Pundit (explorer)

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Kinthup, a Sikkimese pundit who explored Tibet in the late 19th century

The term pundit was used in the second half of the 19th century to denote native Indian surveyors used by the British to secretly explore regions north of

British India. The Pundit was the code-name for one of the first native explorers, Nain Singh, who was originally a schoolteacher (or pundit). His accomplishments were so remarkable that the whole group of around twenty native explorers became known as the Pundits.[1]

Two of the most famous pundits included the cousins Nain Singh and Kishen Singh (code-named A.K.)[2][3][4]

Great Trigonometric Survey of India

One of the greatest projects of 19th century geography was the

Great Game
.

However, in some regions these surveys seemed impossible. Some of the Indian border countries, in particular

Brahmaputra – until that time it was not known whether it flowed to the Pacific or Indian Oceans.[5]

Methods

Nain Singh Rawat

A number of tricks were developed to enable the pundits to make their observations without being found out. They were "trained to walk at precisely two thousand paces to the mile."

Nain Singh Rawat
also found that these could be used to ward off curious co-travelers: each time someone came too near, he would start whirling the wheel around and pretend to be in religious contemplation. Usually this would be enough to stop others from addressing him. Another way of keeping their observations was to turn them into a poem, and recite that during their travels.

The pundits were given extensive training in basic surveying: they learned to use the sextant, determine height by measuring the temperature of boiling water, and make astronomical observations. They also received some medical training. Through their exploration efforts, they managed to bring back vital data that allowed the mapping of areas lying north of India (which were forbidden to Europeans, such as Tibet) with remarkable precision.

Notable pundits

An extensive list of the pundits (and their forerunners) has been detailed chronologically by Michael Ward in the Alpine Journal Volume 103, 1998. (His entry for 1858 is incorrect – Bir and Deb Singh were with William Moorcroft in 1812.)[1] Some notable pundits include:

In literature

The use of pundits by the British during the Great Game is fictionalized in the 1901 novel Kim by Rudyard Kipling.

See also

  • The Great Game

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-1-61200-814-1
    .
  2. Oxford University
    Press.
  3. ^ Derek J. Waller, 2004, "The Pundits: British Exploration of Tibet and Central Asia," University Press of Kentucky.
  4. ^ Account of the Pundit's Journey in Great Tibet - Capt. H. Trotter, The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society (1877).
  5. JSTOR 201464
    .
  6. ^
    OCLC 773021726
    .

Further reading

External links
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