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The men who mapped out the Mysore country

The Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), which has over 60,000 pieces of Indian art, photography, and textiles, opened last week in a cool new building on Kasturba Road. It is a great addition to Bengaluru’s growing number of museums.

Even though there isn’t a strong connection between MAP and the topic of today’s column, the acronym is a good way to start talking about the first scientific surveys of the Bangalore-Mysore area and the maps that came out of them. At the turn of the 19th century, three geniuses led three groundbreaking surveys. Dr. Francis Buchanan led the agricultural survey, Lt.-Col. William Lambton led the trigonometrical survey, and Col. Colin Mackenzie led the so-called Mysore Survey.

Scotsman Francis Buchanan was the fourth son of the chief of the Clan Buchanan. He had little hope of getting land or a title because he was the fourth son. He chose medicine as a career and graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1783. While there, he also studied botany with John Hope, who was one of the first people in Britain to teach Carl Linnaeus’ system for classifying plants. After working as a doctor on Merchant Navy ships for a long time, Buchanan joined the Bengal Presidency’s medical services in 1794.

After Tipu Sultan lost the fourth Mysore War in 1799, the East India Company gave Buchanan the job of surveying the new land it had taken over. In 1807, he published his groundbreaking magnum opus, “A Journey from Madras through the Countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar.” In it, he wrote about the “agriculture, arts, commerce, religion, manners, customs, natural and civil history, and antiquities” of the area.

William Lambton was born into a poor family, but his math skills got him into a good school, where he studied under the famous surveyor and mathematician Dr. Charles Hutton, who was known for figuring out how heavy the earth is. In 1781, Lambton went to America with his regiment. Because he was good at surveying, he was quickly put to work measuring land for the people who were moving there. After he lost an eye, he was given a nice desk job. In his spare time, he taught himself advanced math, which would help him in the long run.

In 1796, he joined a regiment led by Lord Arthur Wellesley and went to India. After the British won the fourth Mysore War, where he showed he could use the stars to find his way in an area without maps, he asked to be allowed to do a survey of the new territory. Lambton got permission, and in 1800 he started the Great Trigonometrical Survey (GTS), which took 110 years and is considered one of the world’s most important scientific projects. It led to nearly perfect maps of the Indian subcontinent.

The first triangle that started the GTS was drawn between what is now HSR Layout and the Ramamurthy Nagar underpass on the ORR in Bangalore in 1800. It took 57 days to finish and was 7.5 miles long. Lambton worked on the GTS until January 1823, when he died at Hinganghat, Maharashtra, with his boots on.

Colin Mackenzie went to India in 1783 to join the Madras Army, which was part of the fourth Mysore War and attacked Tipu’s Seringaptam. Mackenzie led the Mysore Survey from 1799 to 1810 to find out where the state’s borders were. He made the first maps of the area, as well as drawings of the landscape and a lot of notes on important archaeological sites. In 1815, he was named the first Surveyor General of India as a reward for his work. However, he is still better known for his collection of thousands of manuscripts, epigraphs, coins, and paintings, which are all important sources for studying Indian history.

When these three men worked together, they really put Bengaluru on the map.

(Roopa Pai is a writer who has carried on a longtime love affair with her hometown Bangalore)

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