The Pundits: British Exploration of Tibet and Central Asia
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Asian History History 1990 The Pundits: British Exploration of Tibet and Central Asia Derek Waller Vanderbilt University Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Waller, Derek, "The Pundits: British Exploration of Tibet and Central Asia" (1990). Asian History. 1. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_asian_history/1 THE PUNDITS For Penny THE PUNDITS British Exploration of Tibet and Central Asia DEREK WALLER THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Copyright© 1990 by The University Press of Kentucky Paperback edition 2004 The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved. Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com Maps in this book were created by Lawrence Brence. Relief rendering from The New International Atlas © 1988 by Rand McNally & Co., R.L. 88-S-194. The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Waller, Derek J. The Pundits : British exploration of Tibet and Central Asia I Derek Waller. p. em. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8131-1666-X (alk. paper) 1. Asia, Central-Description and travel. 2. Tibet (China)-Description and travel. I. Title. DS327.7.W35 1990 958'.03-dc20 90-32802 CIP Paper ISBN 0-8131-9100-9 This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. Manufactured in the United States of America. ~.t.T.t., I~ Member of the Association of 'I~ • American University Presses Contents List of Maps vi Preface vii 1. The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India 1 2. First Attempts: Abdul Hamid and Nain Singh 33 3. Across the Northwest Frontier: The Mirza, the Havildar, and the Mullah 54 4. To Tibet and Beyond: The Singh Family 99 5. The Forsyth Missions to Yarkand and Kashgar 144 6. Around Everest and Kanchenjunga: Hari Ram and Rinzing Namgyal 169 7. "A Hardy Son of Soft Bengal" 193 8. The Tsangpo-Brahmaputra Controversy: Lala, Nem Singh, and Kintup 214 9. Questions of Secrecy 248 10. Conclusion 267 Notes 274 Bibliography 304 Note on Map Sources 316 Index 317 Illustrations follow page 136 Maps 1. Abdul Hamid, 1863-64; Nain Singh, 1865-66 36 2. The Mirza, 1868-69; The Havildar, 1870, 1873-75 68 3. The Mullah, 1873-74, 1875-76, 1878 96 4. Nain, Kalian, and Mani Singh, 1867; Kalian Singh, 1868; Kishen Singh, 1871-72; Nain Singh, 1874-75 106 5. Kishen Singh, 1878-82 128 6. Forsyth Mission, 1873-74; Abdul Subhan, 1874; M.S., 1878-81 152 7. Hari Ram, 1871-72, 1873, 1885-86 180 8. Sarat Chandra Das and Ugyen Gyatso, 1879 198 9. Lala, 1875-76; Nem Singh and Kintup, 1878-79; Kintup, 1880-84; Rinzing Namgyal and Phurba, 1885-86 218 Preface I first became aware of the activities of the pundits in the course of relatively casual reading about the history and politics of Tibet. I discovered that many authors had referred, but only rather briefly, to their exploits. This book will, I hope, go some way toward assigning to these Indian explorers, and to the British officers of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, their rightful place in the history of the exploration of Tibet and Central Asia. A number of libraries and archives have been vital in supplying material for this book. I should like to give particular thanks to the staff of the India Office Library and Records; the Jean and Alexander Heard Library of Vanderbilt University; the Library and Archives of the Royal Geographical Society; and the British Library. I am also pleased to acknowledge as sistance from the library of the University of Leeds, the archives of the Royal Society, Cambridge University Library, and the Public Records Office. The staff of the National Archives of India in New Delhi were helpful in allowing me to see many volumes in the Debra Dun series of the Survey of India Records. Unfortunately, the government of India does not permit inspection of all the volumes in this series (or, at least, it did not when I visited the archives in 1981). The fifth and final volume of Colonel R.H. Phillimore's Historical Records of the Survey of India, 1844-1861 (Debra Dun, 1968) is a difficult book to come by. The work was apparently never actually issued, and only a few copies, which were sent out in advance of publication, are known to be extant. I must therefore express my gratitude to the Royal Engineers Corps Library at Brompton Barracks, Chatham, who kindly made a copy of volume five available to me. A number of people were generous in their comments on various sections of the manuscript. For their assistance, I am indebted to Gary Alder (who also provided me with copies of some documents), Felicity Browne, Scott Colley, Faith Evans, Peter Hopkirk, and Nicholas Rhodes. In addition to commenting on the manuscript, Nicholas and Deki Rhodes also provided a great deal of information concerning Rinzing Namgyal and U gyen Gyatso and gave me illustrative material on these two explorers, some of which is reproduced in the text. I also thank Henry Brownrigg of London, owner of the surveying instrument inscribed to Nain Singh, for allowing it to be photographed. viii THE PUNDITS A grant enabling me to travel to New Delhi was given by the University Research Council of Vanderbilt University, and financial assistance toward publication was provided by the Graduate School of the University. I am more than happy to acknowledge both awards. I am also indebted in other ways to Howard Boorman, the late Forrestt Miller, Bert Pullen, David Snellgrove, and Hugh Tinker. Special thanks to Tommye Corlew, who uncomplainingly deciphered my handwriting, typed, retyped, and typed again. ONE The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India On a September day in 1863, a Moslem named Abdul Hamid entered the Central Asian city of Yarkand. Disguised as a merchant, Hamid was actually an employee of the Survey of India, carrying concealed instru ments to enable him to map the geography of the area. Hamid did not live to provide a firsthand account of his travels. Nevertheless, he was the advance guard of an elite group of Indian trans-Himalayan explorers-recruited, trained, and directed by the officers of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India-who were to traverse much of Tibet and Central Asia during the next thirty years. In the public documents of the Survey of India, these men came to be called "pundits" or "native explorers," but in the closed files of the government of British India, they were given their true designation as spies or secret agents. The use of these agents was sanctioned in the 1860s only after the closing of the borders of Tibet to foreigners, the deaths of several European explorers in Central Asia, the unwillingness and inability of the Chinese authorities to make provision for British travelers, and decades of reluctance by the government oflndia to allow technically qualified Indians to survey beyond the frontier. As they moved northward within the Indian subcontinent, the British demanded precise frontiers and sought orderly political and economic relationships with their neighbors. The British were also becoming in creasingly aware of and concerned by their ignorance of the geographical, political, and military complexion of the territories beyond the mountain frontiers of the Indian empire. This was particularly true in the case of Tibet. Tibet was certainly the highest, and arguably the most remote and inac cessible, country in the world. The deserts of Turkestan spread to the north, and on the south and west stretched the vast ranges of the Himalayan chain. These could be crossed, but with difficulty, as even the passes were at altitudes in excess of 16,000 feet. To the east, Tibet could be entered from China but only by crossing serried ridges of mountains, running in a north south direction. Very little was known of the country's geography, not even 2 THE PUNDITS the exact position of its capital, Lhasa. There was speculation as to the route of the Tsangpo, its major river, and whether the Tsangpo flowed into India as the Brahmaputra or the Irrawaddy. The true sources of the Tsangpo and Indus rivers were still unknown. The best available map was one made on the basis of measurements taken by two Tibetan lamas-trained as sur veyors by Jesuits in Peking-and drawn up in 1717. The British were, however, by no means completely ignorant about Tibet. "They . make handsome cups out of the heads of their [dead] parents, so that when drinking out of them they may have them in mind in the midst of their merrymaking. This was told me by one who had seen it." t So wrote Friar William of Rubruck in the narrative of his mission to the Mongols in the mid-thirteenth century, thus providing to the Western world one of the first intriguing glimpses of life in Tibet.