan. His first book was also based on this region and was titled The Khyber Rifles. He travelled in the Northwest region for the first time last year when President Musharraf arranged for his trip to this region.

An avid moutaineer, Jules was part of an expedition to Mount Everest a few years ago. Half-way through, they had to abandon their plans since their leader suffered a heart attack.

Jules is a journalist based in London.

You can listen to an audio interview of Jules Stewart here.