Know Pundit Nain Singh Rawat – The man who walked 42,000 km to map Tibet without modern tools
Babushahi Bureau
Uttarakhand, October 2025: Over 150 years ago, long before satellites, GPS, or modern surveying tools, one man from a small village in Uttarakhand accomplished what even empires could not. His name: Pundit Nain Singh Rawat, the unsung hero who mapped the mysterious land of Tibet with nothing but his wit, willpower, and a humble rosary.
Born in 1830 in Bhatkura village, Nain Singh began life as an illiterate porter. But destiny had bigger plans. Recruited and trained secretly by the British as a “pundit surveyor,” he was tasked with charting Tibet — a forbidden, unknown land.
Without compasses or measuring wheels, Nain Singh devised a brilliant method: using a rosary of 100 beads, counting one bead for every 100 steps. Each step measured 31.5 inches, calculated using a rope tied between his feet. Through deserts, glaciers, and treacherous mountain passes, he walked over 3.16 million steps, mapping 42,000 kilometers across the Himalayas.
He was the first to measure Lhasa’s altitude, chart the Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) River, and trace the origins of the Indus and Sutlej Rivers — all with sharp observation, a brilliant mind, and extraordinary courage.
When he disappeared for 16 years, the world presumed him dead. Yet his wife never lost hope — she made him a coat and pajamas every year. When he finally returned, she presented 16 sets, one for each year of his absence.
Pundit Nain Singh Rawat was later honored with the Patron Gold Medal by the Royal Geographical Society — the only Indian ever to receive it. Today, he remains a symbol of India’s forgotten brilliance, courage, and relentless spirit of exploration.