imported>Riaz Dean at 21:21, 8 August 2021

2021-08-08T21:21:54Z

New page

{{Short description|Native explorers who assisted the British in surveying Tibet and Central Asia; used as their pseudonym in accounts of their reports}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2013}}
[[File:Kinthup.jpg|thumb|[[Kinthup]] a Sikkimese pundit explored Tibet in the late 19th century|alt=|323x323px]]
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.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Dean|first=Riaz|title=Mapping The Great Game: Explorers, Spies & Maps in Nineteenth-century Asia|publisher=Casemate (UK)|year=2019|isbn=978-1-61200-814-1|location=Oxford|pages=125-218 (Part III of book)}}</ref>

Two of the most famous pundits included the cousins [[Nain Singh]] and [[Kishen Singh (explorer)|Kishen Singh]] (code-named A.K.)<ref name=study4>Peter Hopkirk, 1982, "Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Race for Lhasa", [[Oxford University]] Press.</ref><ref name=study9>Derek J. Waller, 2004, "The Pundits: British Exploration of Tibet and Central Asia," University Press of Kentucky.</ref><ref name=study1>Account of the Pundit's Journey in Great Tibet - Capt. H. Trotter, The Journal of the Royal Geographic Society (1877).</ref>

==Great Trigonometric Survey of India==
One of the greatest projects of 19th century geography was the [[Great Trigonometric Survey of India]]. The British also wanted geographical information on the lands further north. This was not just out of scientific curiosity: The [[Russia]]ns were attempting to expand their empire into [[Central Asia]], and the British feared that they might have set their eyes on gaining the riches of India, which was at that time a British colony. Thus, the Russians and the British both tried to extend their influence in Asia. Knowledge of geography of the region was of course of utmost importance in this so-called '[[The Great Game|Great Game]]'.

However, in some regions these surveys seemed impossible. Some of the Indian border countries, in particular [[Tibet]], would not allow westerners to enter their country, let alone a British surveying team. In the 1860s, [[Thomas George Montgomerie|Thomas G. Montgomerie]], a captain in the survey, realised that the solution to this problem would be to train natives from Indian border states such as [[Sikkim]] to be surveyors, and have them explore the region. These would raise less suspicion than Europeans, and might be able to make observations disguised as a trader or a [[lama]] (holy man). These native surveyors are called pundits. One such pundit, [[Kinthup]], was the first person to discover that the [[Tsangpo River]] was a tributary of the [[Brahmaputra]] – until that time it was not known whether it flowed to the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] or [[Indian Ocean]]s.<ref name=BAGS>{{cite journal | last1 =Burrard | first1 =S. G. | year = 1915 | title = The Identity of the Sanpo and Dihang Rivers | journal = [[Bulletin of the American Geographical Society]] | volume = 47 | issue = 4 | pages = 249–264 | publisher = [[American Geographical Society]] | doi =10.2307/201464 | jstor = 201464}}</ref>

===Methods===
[[File:Nain Singh Rawat 2004 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|[[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."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Into the Silence : The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest|url=https://archive.org/details/intosilencegreat00davi|url-access=limited|last=Davis|first=Wade|date=2012|publisher=Vintage Books|isbn=9780375708152|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/intosilencegreat00davi/page/n60 49]|oclc=773021726}}</ref> To count them, they used a modified [[Buddhist rosary]], called a [[Buddhist prayer beads|mala]], but instead of the usual 108 beads it had 100, every tenth being slightly larger. Every 100 paces a bead was dropped.<ref name=":1" /> A [[prayer wheel]] did not hold the common Buddhist mantra ''[[Om mani padme hum]]'', instead, "the scroll hidden within (...) was replaced by a blank roll of paper upon which data could be surreptitiously recorded."<ref name=":0" /> Pundit [[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 thus 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 bring back vital data that allowed the mapping 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 (mountaineer)|Michael Ward]] in the [[Alpine Journal]] Volume 103, 1998. (Note: His entry for 1858 is incorrect – Bir and Deb Singh were with [[William Moorcroft (explorer)|William Moorcroft]] in 1812.)<ref name=":1" /> Some notable pundits include:

* Abdul Hamid
*[[Hari Ram]]
*Hyder Shah

* [[Kinthup]]
* [[Kishen Singh (explorer)|Kishen Singh]]
*Mirza Shuja
* [[Nain Singh Rawat|Nain Singh]]
*[[Sarat Chandra Das]]

==In literature==
The use of pundits by the British during the so-called [[The Great Game|Great Game]] is fictionalized in the 1901 novel ''[[Kim (novel)|Kim]]'' by [[Rudyard Kipling]].

==See also==
*[[The Great Game]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*Peter Hopkirk ''Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Secret Exploration of Tibet'', Tarcher (June 1, 1983), hardcover, 274 pages, {{ISBN|0874772575}}, {{ISBN|978-0874772579}}

== External links ==
*[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/tibet/ascend/pundits.html Extract from Peter Hopkirk (1983) ''Trespassers on the Roof of the World'']

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pundit (Explorer)}}
[[Category:Explorers of Central Asia]]
[[Category:Indian surveyors]]
[[Category:British India]]
[[Category:The Great Game]]

Pundit (explorer) - Revision history

imported>Riaz Dean at 21:21, 8 August 2021