PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
March 2014
209
T
he art, culture and kingdoms of India
could not have spread through centuries
and countries without knowledge of its
geography. In the Vedic literature of over 5000
years ago, the knowledge of land was presented
in a graphical form which described the extent
and shape of territories. The
Brahmand Purana
of 500
B.C.
to 700
A.D.
gives evidence of the art
of modern map-making. The art of surveying and
techniques of mensuration of areas are described
in
Sulva Sutra
(science of mensuration) and in
the
Arth Shastra of Chanakya
written in the 3
rd
century
B.C.
The golden age of Indian Renaissance
in the 5
th
century saw the towering genius Arya
Bhat who wrote
Surya Siddhant
and calculated
the earth’s circumference to be 25,080 miles —
less than 200 miles off modern measurements of
the equator. Chinese and Arab travelers and many
adventurers also contributed to Indian geography.
Sher Shah Suri and Todar Mai’s revenue maps,
based on regular land survey systems, were well
known in the medieval period and continued to
be in practice during the mid-eighteenth century.
Even today, the six huge instruments in masonry
built by Raja Sawai Jai Singh in the heart of
New Delhi in 1724 attract tourists from all over
the world. These were designed and built by him
to study the movements of the sun, moon and
planets. Such instruments were also built in
Jaipur to measure, among other things, time and
eclipses. Another observatory was built by him in
Ujjain in 1723 to forecast eclipses and movements
of the sun as well as indicate the correct time.
According to records, Rajaraja I of Tanjore (985–
1011
A.D.
) carried out careful surveys of the lands
and cultivation. This shows that there must have
been many other surveys of which no clear records
have been preserved. However, information is
available of the surveys instituted by Akbar dur-
Republic of
-ing the 16
th
century; measurements being made by a hempen
rope which was replaced by a ‘jarib’ of bamboos joined by
iron rings. Settlement operations included the measurement
and classification of lands, and fixation of rates. Systematic
surveys commenced in the 18
th
century.
“The Survey of India traces its birth to the appointment of
Major James Rennell as Surveyor General of Bengal, by Lord
Robert Clive and his council, on the first of January 1767. He
placed all available surveyors under Major Rennell’s orders,
amongst them being the Frenchman Claud Martin, who later
became famous as the founder of the La Martiniere Schools.
By 1773, Rennell completed surveys of the possessions before
relinquishing the post of Surveyor General in 1777. Rennell
surveyed Bengal and Bihar, an area of over 1500 sq. miles,
producing a continuous and uniform set of maps. The sur-
veys, however, were far from complete or accurate in detail
but were sufficient to meet the needs of the time. Rennell
continued his interest in England, and his first Map of Hin-
dustan reached India in 1783. The early history of surveys in
India followed the East India Company’s expanding areas of
influence and conquest. The next Surveyor General, Thomas
Call, like many others who followed him, undertook the task
