On “An Atlas of the Himalayas”
Understanding Buryatia involves grasping the complex dynamics of the region and embracing many different influences, both cultural and political. These hardly ever get covered in the mainstream Polish or European (Western) media, not to mention ever being part of the school curricula. Studying the history and culture of the region often requires adopting different perspectives, not taking anything for granted and thinking outside the box, occasionally getting out of your comfort zone or even out of your own privilege.
Learning about Tibet may look like procrastination in my case, but even seemingly unrelated readings contribute to a better understanding of the Mongol and Central Asian world.
These maps were drawn by a 19th century lama who had been in touch with Europeans and commissioned. They are part of the so-called Wise Collection consisting of 55 drawings and large-scale maps, now kept at the British Library and named after the man whose name “Wise” appeared on the collection bindings. He was later identified as Thomas Alexander Wise (1802–1889), a Scottish doctor, polymath and collector, who served in the Indian Medical Service in Bengal between 1827 and 1851. However, the drawings and maps, dating from between 1844 and 1862, were commissioned by someone else, allegedly by the author of the accompanying explanatory texts written in English on 24 separate sheets of paper, with a total of 7,500 words. Wise acquired the drawings from him to later donate to the India Office Library (now part of the British Library) in London.
Six large-scale picture maps — drawn on 27 sheets in total — make a 15-metre-long cartographic panorama when placed side by side. They are a representation of the 1,800-km route between Ladakh and Central Tibet that the lama took. 28 related drawings that complement the maps cover an impressive range of information, including monasteries and monastic rituals, wedding ceremonies, ethnic groups and clothes, altogether an impressive ‘compendium of knowledge’ on Tibet and the Western Himalayas. There are also more than 900 annotations on the drawings.
“An Atlas of the Himalayas” presents more than a scholarly journey and its results, however. Apart from portraying the Wise Collection with a detective story in the background (Diana Lange discovered the name of the official who commissioned the maps: a Major William Edward Hay, an Assistant Commissioner in Kulu in today’s Northwest India), it presents the journeys that different objects and knowledge make. It shows how the knowledge of Tibet was acquired, produced and shared and the connections and power dynamics between different cultures and regions (we find out how the collection made its way from India to Great Britain and who was involved in that process). This makes the book a complex account encompassing different scholarly perspectives, at the same time illustrating the challenges that such materials may present a scholar with.
Luckily, not all the mysteries have been solved — the name of the monk who actually drew the images remains unknown — so there will hopefully be more to read in the future.
When writing this note, I relied on the preface to “An Atlas of the Himalayas” and Diana Lange’s blog post about her book, which is linked below.
“An Atlas of the Himalayas by a 19th Century Lama. A Journey of discovery” by Diana Lange is now available from Asian Studies — Brill Publishing.
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