The Railway from Lhasa to Kathmandu / Thangka - 1
An Indian man by the name of NainSingh is being trained at a British intelligence school in the Himalayas . Captain T.G. Montgomerie is sitting on an elephant, holding a compass, a telescope and a terrestrial globe in his hands. The captain is instructing Nain Singh's march. Nain Singh was specially trained to be able to control each of his steps at precisely thirty three inches apart. Queen Victoria is the patron saint flying in mid-air. A group of spectators gather in an act of transcending time, including Nehru who is behind the camera, Gandhi, Tagore, Darwin, etc.
The Railway from Lhasa to Kathmandu / Thangka - 2
This is a portrait of Nain Singh in full gear. He carries with him instruments to secretly survey topography in Tibet . There is a thermometer on the walking stick used to test the boiling point of water. Inside his prayer wheel, instead of normal Buddhist scriptures are his own survey data. His tea cup is modified to contain mercury, used to allocate the horizon line. His prayer beads are different from the normal one-hundred and eight beads, there are only one hundred beads used to help him measure his steps. He is standing on top of a yak and Tibetan Mastiff.
The Railway from Lhasa to Kathmandu / Thangka-3
In 1865, Nain Singh disguises himself as a Hindu pilgrim traveling to Tibet . He rejects the kind offer of a camel from the merchants, and insists on walking on foot to the holy city of Tibet , Lhasa , according to his belief in cultivation. At night, while others were asleep, Nain Singh makes hot water for the group. He actually secretly measures water's boiling point to calculate altitude. After a long journey Nain Singh arrives at Lhasa .
The Railway from Lhasa to Kathmandu / Thangka-4
During his time in Lhasa , Nain Singh records the position of the sun twenty times a day. At night he collects data on sixteen groups of star location. His "act of cultivation" draws the attention of a local monastery and an audience is arranged to meet with the Dalai Lama. He escapes to India , trekking along the Brahmaputra River .
The Railway from Lhasa to Kathmandu / Thangka-5
Nain Singh returns to the British intelligence training school, he is warmly received by British officers and is awarded. He draws a map based on his calculation from his steps from Nepal to Lhasa , for he is the first person to demarcate Lhasa by map. The Paris Geography Society awards Nain Singh a golden watch. He is praised as a "man who has added a greater amount of positive knowledge to the map of Asia than any individual of our time". Nain Singh becomes a teacher at Dehra Dun intelligence training center, cultivating a new generation of intelligence agents. In 1904 Sir Francis Younghusband leads the British Empire's army and invades Tibet .
The Railway from Lhasa to Katmandu /Thangka-6
Tibet today, opening of the Qinghai- Tibet railway. |