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| Keywords: 1784 Tiefenthaler Map of the Ganges and Ghaghara Rivers, India - Geographicus - Ganges-teifentaller-1784.jpg A rare and remarkable discovery this is Joseph Tiefenthaler and Anquetil-Duperron ™s important 1784 map of the Ganges and Ghaghara Karnali river system As a whole this map is a significant advancement over earlier mappings of this region as evidenced in the works of De L ™Isle and others Presented here are actually six maps on a single sheet The central map Fig 1 showing the entire course of the Ganges and the Ghaghara rivers is a European style map produced by Tiefenthaler based upon his own travels and quadrant surveys as well as on the indigenous cartography he collected along the way Four of the five smaller maps presented are in fact Tiefenthaler ™s copies of Indian maps given to or provided for him The stylistic difference between these and the central European style map are clear especially as regarding the rendering of direction bodies of water and topography Tiefenthaler ™s copies of indian cartographic material include figures II III IV and V Figure II correctly locates the source of the Ganges at the Gangotri Glacier Gaumukah known as the Cow ™s Mouth due to its strong resemblance to the open mouth of a cow Figure III a large map at the top center focuses on the Lake of Mansarovar Mansaroar the supposed source of the Karnali or Ghaghara River It is unlikely that Tiefenthaler actually ever say Mansarovar as this lake is located high on the Tibetan Plateau which during this historic period was closed to foreigners Figure IV is another Indian chart focusing on the secondary sources around the volcano of Doulou Bassandar Figure V shows a secondary source for the Ghaghara as it runs through the Himalayas Figure VI depicts earlier misconceptions regarding the source of the Ganges as suggested by P Souciet in his 1729 four volume work Observations Mathematical Astronomical Geographica Chronological and Physical One of the most striking elements of this map is the inclusion of Pesian text in each of the maps Tiefenthaler claims to have copied from indigenous sources These text blocks are vaguely transliterated and translated into French in a table in the upper left quadrant The is the only European map of India we are aware of to incorporate Persian text Most of the cartographic work that led to this map was completed by Tiefenthaler in India Tiefenthaler near the end of his life forwarded it to his friend and fellow orientalist Anquetil-Duperron living at the time in Paris Duperron a noted orientalist compiled Tiefenthaler ™s research and sketches into this important independently issued map Though significant in its time this map is little known by modern cartographic historians who when discussing the mapping of India tend to focus on the later work of Rennell 1784 dated Size in 30 24 object history credit line accession number Ganges-teifentaller-1784 Geographicus-source PD-Art-100 Maps of the Ganges River Ghaghara River Joseph Tiefenthaler Bhagirathi River Abraham-Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron Lake Manasarovar Maps in French Maps in Persian Old maps of North India 1784 maps of India | ||||
