Some Notes on Himalayan Mapping

The Himalaya, the southern frontier of Central Asia, has been for centuries a geographic enigma akin to the headwaters of the Nile and the wanderings of the Lop Nor. The earlier problems of location and elevation were solved, for the most part, by the pioneering efforts of the Surveyor General of India and the Survey of India, conducted since the mid-nineteenth century. Unfortunately, virtually all of the maps produced by the Surveyor General of India are officially restricted and thus normally not available. Far from satisfying our curiosity of the Himalaya, the Surveyor General and the Survey generated a host of questions regarding the population, cultures, and human ecology of that mountain system. These questions have attracted the full attention of numerous scholars representing many disciplines. Among geographers interested in the Himalaya, the cartographic work of Professor Pradyumna P. Karan is well known.