While browsing through a small bookstore on the Mall Road in Shimla, Parimal Bhattacharya stumbled across an old document, which bore a Survey of India seal and was titled “Report of Pandit Kinthup’s Exploration of Yarlung Tsangpo, as narrated before the Hon’ble Members of the Tibet Frontier Commission, 25-28 March 1914.” He recalled having read about Kinthup before: a tailor turned explorer from Darjeeling, he had set out for Tibet in 1880. He had been dispatched on a mission by the British government, and ordered to find out as much as he could about the Tsangpo river. Although trade with Tibet was in full swing, very little was known about the region or the river at the time, and so the Raj sent spies—disguised as monks and trained in topographical survey-making—to Tibet. The following extract from Bhattacharya’s book Bells of Shangri-La: Scholars, Spies, Invaders in Tibet chronicles the beginning of Kinthup’s arduous journey, as he strived to determine whether the Tsangpo and the Brahmaputra were the same river.
When Kinthup was being trained for the Tsangpo mission, a Chinese lama was staying in Darjeeling. He had a passport to Tibet. Moreover, he could read and write; Kinthup was illiterate. So it was decided that Kinthup would go into Tibet disguised as the lama’s servant. The Chinese passport would give them free access there, the lama would also assist Kinthup to keep the survey records.
Though he couldn’t read and write, Kinthup had mastered the basic skills of topographic survey and the working of instruments. He also had an amazing memory. The two men set out from Darjeeling on a wet afternoon in July 1880. Kinthup was leaving behind his wife, two young sons and a newborn daughter in a tiny shack in Butcher Bustee. The code of espionage forbade him to share with anyone the details of his mission, which was expected to be completed in four months. Accordingly, the government had disbursed a small sum for the upkeep of his family during this period. Kinthup and the lama were given a purse containing 100 rupees and some silver pieces that could be exchanged for currency. The plan was that they would reach Gyala, a village near the western end of the Tsangpo gorge, up to which the earlier mission of Nem Singh had been able to reach, and from there press on into the gorge.
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