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Hello, and welcome to Humanities Matter, brought to you by Braille. I'm Lee Chung-Grechoe, and this week we'll be looking at key issues in the field of humanities. We're speaking with Dr. Diana Lange.
She's the author of An Outless of the Himalayas by 19th Century Tibetan Lama and a research associate at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Dr. Lange, thank you so much for joining us today. I'm happy to join you today.
So tell us what the Wise Collection or Wise Album was and why it was so sought after. And how did you discover this collection yourself? Reading through your work, that sounds like it was sort of a Sherlock Holmes detective adventure that you had to go through to find all this. Yes, it was a real detective story.
So the Wise Collection is kept in the British Library. It's a collection of maps and drawings that were made by a Tibetan Lama in mid-19th century and commissioned by a British official. So the heart of the collection is a panoramic map of Tibet with many sheets joined together with a total length of around 50 meters. And the Tibetan Lama who made it, he built up this map from the route between Ladakh in the West and Himalayas and Central Tibet, a route that traders, caravans and pilgrims had used for centuries.
And the related drawings, altogether 28, are detailed illustrations of selected places of monastic rituals, of wedding ceremonies, ethnic groups and other topics. And most of them relate to places that are shown on the panoramic map. So the maps and drawings are full of numbered annotations and notes in English and Tibetan. All together there are more than 900 of such numbered annotations and explanatory notes referring to the numbers written in English on separate sheets of paper.
Actually, the collection was more or less hidden in the office library where the former British Indian diplomat and anthropologist, Richard, noticed them in the late 1960s. And at that time the maps and drawings were bound in three very large leather albums and inscribed with the name Wise. And this was the start of the long search for Wise, who was finally identified in the late 1990s, so more than 30 years later, as Thomas Alexander Wise, a Scottish polymath from Dundee. So why the collection was named otherwise, he was not the one who commissioned the maps and drawings and several scholars who undertook research on the collection in the post, and all attended but without success to trace the origin of the collection.
And most recently the historian and anthropologist, Michael Aristotle with the Wise collection before his death in 1999, again without being able to trace the collection's origins. And 10 years later, I started following his giant footsteps when I picked up a research button from among what he called his projects in progress at the time of his death. And this is one of the reasons why the book is also dedicated to him. My research on the under collection actually started with my interest in water transport in Tibet.
So I was introduced to the Wise collection by my PhD supervisor, Tony Hooper in 2008, at which time I just finished my PhD on fishing and Yakai boats in Tibet. And I was looking for historical illustrations of Tibetan ferries and boats for my publication of the PhD thesis. And several such illustrations appear in the Wise collection's picture maps of central Tibet. I remember very well seeing digital files of some maps on a big computer screen and I was hooked by them from the very beginning.
And I first encountered them the original maps and drawings one year later in the summer of 2009, during a visit to the British Library. And I remember that I was overwhelmed by the quality and quantity of the material that I decided on the spot to work on this collection. And the map with which everything started for me is showing little boats and ferries on the Yolom Sanpo River in central Tibet. I have finally also chosen as a color image of my book.
So tell me about your mission then when you first engaged in this research and how did that change as you further analyzed all these drawings? So the Wise collection captured my attention in two ways. So first I was fascinated by the things I can see, so the material, the colors, the content, the style. And second I was definitely captured by the collection's history.
So when I started this research, I thought I knew where I was going. And being trained in tibitology, I focused on the beginning on all the stories in the drawings, hundreds of little details. But the longer I studied the material and the deeper I understood the collection as a whole, the more new questions emerged. And I grew increasingly interested in the story of the collection.
And I wanted to understand more than just the maps. I sought to find out about the milieu and the time in which they were drawn and how and why they came into being. And when I started my research, the name of Mr. X, that's how I call the men who commissioned the maps and drawings, was still a mystery.
And in March 2016, after years of research, I finally found him. And it was William Edmund Hayen, a former assistant commissioner of Kulu in the Western Himalayas. So around 150 years off the maps were commissioned by Hayen created by the Tibetan Lama. I was able to add this fundamental piece of information to what was known about the wise collection.
And it was a real breakthrough in this research. And since I wanted to understand the wise collection as a as a whole, I choose a holistic approach to examine the maps and drawings. I had to overcome the sharp lines between different disciplines such as the area studies, art history, history, photography and a religious study. And by doing so, I was able to develop a broader view of the material.
And finally, I saw many connections and relations between the specific topics addressed in the maps and drawing. And that was such a great experience and very much influenced my research approach in general. So you mentioned briefly what these maps look like, the colors and the drawings. But you know, since this is a podcast, can you just sort of briefly explain what these maps look like?
Because they're not exactly, you know, they don't show topography exactly. They're much more artistic. So I'm wondering how are these maps used if the subjects are not to scale, you know, if we see a figure of a human and it's the same sizes and entire monastery, for example. This is a great question I was waiting for.
So this collection is the result of a collaborative project between two players from different cultural backgrounds. So we have Buddhist lama on the one side and a British official on the other side. And traces of this collaboration can be found at various points on the map. So that the lama developed his own style of drawing and created maps with a unique hybrid character.
And hey, only played a passive role in their production. So the lama was the more active member of the team providing his insider knowledge. Hey, it's just to create explanatory notes for the pictorials of a and every time I look at the wise collection in the British library, I'm overwhelmed by the beauty and vivid color of illustrations and by the map makers attention to details. And every time I have worked with originals, I have felt very close to the divine lama and to hey, so having the whole collection lying on the tables in the British library is considerable examination of the material by hey is visible, but of course also the llama's incredible work.
So if we take a look at the maps, the panoramic maps was made in a pictorial style so showing topographical and infrastructural characteristics as well as information on flora and fauna. Numerous buildings are shown, some of them represented in a very detailed way with specific architectural characteristics, others are just shown as as stereotypes. And the so called scale use in the maps is not uniform, as you mentioned, nor is there orientation. Some of them are oriented to the south, some to the north and still other to the east.
So buildings on the maps usually face the fewer and ignoring the actual geographic location. And instead of showing the rule building, only significant architectural characteristics are highlighted and as a result, many people who look at the maps comment that they are wrong or that they look wrong, especially concerning geographical and architectural accuracy. But why these maps might not always seem accurate from a western scientific point of view, they can give much information about their maker. So, shrunk to the dimensions of the map at an ignoring scale and cardinal orientation, one could virtually walk through the landscape along the travel route shown on the maps.
And as the most important points of orientation are depicted, these maps would actually actually passed a practical test. So the map maker, the llama, he traveled along this route, familiarizing himself with geographical and infrastructural characteristics such as mountains, rivers, lakes, florals, settlements, bridges and mountain passes. In turn, he depicted them on the maps and each detailed illustration contains even more minor details. So, for example, monastic buildings are often shown with specific characteristics such as different kinds of roof constructions, flag posts or entrance doors.
And in a similar way, illustrations of people very often show not just specific clothes like hats or shoes and outer garments, but also ornaments and jewelry, turquires and gold rings and so on. And in some cases, the map maker used symbols to mark specific sites. So, for example, he marked government post stations by depicting little flag poles next to black nomads, tents and every illustration of a garrison or a Chinese residence includes a little yellow banner. And places of strategic importance are depicted on the maps in a larger scale than the surrounding areas.
So, large and important monasteries and fortresses are shown in great detail, such as the tachilimpo monastery in Shegats. It's the seat of the former Panchin Lamas. It is depicted in great detail and even gives information about its period of origin. So, for dating purposes, the number of tombs of the Panchin Lamas that appear in a line of four multi-story temples with golden roofs in the drawing is relevant.
I wonder how William Edmund Hay recorded his map collection and what it meant to him. So, I wonder if he regarded as as curious or as curiosity. And I wonder, did he value the collection in terms of scientific significance? I wonder if he was really aware of the true value of the maps and drawings.
So, he had no chance to compare these maps with other maps of the areas in such maps simply did not exist in the late 1850s. So, in general, British swears in British India believed that their sketches and descriptions were true and correct representations of the environment and European standards of length were taken as being perfectly natural and the Indians were criticized for the wearable length of their customary units, for instance. But the Tibetan Lama who produced the wise collection maps, he was probably a pilgrim, not a surveyor or explorer. And the Atlas he produced reflects his Tibetan conception of space.
And I wonder, would Hay or any other British have been able to read this set of detailed maps showing the route between Laus and the Western Himalayas made by a Tibetan insider in mid-19th century? I think the most comprehensive set of knowledge on Tibet of this time was obviously completely underestimated in mid-19th century. I think this is one of the reasons why this collection was forgotten in the office library for so many years. Yeah, you mentioned that there wasn't really any other map like this at the time.
Have you ever discovered similar maps in other cultures, especially other parts of Asia that were similar in terms of the scale and the artistic value that they had? No, no, never. These are unique maps. And I think they are unique because this Lama really developed his own drawing style style.
So you also mentioned this code for the maps. How did you go about unlocking that? So figuring out this code of the maps has been the most fascinating and serious challenge of my research. So, metatologically, I examined the wise collection by combining two approaches of first and analysis of primary and secondary sources and second ethnographic research and trained in the field of Tibetan studies and having visited many places in Tibet and the Himalayas.
I was familiar with most of the content in the maps and drawings and some of the many details revealed themselves more easily than others. And in some cases, it was relatively easy to read the illustrations and to understand what they represented and meant. The English and Tibetan captions and English explanatory notes were of course a very helpful key in this process. Nevertheless, full keys existed only for a few maps and for most of the accompanying drawings.
Those some depictions were very difficult or even impossible to read. And in throwing the maps that the Lama produced a visual account of his travel route, which was more than 1800 kilometers in length. And furthermore, he dressed a range of topics in the accompanying drawings that represent an overwhelming wealth of information on Tibet and the Western Himalayas. And in studying the material, I developed step by step both a feeling for the Lama's drawing style and also an understanding for his way of thinking.
And during my research, I also conducted field work and traveled along many of the routes shown on the maps in Tibet and in the West, and Himalayas, especially in Ladakh. And my goal, wherever possible, was to compare the illustrations with on the ground reality, so to discuss the maps and drawings with local people. To compare, for instance, how a monastery is shown in the map and how it looks in reality. Doing research on the spot was not only a great experience, but it enabled me also to read and understand some aspects of the maps and drawings that I would never otherwise have understood or seen.
And in many cases, historical photographs were a great help to read the maps and drawings. In many cases, it was incredible to see how little some things have changed. Some drawings function as a key for others. In other cases, it took me really a while to recognize details like little circles that turned out to be coins and the toilet paper shaped object that turned to be out of sacrifice.
That was great fun. And after I had identified William Edmonton as the person who commissioned the material, and I realized that the Lama who produced the maps and drawings came from last on Central Tibet and not as I and other scholars like Michael Aris had assumed from the Western Himalayas, started to study the maps and drawings once again. So I had to reread them. And now finally, I could answer a full set of questions that I had previously been unable to answer.
However, I did not figure out the code of the maps and drawings completely. So the key for some of the maps is lost. So I was not able to identify all places and some depictions of the maps. So I'm afraid some mysteries remain and are still to be solved.
So it's really fascinating that you were able to glean more information about these maps by talking with people today, even though the maps are from the mid 17th to mid 20th century. When I was in LA, I organized a little exhibition of the maps. I prepared color copies at home and took them to LA and then I put them in an exhibition and this exhibition took place in the so-called Lama building, a building that is shown on the maps that still exists today. So they are not that old-fashioned at all.
Really fascinating. Dr. Lenga, thank you so much for talking with us today. It was my pleasure.
Dr. Diana Lenga, she is Research Associate at the Humple University in Berlin, an author of An Atlas of the Himalayas by 19th century Tibetan Lama. You are listening to the Humanities Matter podcast. You can find more podcast episodes on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast.