I Discovered a Hidden Historical Landmark in My Neighbourhood
Stories fading through the test of time
I believe the soul of a city resides in its mundane and ordinary streets. Hence wherever I am, I ensure I wander on the deserted narrow lanes soaking in the energy of the place. It was one such endeavour that led me to this unsung destination.
As I strolled through the streets of Kannuru, a locality on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India, I stumbled upon a stone structure. At first, I almost missed it. The street was isolated with stone slabs on either side beyond which were trees. There was an opening that drew my attention. The words The Great Trigonometrical Survey Point was written on one of the stone slabs in black paint. Initially, I thought it could be a random marking made by the locals. Inscribing on stone walls and tree barks with messages is a common culture here. But, my love for withered, abandoned structures pushed me to walk in and find out more about this place. What I found was a dramatic tale of ambition and determination it carried in each of its stone bricks.
Here’s what I discovered about the structure
Turns out, this monument is considered a Historical Landmark. A Historical Landmark is any site, structure or object that has significantly contributed to the history of that country. You might wonder, what is this structure all about and how has it contributed to history.
The story goes back to Imperial India, in the year 1802, when a British officer Lt. Col. William Lambton presented his ambitious idea of measuring the land mass of the Indian subcontinent starting from modern-day Kanyakumari in the south to the Himalayas in the north with the intention to secure its position in India.
Can you imagine in an era of no GPS tracking systems or Satellite imagery someone was audacious enough to dream of an apparently impossible venture? How could they have accomplished this mammoth task? They set forth on this adventure equipped with two instruments and a mathematical concept. A hundred feet long metal chain and a theodolite with a rotating telescope, imported from Britain which was carried from place to place on a bullock cart and a mathematical concept of triangulation, the team led by Officer Lambton began their journey into what was later deemed as one of the world’s most remarkable contributions to cartography.
The Journey
The journey began by measuring a 12.1km long baseline near Marina Beach in Madras. They relentlessly joined triangle after triangle with the highest precision possible and observed stellar positions to calculate the measurements until the project saw completion in 1871.
Along the journey, they used temple tops and built observatory towers to observe the stellar positions accurately. They traversed through dense forests and lost lives due to lack of food, water, disease, extreme weather conditions and wars; they saw the death of the leaders and the project being taken over by their successors with George Everest being one of the successors of Lambton. But nothing could stop them from achieving their mission. The structure I encountered was one such observatory tower.
The story also goes that when they reached the borders of Tibet and Nepal, they could not enter due to restrictions from the locals. It was then a teacher named Nain Singh and his sibling Kishen Singh disguised themselves as Buddhist monks and entered Tibet and measured the land using their rosary and footsteps, hid the captured data in their prayer wheels and brought it back to India.
In the process, they also discovered scientifically that the Tsangpo River which originated in Tibet and the Brahmaputra were not two rivers but two parts of the same river.
The greatest milestone was when an Indian mathematician named Radhanath Sigdar became the first in the world to identify the highest peak in the world and measured it with accuracy. It was named Mount Everest after one of the leaders who led the project.
Finally, the project saw completion under the leadership of James Walker. What was anticipated to be a 5-year project went on to last for close to 7 decades.
How has this shaped our history?
Although the driving force behind this project was to strengthen British control over India, it has made a significant contribution to the world of science and cartography. It established a benchmark for further studies almost 200 years ago. What’s more fascinating is people from varied cultures and religions came together to accomplish this task.
The other parts of this puzzle
This structure is just one part of a magnificent puzzle, there are observatories like these built across India. As I journey across the lengths and breadth of India, I wish to run into each one of them. Just to pay respect to the diligence displayed by the team that was part of the project and experience the energy of the place.
My takeaways from this encounter
We as humans are naturally drawn towards glitz and glamour and we might sometimes end up overlooking these humble spaces. It intrigues me how a seemingly unimpressive structure, held within it stories that once created a dent in the universe. Now on the verge of fading away from the memories of its people.
It also shows how our actions of today could favourably or unfavourably contribute to the future.
The road is beautiful, filled with possibilities, and sometimes it takes us to places that open up doors to travel through time and space and this was one such experience. I hope you enjoyed the journey.
Isn’t this a great tale to introspect over coffee? And if you are feeling generous, you could buy me a coffee too. It’ll help me brew some great stories and parcel them your way :)
