Hari Ram
Encyclopedia
Hari Ram was a pundit
who explored the region around Mount Everest
in 1871-1872. At first he was not allowed to enter Tibet
, but his luck changed when he met a district official whose wife was ill. He examined her, checked his medical book for a disease with similar symptoms, and gave her some pills. To his own surprise, the woman recovered, and from then he found relatively little difficulty in travelling on. He gave a frightening account of his trip along the Bhote Kosi river:
During his voyage, Hari Ram had opened up 30,000 square miles (78,000 km²) of virtually unknown territory. He had travelled all the way around Mount Everest, but because other mountains stood in between, he never actually saw it. On a second journey, Hari Ram traversed northern Nepal
from west to east.
Pundit (explorer)
The term pundit or pandit was used in the second half of the 19th century to denote native surveyors who explored regions to the north of India for the British....
who explored the region around Mount Everest
Mount Everest
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
in 1871-1872. At first he was not allowed to enter Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, but his luck changed when he met a district official whose wife was ill. He examined her, checked his medical book for a disease with similar symptoms, and gave her some pills. To his own surprise, the woman recovered, and from then he found relatively little difficulty in travelling on. He gave a frightening account of his trip along the Bhote Kosi river:
He followed the general course of the Bhotia-Kosi River, which he was obliged to cross fifteen times within twenty-five miles [40 km]. At one place the river ran in a gigantic chasm, the sides of which were so close to one another that a bridge of 24 paces was sufficient to span it. Near this bridge the precipices were so impractible that the path had to be supported on iron pegs let into the face of the rock - the path being formed by bars of iron and slabs of stone stretching from peg to peg and covered with earth. This extraordinary path is in no place more than eighteen inches [460 mm], and often not more than nine inches [230 mm] in width, and is carried for more than a third of a mile [500 m] along the face of the cliff, at some 1,500 feet [500 m] above the river, which could be seen roaring below in its narrow bed. The Pundit, who has seen much difficult ground in the HimalayasHimalayasThe Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
, says he never in his life met anything to equal this bit of path. (report of Montgomerie to the Royal Geographical SocietyRoyal Geographical SocietyThe Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
)
During his voyage, Hari Ram had opened up 30,000 square miles (78,000 km²) of virtually unknown territory. He had travelled all the way around Mount Everest, but because other mountains stood in between, he never actually saw it. On a second journey, Hari Ram traversed northern Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
from west to east.