History lessons in school have mostly taught us names of European explorers of the likes of Christopher Columbus, Vasco Da Gama and others giving little attention to Indian explorers. Google however, wants to set the record straight with its latest doodle featuring Indian explorer, Nain Singh Rawat from the 19th Century on his 187th birthday.
The doodle created by artists Hari and Deepti Panicker is a silhouette diorama illustration created using multiple layers of paper cuttings to create three dimensional silhouettes which when lit up with a lamp give the illusion of a depth. The artistic duo imagined Nain Singh dressed as a Tibetan monk hiking across the Himalayas to gather geographical information, to make Central Asia less of a mystery for the then colonial rulers of India, the British.
Singh was one of the elite pundit explorers trained by the British to explore the Himalayan highlands to decipher their demographics. Born in Johar Valley of Kumaon in Uttarakhand, he mapped routes in and around Nepal, Tibet and Tsangpo River including the restricted city of Lhasa. He was the first to measure the latitude and altitude of the city.
He belonged to the famous Bhotia clan of explorers. His eagerness to travel and explore the big world took him to as far as Nepal with his father where he learned Tibetan language and the customs of their land. He often travelled disguised as a Tibetan monk measuring his 2000 steps a mile with his rosary. He completed his disguise with a compass hidden in his prayer wheel and mercury hidden in cowrie shells. Even his travel records including data collected were made to look like prayers books.
He joined his first international exploration with German geograpahers Schlagintweit brothers, exploring Manasarovar Lake, Rakas Tal, Ladakh and Gartok between 1855 and 1857. Singh’s brother, Mani Singh Rawat and he together received formal training in Dehradun in 1863 at the Great Trignometric Survey. He was bestowed with several awards by the Royal Geographical Society during his lifetime. Read More