Narendra Dhar Jayal
Encyclopedia
Major Narendra Dhar Jayal, or Nandu, as he was affectionately known (died 1958), was an officer of the Bengal Sappers and the Indian Army Corps of Engineers
. A legendary figure in Indian mountaineering, he was often referred to as the 'Marco Polo of Indian Mountaineering' as he had pioneered and patronized the sport of amateur mountain-climbing in the early years after Independence
and set forth a blazing, though short, trail for Indian mountaineers to follow. He encouraged the youths of India to take part in mountaineering. Nandu was educated at The Doon School
.
School Days =
Jayal began his mountaineering career while he was a student at The Doon School
, where his teachers encouraged his interest in climbing as a way to tame his somewhat unruly nature .
Jayal's first major expedition as a 16-year old schoolboy was to the Awar Valley above Badrinath, reaching 6,000 meters.. Other climbs, while still at Doon, included Trisul
with Gurudial Singh, a teacher from Doon. While Singh went on to reach the peak of Trisul, where he performed a headstand asana
to honor the Hindu god Shiva
, Jayal noted his own feelings in lyrical terms: "The grass on which we camped was like a cushion sprinkled with tiny mauve primula
and the gentle lapping of the running water recalled melodies from Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. I confess a desire to bring my efforts to an honourable conclusion here – as long as somebody got to the top – and revel in this bracing and saner altitude."
It was a remarkable transformation of Doon's most delinquent boy who had became a "gentle, perfect knight"
Career=
In 1948, Nandu Jayal went to Switzerland
and acquired a Ski Teacher's Certificate, a very respectable achievement. He was appointed Chief Instructor at the Winter Warfare School, later known as the High Altitude and Winter Warfare School.
Under the leadership of the Engineer-in-Chief
, Maj. Gen. Harold 'Bill' Williams, himself an eager climber, Nandu Jayal organised the first Sappers expedition to Bandarpunch
successfully in 1950. As a young Captain in 1950-51, he carried out a strategic reconnaissance of the Garhwal Himalayas and was later the Indian Army
liaison officer for the French
Expedition to Nanda Devi
in 1951. He organised and led two expeditions to Kamet
; the first in 1952 when the summit team was forced back by a blizzard from just 600 metres short of the mountain and later in 1955 when he summitted - at that point of time, it was the highest that an Indian had climbed.
Major Jayal was the founder principal of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute
at Darjeeling, with Tenzing Norgay
of Everest
fame as the Chief Instructor. Both of them were invited by the Swiss Government to Switzerland
where they spent three months seeing new things and having new experiences. Maj Jayal was became the only non-Swiss to win the coveted Swiss Guide's Diploma and Badge. Jayal led the 1955 Kamet expedition as the Director HMI.
Maj Jayal organised an expedition to Nanda Devi
in 1957. Bad weather thwarted the expedition but Jayal, never one to give up, went next to the Karakoram
where he conquered Saken
(24,130 ft) and Sakang(24,150 ft), the third highest peak in the Karakoram range.
Death=
In 1958, the Government sponsored an expedition to Cho Oyu
(28,867 ft), one of the highest mountains of the world. Jayal died of pulmonary oedema caused by overexertion on this expedition at Camp I. He had started late and tried to catch up with the main party. There was also a problem in his medical care as much of the expedition equipment had been lost in a Dakota crash en route to Nepal. His death and that of some others brought home the cruel lesson of need for acclimatisation and discipline in the pursuit of Himalayan mountaineering.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
, the Prime Minister of India
, paid rich tributes to Jayal saying "the Major has set an example of courage and adventure which should inspire our young people. The news of his death came to me as a shock and I feel that the country has suffered the loss of her finest mountaineer..."
Arthur Foot, Jayal's Headmaster of Doon, noted that "The Himalaya completed his education into a stature of nobility", echoing a sentiment expressed two years earlier by Jayal himself who had noted, after an expedition to Saser Kangri, that "Pushing the body to the utmost for something indefinably inherent in a person, is intrinsically noble and worthwhile." R.L. Holdsworth, a teacher at Doon who had encouraged Jayal to pursue mountaineering noted after his death that "He died very much the master of himself and of most of the world that is worth mastering."
The Indian Mountaineering Foundation had a Nandu Jayal Fund and published, along with the Corps of Engineers
, a book Nandu Jayal and Indian Mountaineering, which contained articles on various aspects of Indian Mountaineering by him and by others.
Nandu Jayal's life and career motivated many young officers of the Corps to take up mountaineering, most prominent of whom were his nephews, Harsh and Jai Bahugana;
both were officers of the Indian Army, dedicated mountaineers and both died on Mount Everest
.
Indian Army Corps of Engineers
The Indian Army Corps of Engineers has a long and illustrious history dating back to the mid-18th century. The earliest existing subunit of the Corps dates back to 1777 while the Corps officially recognises its birth as 1780 when the senior most group of the Corps, the Madras Sappers were...
. A legendary figure in Indian mountaineering, he was often referred to as the 'Marco Polo of Indian Mountaineering' as he had pioneered and patronized the sport of amateur mountain-climbing in the early years after Independence
History of the Republic of India
The history of the Republic of India began on 26 January 1950. The country became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth 15 August 1947. George VI was King until the Republic was proclaimed in 1950. Concurrently the Muslim-majority northwest and east of British India was separated...
and set forth a blazing, though short, trail for Indian mountaineers to follow. He encouraged the youths of India to take part in mountaineering. Nandu was educated at The Doon School
The Doon School
The Doon School is an independent school located in Dehradun in the state of Uttarakhand in India. Established in 1935, it was founded by Satish Ranjan Das. Its first Headmaster was Arthur E...
.
School Days =
Jayal began his mountaineering career while he was a student at The Doon School
The Doon School
The Doon School is an independent school located in Dehradun in the state of Uttarakhand in India. Established in 1935, it was founded by Satish Ranjan Das. Its first Headmaster was Arthur E...
, where his teachers encouraged his interest in climbing as a way to tame his somewhat unruly nature .
Jayal's first major expedition as a 16-year old schoolboy was to the Awar Valley above Badrinath, reaching 6,000 meters.. Other climbs, while still at Doon, included Trisul
Trisul
Trisul is a group of three Himalayan mountain peaks of western Kumaun, with the highest reaching 7120m. The three peaks resemble a trident - in Hindi/Sanskrit, Trishul, trident, is the weapon of Shiva. The Trishul group forms the southeast corner of the ring of peaks enclosing the Nanda Devi...
with Gurudial Singh, a teacher from Doon. While Singh went on to reach the peak of Trisul, where he performed a headstand asana
Asana
Asana is a body position, typically associated with the practice of Yoga, originally identified as a mastery of sitting still, with the spine as a conduit of biodynamic union...
to honor the Hindu god Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
, Jayal noted his own feelings in lyrical terms: "The grass on which we camped was like a cushion sprinkled with tiny mauve primula
Primula
Primula is a genus of 400–500 species of low-growing herbs in the family Primulaceae. They include primrose, auricula, cowslip and oxlip. Many species are grown for their ornamental flowers...
and the gentle lapping of the running water recalled melodies from Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. I confess a desire to bring my efforts to an honourable conclusion here – as long as somebody got to the top – and revel in this bracing and saner altitude."
It was a remarkable transformation of Doon's most delinquent boy who had became a "gentle, perfect knight"
Career=
In 1948, Nandu Jayal went to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and acquired a Ski Teacher's Certificate, a very respectable achievement. He was appointed Chief Instructor at the Winter Warfare School, later known as the High Altitude and Winter Warfare School.
Under the leadership of the Engineer-in-Chief
Indian Army Corps of Engineers
The Indian Army Corps of Engineers has a long and illustrious history dating back to the mid-18th century. The earliest existing subunit of the Corps dates back to 1777 while the Corps officially recognises its birth as 1780 when the senior most group of the Corps, the Madras Sappers were...
, Maj. Gen. Harold 'Bill' Williams, himself an eager climber, Nandu Jayal organised the first Sappers expedition to Bandarpunch
Bandarpunch
Bandarpunch is a major peak of the Garhwal division of the Himalayas, in the Indian state of Uttaranchal. It literally means "Tail of the monkey" or "Tail of Hanuman" in Hindi. It's a twin peak: Bandarpunch-I & Bandarpunch-II...
successfully in 1950. As a young Captain in 1950-51, he carried out a strategic reconnaissance of the Garhwal Himalayas and was later the Indian Army
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
liaison officer for the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Expedition to Nanda Devi
Nanda Devi
Nanda Devi is the second highest mountain in India and the highest entirely within the country ; owing to this geography it was the highest known mountain in the world until computations on Dhaulagiri by western surveyors in 1808...
in 1951. He organised and led two expeditions to Kamet
Kamet
Kamet is the second highest mountain in the Garhwal region of India, after Nanda Devi. It lies in the Chamoli District of Uttarakhand, close to the border with Tibet. It is the third highest mountain in India Kamet is the second highest mountain in the Garhwal region of India, after Nanda Devi....
; the first in 1952 when the summit team was forced back by a blizzard from just 600 metres short of the mountain and later in 1955 when he summitted - at that point of time, it was the highest that an Indian had climbed.
Major Jayal was the founder principal of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute
Himalayan Mountaineering Institute
The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute was established in Darjeeling, India on November 4, 1954 to encourage mountaineering as an organized sport in India. The first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary sparked a keen interest in establishing mountaineering as a...
at Darjeeling, with Tenzing Norgay
Tenzing Norgay
Padma Bhushan, Supradipta-Manyabara-Nepal-Tara Tenzing Norgay, GM born Namgyal Wangdi and often referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer...
of Everest
Mount Everest
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
fame as the Chief Instructor. Both of them were invited by the Swiss Government to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
where they spent three months seeing new things and having new experiences. Maj Jayal was became the only non-Swiss to win the coveted Swiss Guide's Diploma and Badge. Jayal led the 1955 Kamet expedition as the Director HMI.
Maj Jayal organised an expedition to Nanda Devi
Nanda Devi
Nanda Devi is the second highest mountain in India and the highest entirely within the country ; owing to this geography it was the highest known mountain in the world until computations on Dhaulagiri by western surveyors in 1808...
in 1957. Bad weather thwarted the expedition but Jayal, never one to give up, went next to the Karakoram
Karakoram
The Karakoram, or Karakorum , is a large mountain range spanning the borders between Pakistan, India and China, located in the regions of Gilgit-Baltistan , Ladakh , and Xinjiang region,...
where he conquered Saken
Saken
Saken 1996 was Diana Haddad's first solo album . In 1996, and after three years of hard work, Diana Haddad released her debut album, "Saken". The album instantly became a major hit all over the Arab World. The songs "Lagetik", "El-Sahra", and the title track "Saken" were released almost...
(24,130 ft) and Sakang(24,150 ft), the third highest peak in the Karakoram range.
Death=
In 1958, the Government sponsored an expedition to Cho Oyu
Cho Oyu
Cho Oyu is the sixth highest mountain in the world at above sea level. Cho Oyu lies in the Himalayas and is 20 km west of Mount Everest, at the border between China and Nepal...
(28,867 ft), one of the highest mountains of the world. Jayal died of pulmonary oedema caused by overexertion on this expedition at Camp I. He had started late and tried to catch up with the main party. There was also a problem in his medical care as much of the expedition equipment had been lost in a Dakota crash en route to Nepal. His death and that of some others brought home the cruel lesson of need for acclimatisation and discipline in the pursuit of Himalayan mountaineering.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
, the Prime Minister of India
Prime Minister of India
The Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
, paid rich tributes to Jayal saying "the Major has set an example of courage and adventure which should inspire our young people. The news of his death came to me as a shock and I feel that the country has suffered the loss of her finest mountaineer..."
Arthur Foot, Jayal's Headmaster of Doon, noted that "The Himalaya completed his education into a stature of nobility", echoing a sentiment expressed two years earlier by Jayal himself who had noted, after an expedition to Saser Kangri, that "Pushing the body to the utmost for something indefinably inherent in a person, is intrinsically noble and worthwhile." R.L. Holdsworth, a teacher at Doon who had encouraged Jayal to pursue mountaineering noted after his death that "He died very much the master of himself and of most of the world that is worth mastering."
The Indian Mountaineering Foundation had a Nandu Jayal Fund and published, along with the Corps of Engineers
Indian Army Corps of Engineers
The Indian Army Corps of Engineers has a long and illustrious history dating back to the mid-18th century. The earliest existing subunit of the Corps dates back to 1777 while the Corps officially recognises its birth as 1780 when the senior most group of the Corps, the Madras Sappers were...
, a book Nandu Jayal and Indian Mountaineering, which contained articles on various aspects of Indian Mountaineering by him and by others.
Nandu Jayal's life and career motivated many young officers of the Corps to take up mountaineering, most prominent of whom were his nephews, Harsh and Jai Bahugana;
both were officers of the Indian Army, dedicated mountaineers and both died on Mount Everest
Mount Everest
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
.