First Modern Map of Rajpootana Geographical Imagination of Lt. Col. James Tod:

Lt. Col. James Tod, the second son of Mr. James Tod, was born at Islington on 20th mach 1782. Tod’s “original destination was a mercantile life…” which his “inclinations rebelled against”. In 1798, procuring a cadetship in the East India Company’s service, he came to India.

First coming in contact with the geography of Rajpootana in connection the Pindaree raids, Tod extensively travelled in these areas at a time when these were almost unknown to the British. His journeys were conducted during his “eighteen years of residence among the western Rajpoots till March 1822”.

The map of Rajpootana that he produced, out of the ‘eleven folio volumes of routes’ was the first map of Rajpootana. In the maps of India prior to 1806 practically ‘nearly all the western and central states of Rajasthan were found wanting”. He was ably assisted for the topographical and architectural drawings made by his cousin Captain Patrick Waugh, and by Ghasi, a professional Indian draughtsman, during their tours through Rajasthan

The precision and importance of the map he produced can be evinced from the fact that the map formed the basis of Warren Hastings’s campaigns in these areas. Tod publicly asserted that “every map, without exception, printed since that period has its foundation as regards western and central India, in his labors”.

For Tod the Annals of the Rajpoot States, considered to be the first modern history of the region, he published in 1829 had a close relation with the geography of the region.

In the preface of the Annals he writes: “The basis of this work is the geography of the region, the historical and statistical portions being consequent and subordinate thereto. It was indeed originally designed to be essentially geographical….”

The romantic sensibility of Tod invested him with a desire to particularize the natural divisions of Marwar in terms “…employed by the natives…”.

In the ‘Sketch of the Indian Desert’, Tod tracks down the geography of Marwar in terms of ‘thul’ which ‘means an arid and bare desert’ and ‘roee’ which ‘implies the presence of natural vegetation but is equally expressive of the desert’. This is a seminal distinction that allows us to understand the native sensibilities of a desert that is possibly the most populous having a long human history.

Invoking the bardic traditions of nav koti marwad for illustrating the ‘geography of the desert’ bounded by nine fortresses he outlined the cartographic boundaries of this region - “ Poogul to the north; Mundore in the centre of all Maroo; Abu, Kheraloo and Parkur to the south; Chotun, Omerkote, Arore and Lodorva to the west”.

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His passionate geographical imagination that produced the first modern map of Rajpootana is a lesson to all modern geographers of the region, in deftly blending modern cartography with knowledge and sensibilities of the natives. ????

Major Works By Lt. Col. James Tod:

Annals and Antiquities of Rajpootana, 2 Vols. Published 1829 & 1832, London

Travels in western India Embracing a Visit to the Sacred Mounts of the Jains and the most celebrated shrines of the Hindu faith between Rajpootana and Indus with an account of the ancient city of Nehrwalla,?1832, London