Kinthup, a Lepcha man from

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Silig ...

, was an explorer in the area of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

in the 1880s. He is best known for his impressive devotion to duty in surveying a previously unknown area of Tibet.

Biography

In the 1870s, the destination of the Tsangpo River (sometimes spelled "Sanpo") was unknown. Some hypothesized that it was the same river that flowed into the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line betwee ...

under the name of

Brahmaputra The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. I ...

(also known as "Dihang"). To solve this mystery, the colonial government of India sent a pundit explorer, known only as "G. M. N." to follow the Tsangpo and determine its ultimate destination. G. M. N. was accompanied by his assistant, a Sikkimese lepcha named Kinthup. After surveying a good portion of the river, the pair returned to India. In 1880, a Chinese lama was employed to continue G. M. N.'s work, and Kinthup was again hired to accompany him. In 1880 Kinthup was sent back with the task of testing the Brahmaputra theory by releasing 500 specially marked logs into the river at a prearranged time at which Captain Henry Harman, his British boss, posted men on the Dihang-Brahmaputra to watch for their arrival. However, in May 1881 the Chinese lama sold Kinthup to a Tibetan lama to become his slave. Kinthup's surveying equipment and notebooks were confiscated and he remained a slave until March 1882, when he finally managed to escape. Only then was he able the prepare the logs, send a letter from Lhasa announcing his new intended schedule, and launch the logs. Four years had passed. Unfortunately his note to alert the British got misdirected, his boss had left India, and nobody checked for the appearance of the logs. To start on his way back home he had to travel east along the Tsangpo and sought sanctuary in a

Buddhist monastery Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

where he was welcomed by the head lama. Kinthup continued with his surveying over the course of two and a half years under the guise of religious

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

s. He made several long treks recording the extent of the Tsangpo and surrounding region, and determining that the two rivers were indeed one and the same. Finally, in November 1884, he reached India. It was not until two years later that his account was even recorded, and even then his extraordinary accounts were doubted by some geographers. "His accomplishment was not acknowledged until 1913, when F. M. Bailey and

Henry Morshead Henry Treise Morshead (23 November 1882 – 17 May 1931) was an English surveyor, explorer and mountaineer. He is remembered for several achievements – with Frederick Bailey he explored the Tsangpo Gorge and finally confirmed that the Yarlun ...

validated his claims..." Captain Hugh Trenchard said, "his account has been confirmed in the most remarkable manner, and we are now able to establish Kinthup's claim to honorable record in the annals of the Survey of India, which he served with such zeal and devotion to duty." It was only some 30 years later that the Bailey–Morshead exploration of Tsangpo Gorge conclusively confirmed his discovery.

References

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External links

Discoverers Web: The Pundits
Tibet Explorers of Asia