Rai Bahadur Rai Bahadur (in North India) and Rao Bahadur (in South India), R.B., was a title of honour bestowed during British rule in India to individuals for outstanding service or acts of public welfare to the Empire. From 1911, the title was accompani ...

Kishen Singh or Krishna (–1921) was a native Indian explorer, termed a ''

pundit A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

'' by the British, who was employed by the

Survey of India The Survey of India is India's central engineering agency in charge of mapping and surveying.Nain Singh (code-named 'The Pundit').

Early life

He was born to a trader named Deb Singh. He was born at Milam village on India-China border now in present-day

Pithoragarh district Pithoragarh district is the easternmost district in the state of Uttarakhand. It is located in the Himalayas and has an area of and a population of 483,439 (as of 2011). The city of Pithoragarh, located in Saur Valley, is its headquarters. Th ...

. His elder brother was Mani Singh. His cousin Nain Singh was also an explorer.Kenneth Mason, 1923, "Kishen Singh and the Indian Explorers", The Geographical Journal, Vol. LXII-July to December.Babu Ram Singh Pangtey, 1980, "Johar Ka Itihaas (History of Johar)".Peter Hopkirk, 1982, "Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Race for Lhasa",

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

Press.

Education (1862–1867)

Singh simultaneous studied and worked as assistant at the Garbyang government school in the Dharchula area, and later progressed to obtain the ''Tehsil Mudarisi'' diploma from the Normal School at

Almora Almora ( Kumaoni: ') is a municipal corporation and a cantonment town in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Almora district. Almora is located on a ridge at the southern edge of the Kumaon Hills of the ...

. He taught at Milam Girls' School and the Garbyang government school.

Explorer (1867–1885)

Hired and trained by the Geological Survey of India's

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

office, Singh then participated in the

Great Trigonometrical Survey The Great Trigonometrical Survey of India was a project that aimed to carry out a survey across the Indian subcontinent with scientific precision. It was begun in 1802 by the British infantry officer William Lambton, under the auspices of t ...

, and later became a trainer for the survey. James Walker, the superintendent of the survey, took him and his cousin Nain Singh on expeditions of Tibet and Central Asia. He was part of the several important expeditions listed below.Clements R. Markham, 1878, "A Memoir on The Indian Surveys", 2nd Ed., W H Allen & Co., London, p.189.Charles E. D. Black, 1891, "A Memoir on The Indian Surveys (1875–90)" , London , p.168.Derek J. Waller, 2004, "The Pundits: British Exploration of Tibet and Central Asia," University Press of Kentucky.Account of the Pundit's Journey in Great Tibet - Capt. H. Trotter, The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society (1877). # 1869 Kailash- Mansarovar expedition. # 1871–1872 Shigache–

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

expedition. # 1873–1874

Yarkand Yarkant County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also Shache County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also SASM/GNC ro ...

–

Kashgar Kashgar () or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar ...

expedition, second expedition of this area by Sir Thomas Douglas Forsyth. # 1878–1882

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

–

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

expedition, stayed in Lhasa for a year masquerading as a merchant, surveyed

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth-longest river and the third-longest in Asia with an estimated length of and a drainage area of , discharging of wat ...

, Salween, and

Irrawaddy river The Irrawaddy River (, , Ayeyarwady) is the principal river of Myanmar, running through the centre of the country. Myanmar’s most important commercial waterway, it is about 1,350 miles (2,170 km) long. Originating from the confluence of the ...

s. He was also the first person to map the Ramgarh crater on a finer scale of (1 : 63,360).Balasundaram, M., Dube, A. Ramgarh, 1973, "Structure, India",

Nature (journal) ''Nature'' is a British weekly scientific journal founded and based in London, England. As a multidisciplinary publication, ''Nature'' features Peer review, peer-reviewed research from a variety of academic disciplines, mainly in science and t ...

, 242, 40 doi:10.1038/242040a0.

Retirement and death (1885–1921)

Singh retired in 1885. In 1913 he became a guardian patron of the "Johar Upkarini Mahasabha" grassroot development co-operative society of the Johar Valley. He died in February 1921.Dr. Sher Singh Pangtey, 1992, "Madhya Himalaya Ki Bhotia Janjaati (Bhotia Tribe of the Central Himalayas)".Indra Singh Rawat, 1973, "Indian Explorers of the 19th Century".

Honors

He received the following: #

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

, an inscribed gold watch and 500 Indian rupees. # Paris Geographical Society, a gold medal. # Italian Geographic Society, a gold medal. # British government of India, title of

. # British government of India: with a grant of

jagir A jagir (), ( Hindustani: जागीर/جاگیر, ''Jāgīr''), ( Marathi: जहागीर, ''Jahāgīrá'') also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar ( Zamindar ...

by British in

Sitapur district Sitapur district is one of the Districts of Uttar Pradesh, districts which is situated in Uttar Pradesh States and territories of India, state of India, with Sitapur town as the district headquarters. Sitapur district is a part of Lucknow divis ...

of present-day

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

with annual revenue of INR1850.

References

Citations

External links

Discoverers Web
description of this explorer's activities. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rawat, Krishna Explorers of South Asia Explorers of Asia People from British India Scientists from Dehradun Indian explorers 19th-century cartographers 1850 births 1921 deaths