Historiography and Commentary on the Nepal - India Earthquake of 26 August 1833

Historiography and Commentary on the Nepal - IndiaEarthquake of 26 August 1833

Sujit Dasgupta* and Basab Mukhopadhyay**

(Received 09 June 2014; revised 12 July 2014)

Abstract

Original descriptive account of data, both from Nepal and India, relating to damage inflicted bythe 26th August 1833 Nepal Himalaya earthquake have been collated and presented in this communication.The basic objective is to bring all such scattered data and information at a single place to facilitatedownstream research on the seismotectonics and seismic hazard assessment of this part of the Himalaya.Attempt has been made to analyze data extracted from Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, CalcuttaChristian Observer, Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register, Baptist Magazine among others publishedduring 1833-1835. Subsequent publications on this earthquake which was printed in 1843, 1850 and1883 have also been reproduced. Extracts from a few contemporary research published during the lasttwenty years are mentioned to highlight current status of knowledge on this earthquake in comparison tothe mega earthquake of 1934 that affected the same geographical region.

Key words: Archive, 1833 Nepal Himalaya Earthquake, Historiography, Isoseismal map.

* Ex Geological Survey of India, Kolkata, India; email: [email protected]**Geological Survey of India, Central Headquarters, 27 J.L. Nehru Road, Kolkata-700016, India, email: basabmukhopadhyay

@yahoo.com. (corresponding author)

1. INTRODUCTIONAfter the battle of Kirtipur (one of the

principal towns in the Kathmandu valley) during1767-1768, Gurkha ruler Prithvi Narayan Shahconquered Kathmandu and laid the foundationsfor a unified kingdom that came to be known asNepal. King Rajendra Bikram Shah reigned duringthe period 1816-1847, though virtually all powerwas with Bhimsen Thapa, the Prime Minister ofNepal for a long period of time from 1806 to 1837.Border and trade conflicts between British Indiaand Nepal resulted in the Anglo-Nepalese or theGorkha war (1814-1816) that culminated with theTreaty of Sugauli in 1816, which ceded severalareas in the west, south and east (acquired byNepal through war and illegal occupation duringthe preceding 20 years) to the British East IndiaCompany (during Governor General FrancisEdward Rawdon- Hastings).

Despite the defeat of Nepal, PrimeMinister Bhimsen Thapa remained in power withthe support of the queen regent Tripura Sundari.Nevertheless Kathmandu was forced to accept aBritish Resident. Brian Houghton Hodgson wasAssistant Resident in Nepal during 1825-1832[Resident: Edward Gardner], and was finallyappointed as Resident at the Court of Nepal inJanuary 1833 [during the time of Lord WilliamBentinck] at a young age of 33 years. By then thequeen regent expired in 1832 and the PrimeMinister Bhimsen Thapa began to lose hisinfluence; but till then the rulers of Nepalsomehow managed to isolate the Resident aseffectively as if he was non-existent withcalculated restriction on his movement. Dr. A(Archibald or Arthur) Campbell was appointed andattached to the Residency at Nepal, as Surgeonand Assistant Political Agent in 1832. Hodgsonwas an oriental scholar and naturalist and in no

Indian Journal of History of Science, 50.3 (2015) 491-513 DOI: 10.16943/ijhs/2015/v50i4/48319

492 INDIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY OF SCIENCE

time Campbell became a confident assistant ofHodgson; and on his recommendation Campbellwas appointed Assistant Resident in 1833. At thisjuncture the severe earthquake of 26th August 1833devastated the Kathmandu valley and adjacentareas including Indian Territory to the south.Hodgson being busy with the political affairs inNepal along with his inquiries, deputed Campbellto study and report the effects of the earthquakewithin Nepal, though there was inputs fromHodgson (Campbell, 1833, see table, p. 565). Wethus get valuable document written by Campbell,subsequently published in the Asiatic Society ofBengal.

Preceded by two strong foreshocks, themainshock of the 26 August 1833 was reportedfrom the Kathmandu valley at about 10.58 PM(Nepal time; Campbell, 1833). Subsequentdocuments refer to Calcutta time as 11.55 PM(Baird- Smith, 1843) or as 11.35 PM (Bilham,1995). It was reported (Campbell, 1833) thataround 414 people died from areas in and aroundthe Kathmandu valley of which maximum casualtyof around 200 took place at Bhatgaon, located tothe east of the valley. One fourth of the town ofBhatgaon was destroyed including around 2000houses and six to eight fine temples.

The earthquake being sufficiently strongwas felt throughout northern India including lossof life and damage to the property. Summarisingfrom all available documents, Baird-Smith (1843)concluded that the earthquake affectedconsiderable area from latitudes 22 N [Calcutta-Chittagong] to 28- 29 N [Lohaghat- Tingri] andlongitudes 77 E [Delhi] to 92 E [Chittagong]involving an area of around 1 million sq km innorthern India (Bilham, 1995).

The objective of the present document isto compile all published, but rare and out ofcirculation materials on this earthquake, that wereprinted during the thirties and forties in thenineteenth century to recapitulate the forgotten

memories of earthquake triggered damages whichcan recur in future and at the same time to presenta compiled document to facilitate future researchon earthquake geology. We do not intend to carryout any analyses of the descriptive accounts;instead present a succinct summary oncontemporary research that has so far beenpublished on this earthquake during the last twentyyears.

2. CONTEMPORARY RESEARCHDetail account for the 1833 earthquake

was published by Bilham (1995). The authorsuggests an epicenter located at 28.0N: 86.0Ewith a magnitude Mw of 7.7 2 (location 1, Fig.1a). Bilham (1995) assigned intensity values inMM scales to localities both in Nepal and Indiato construct a smoothened and elliptical isoseismalmap (Fig. 1a) for the earthquake which was alsopublished in another subsequent paper (Bilham,Bodin and Jackson, 1995). We have reproducedthis map along with the one from Ambraseys andDouglas (2004) (Fig. 1b), who based on 61 site-specific intensity values, re-constructed theisoseismal map in MSK scale. These authorslocated the epicenter at 27.70N: 85.70E andassigned magnitude Mw 7.61 (location 2, Fig. 1b).Based on the account of Campbell (1833) (seebelow) on the damage pattern at various localitieswithin the Kathmandu valley (Table 1) we haveprepared a map (Fig. 2) showing such localities(1: 50K map of the valley consulted) with assignedMM intensity values (Bilham, 1995). Morerecently, Szeliga et al. (2010) published anotherepicentral location of 27.553N: 85.112E(location 3, Fig. 1b) which is about 80 km ESE ofKathmandu with a preferred magnitude of Mw 7.3 0.1. This latest epicentral latitude of 27.55Nbrings the earthquake along the same latitude asthat of the 1934 Bihar-Nepal earthquake asadopted by Chen and Molnar (1977). This aspectwill be dealt under discussion at the end.

HISTORICAL NOTE: NEPAL-INDIA EARTHQUAKE OF 26 AUGUST 1833 493

Fig. 1b. Location of epicenter marked as 2 and isoseismal with intensity values in MSK scale (after Ambraseys and Douglas,2004); location of epicenter marked as 3 (after Szeliga et al., 2010)

Fig.1a. Isoseismal map and epicentral location of 1833 Nepal earthquake. (a) Location of epicenter marked as 1 andsmoothed isoseismal on intensity values in MM scale (after Bilham, 1995)


3. COMMENTARY FROM ARCHIVESThe first formal publication on this

earthquake was published by James Prinsep, theeditor of the Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal(August 1833, volume II, pp. 438-439) where hewrites under the title Earthquake of the 26thAugust The daily papers have publishednotices of this phenomenon, as observed at a greatmany places in the interior of India, with more orless detail, from which the following general factsmay be gathered:

The direction of the vibration was fromN. E. to S. W.; there were three principal

shocks; the first about half-past six P.M.,the second at half-past eleven, and thethird, or most severe shock, at about fiveminutes to twelve (Calcutta time). In theplaces where it was most felt, slight andcontinued vibrations seem to have beenexperienced for the whole of the dayfollowing. As the time of the secondvibration was accurately noted in Calcuttaby the stopping of an astronomical clock,we may assume it as the best point ofcomparison with the times noted at otherdistant points. Applying the difference oflongitude, a few of them may be thusclassed:

Fig. 2: Map shows assigned MM intensity values (see Bilham, 1995) of localities (taken from 1: 50K map of the valley)based on the account of Campbell (1833) on the damage pattern at various localities within the Kathmandu valley (seeTable 1 for details).


Katmandu, second 10h. 45 m = 10 h 57 m very severe;Nepal shock + 12 m loud noiseRungpur 11. 20 - 2 = 11 h 18 m many

housesinjured loudnoise

Monghyr 11. 27 + 7 = 11 h 34 m wallscracked,noise heard

Arrah 11. 15+14 = 11 h 29m wallsinjured,noise heard.

Under Rotas 11. 10 + 20 = 11h 30mhillsGorakhpur 11. 20 + 19 = 11h 39m walls

crackedAllahabad 11. 0 + 28 = 11h 28m hollow(vague) sound of

riverBankura 11. 30+ 4 = 11h 34m none such

since 1814Calcutta = 11h 34m no injury

48s done

At Monghyr, Rungpur, Mozufferpur,Mallai, and other places within the directline of influence, many houses weredestroyed or injured, and the alarm wasgreat. At Katmandu, however, thefollowing extract of a letter from ACampbell, will show that theconsequences were more serious; and,judging from the course of thephenomenon, we may reasonably fearsome dreadful catastrophe towards Lassa,on the north of the great Himalayan range:

On the evening of the 26th, about sixoclock, the valley and neighbouring hillswere visited by a severe shock of anearthquake; it lasted about forty seconds,and during its continuance, there was adistinctly audible noise, as of ordnancepassing rapidly over a drawbridge. Itseemed to me to come from the east, andI felt that it was travelling with the speedof lightning towards the west, and justunder my feet: the houses shook mostviolently; and trees, shrubs, and thesmallest plants were set in motion, notshaking, but waving to and fro from theirvery roots. No damage was done to lifeor property. At to 11 we had a similarshock in severity and duration, and at 11a most tremendous one. It commenced

gradually, and increased until the houses,trees, and everything on the face of theground seemed shaken from theirfoundations. The earth heaved mostfearfully; and when the shock was at itsworst we heard the clashing of falling tilesand bricks in every direction; and to addto the impressiveness of the scene, ageneral shout rose from the people in alldirections. The murmur of human prayerswas carried audibly from the city to ourgrounds (a mile), and nothing could bemore imposing and vast than the scene.In a dead calm, the noise of a hundredcannon burst forth: full grown treesbended in all directions, and houses reeledabout like drunken men. In our grounds,no lives were lost; but in Katmandunineteen persons were buried under theruins of their own houses, and in thetowns of Bhatgaon and Patan many more.This great shock continued for nearly aminute, and during the following hourthere were six distinct and strong shocks,the ground in the intervals being scarcelyif at all steady; and from this time tillyesterday morning, there were upwardsof twenty distinct and sharp shocks. Theloss of property has been very great; 125houses fell in Katmandu during the nightof the 26th, and nearly as many more havebeen leveled with the ground. Up to thistime, in consequence of the torrents ofrain that have come down, finishing thework of destruction commenced by theearthquakes, the city and towns have beenevacuated; men, children and women ofthe purdah, rich and poor, have been andstill are on the plains about the towns.Innumerable temples have beendestroyed, and the very gods of them havebeen crushed to atoms. A fine and largebrick temple (100 feet high), built inimitation of the great one at Jaganath,came down by the run early yesterdaymorning, and two fine pillars built byBhim Sen were demolished by the greatshock. All yesterday and last night, wehad occasional small shakes, and we arestill in a state of suspense regarding thefinale. In 1829, daily shocks continuedto occur for 40 days, but none of themequal to the great one we had on the 26th.


Table 1: Location, Number of Lives lost and Buildings destroyed by 1833 Nepal earthquake in the Kathmandu Valley(after Campbell 1833 and Bilham 1995)

Places with Killed Wounded Houses Temples and other buildings(Latitude : Longitude)

British Residency grounds none none 1 none(27.72 : 85.33)City of Kathmandu 60 38 400 Two pillars, built by the minister, each upwards(27.72: 85.33) 100 feet high; Temple of Jagarnath, built by Ran

Bahadur, after seven years of labour, and about adozen temples, destroyed. The modern- builtgarden houses of several members of theministers family have been rendereduntenantable; one of them a handsome andornamental edifice, has come to the ground.

South of CapitalPatan (27.67:85.32) 6 25 285Sano gaon (27.64:85.36) none 0 40Harra Siddhi (27.63:85.34) 0 0 20Teshu gaon (27.60:85.34) 0 0 25Selli gaon (27.61:85.34) 0 0 16Pagah (27.65:85.27) 0 0 24Kuknah (27.63:85.30) 1 0 130Baghmati (27.62:85.30) 0 0 80 A crack in the ground of 20 ft length was observed

on the morning of 27th; the entire number ofhouses was 206, more than a third of wholedestroyed, and about 100 men have been muchdamaged. The injury sustained here isproportionally greater than in any other part not tothe east of Kathmandu.

Phurphing (27.61:85.27) 0 0 8Chappa gaon (27.60:85.32) 0 0 35Peang (27.58:85.33) 0 0 8Taibu (27.61:85.35) 0 0 18Bara gaon (27.60:85.36) 0 0 35Bali (27.60:85.33) 0 0 3Pahon (27.59:85.32) 0 0 3Sasanelly (27.62:85.40) 0 0 2Lubu (27.62:85.36) 0 0 25Sana (27.63:85.37) 0 0 7Hills about Sasanelly 0 0 20(27.58:85.40)East of Kathmandu in the valleyDeo Patan (27.75:85.32) 3 0 30 At the eastern extreme of Deo Patan is the Temple

of Pasupatinath. The building escaped unhurt tothe great joy of the rulers and people of land.



Handi gaon 0 0 20Nag Dess (27.68:85.38) 4 0 20Bareh (27.68:85.38) 5 0 20Temi (27.67:85.38) 9 0 150Gou Karan (27.73:85.73) 0 0 8Changu (27.72:85.27) 0 0 20 A fine old temple destroyed.Sankhu (27.72:85.47) 20 5 45 A handsome Temple of Mahadeo, situated on a hill

above Sankhu is reduced nearly to ruins.Bhat gaon (27.65:85.43) 200 104 2000 Total number of houses in Bhatgaon is 4700; of

the town is said to be destroyed, 2000 is theaverage of many accounts, six or eight finetemples destroyed, and a statue of Rajah RanjitMall, one of the Newar Princes of the Bhatgaondivision of the valley.

East of Kathmandu beyond the valley but in the immediate neighbourhoodSangu (27.63:85.48) 2 0 8Baneppa (27.62:85.53) 10 0 20Nala gaon 6 0 11Panouti (27.57:85.53) 18 0 19 6 persons killed when asleep, under the ruins of

one houseDulkele (27.62:85.58) 10 0 21Phulam Chok (27.52:85.53) 60 0 300 A fine temple destroyed hereNortheast of the valley In this direction the earthquake was much moreand remote severely felt. Kuti, a town on the Bhote frontier,

on road to Lassa, is said to have been nearly alldestroyed, it contained about 600 houses; 50 ofwhich only remain. S(L)hipathe countryresidence of Colonel Runbir Sinh, 20 miles fromKathmandu on the Lassa road, by the Kuti Pass, isseriously injured. Many small houses attachedwere destroyed and several lives lost

Dhulaka (27.70:86.10) 0 0 0Kan Sing Chok For five days before the earthquake, noises similar(28.07:86.00) to firing of cannons heard as if underground; in

the neighbourhood the high road to Lassa said tobe blocked at many places by fallen earth from themountains.

Kassa (28.00:85.95)Kuti (28.15:86.08) 0 0 550Listi gaon (27.89:85.94) 0 0 0 At Listi gaon, also on the Bhote frontier, a large

portion of a hill came down, and an iron bridgewas destroyed

Table 1 (continued)



West of KathmanduSwambunath (27.71:85.28) 0 0 3 One small temple destroyed, and a larger onean

immense circular mound of brick work,surmounted by a 4-sided spire or jweetlittleinjured.

Hal Chok (27.72:85.27) 0 0 3Narod Devi 0 0 1Changu Narayan 0 0 2(27.69:85.87)Goorkha Cantonment 0 0 4 The house of a Captain - much injured(28.00:84.60)Kirtipur (27.67:85.24) 0 0 14 Contains 532 houses built along the ridge and

brow of a hill 3ft higher than the surroundingvalley; tenements old and frail but escapeddevastation; to account for its escape inhabitantssay that some nights previous and on night ofearthquake a large tiger or leopard paraded severalstreets without molesting inhabitants and wasallowed to continue his protecting visits.. theadmiring crowd hailed him as RAMJI, the greatpreserver

Thankote (27.68:85.21) 0 0 23West of the valleyDuny Byas and 10 0 40neighbouring hillsTewanpur 0 0 10Nayakoth (27.80:85.23) 0 0 3North of KathmanduDhramtuli (27.76:85.30) 0 0 2Mukum gaon 0 0 1Toka gaon (27.76:85.33) 0 0 15Burha Nil Kanth 0 0 2(27.77:85.36)Chapaly (27.76:85.36) 0 0 7Dhrampur (27.74:85.34) 0 0 20South of the valleyChitlong (27.67:85.18) 0 0 14 The fort here much injured; a large portion of the

breastwork facing south has fallen and wall inmany other places seriously injured.

Chisagarhy (27.53:85.17) 0 0 0Mukwanpur (27.46:85.15) 0 0 0 The fort here has also suffered but in a much less

degree than the one at Chisapany.

Total 414 172 4040

Table 1 (continued)


A subsequent note from the samegentleman, gives further particulars of thisdisastrous event:

We still continue to be revisited byoccasional shocks of earthquake, all lessviolent than the great one of the 26th, butsufficiently alarming. This morning (28thAugust), when at breakfast, we had rathera sharp one: they all seem to come fromthe same direction that is, from the eastand north-east. The places east ofKatmandu have suffered most: Bhatgaon,a large town, has been almost entirelydestroyed; upwards of 1,000 houses havebeen levelled with the ground, and fewhave escaped serious injury: 300 soulshave perished in this town (Bhatgaon)alone, and the total number of lives lostthroughout the valley, as yet ascertained,is estimated at 500. The unfortunatepeople in many instances are in soredistress; their stores of grain being buriedbeneath the ruins of their late dwellings,and without money to purchase otherfood. The grain shops, as well as allothers, are shut, and the people dare notreturn to their houses, but remain withoutsleep or shelter in the open air, undertorrents of rain. The house of MatabarSing, (a goodly modern mansion) is quitedestroyed; and the large garden housesof Bhim Sen, and his brother, Rau Bir arerendered, for the present, untenable.Scarce a large house in Katmandu hasescaped serious injury. The fort atChiropani, on the road to this from theplains, is much injured, and almost all theGovernment buildings have sustainedgreat injury.

A number of accounts (commentaries)came out in various journals, for details seeAppendix I.

4. DISCUSSIONThe 26th August 1833 earthquake whose

epicentre was located within the Nepal Himalayais one of the four large to major earthquakes ofthe nineteenth century that devastated India andadjacent northern territories; these are 1803

Garwhal, 1819 Kutch, 1833 Nepal and 1897Shillong earthquakes. Except the latter for whichcomprehensive document was published by GSI,the previous three earthquakes occurred before theestablishment of GSI; and thus reports on theearthquakes were published in various journals,newspapers etc., often sketchy and incomplete. Bythe time during the mid twentieth century whenthese earthquakes were subjected to scientificreview for seismological and tectonic studiesmaterials was not readily available. Researchersoften utilized partial information that could beaccessed at that point of time, resulting sometimesincomplete appreciation of the problem. Wewanted to bridge this gap by collating all publisheddata at a single place to facilitate comprehensivescientific appraisal for such earthquakes and inthe present compilation we venture to present allavailable information on the 1833 earthquake. Wehowever do not attempt to analyze the reports forany downstream analysis.

Information on the effects of the 1833quake was published by Campbell in phasesthrough Asiatic Society of Bengal and all suchreports have been reproduced. Damage was quiteextensive in India and descriptive accounts of sucheffects were published in various newspapers like,Mofussul Akbar, Bengal Hurkaru, India Gazetteetc. among others. While we were unable to gothrough these original newspapers in spite best ofour efforts, materials published in those paperswere reprinted in some journals like; CalcuttaChristian Observer, Asiatic Journal and MonthlyRegister and Baptist Magazine . Effects of theearthquake from different localities of India havethus been reproduced.

Size of the 1833 Nepal Himalayaearthquake was almost similar to that of the 1803Garwhal Himalaya earthquake, descriptiveaccount of which has already been published(Dasgupta and Mukhopadhyay, 2014). Hundredyears after the 1833 earthquake, a more severeearthquake popularly known as the Bihar- Nepal


earthquake of 1934 again devastated both Indiaand Nepal. Comparing the epicentral locations ofthe 1833 and 1934 Bihar- Nepal earthquakes vis--vis its tectonic implication has become a difficulttask because of a number of different epicentrallocations were suggested for the 1934 locationthrough various research papers published sincethe original work of GSI (Dunn et al., 1939).Different locations for the 1934 with increasingshifting towards NE are: 26.30N: 86.30E (GSI,Dunn et al, 1939); 26.50N: 86.50E (Abe, 1981);26.77N: 86.69E (Seeber and Armburster, 1981);26.77N: 86.76E (Engdahl and Villasenor, 2002);27.55N: 87.09E (Chen and Molnar, 1977) etc.If we compare the locations for the twoearthquakes as estimated by Szeliga et al. (2010)for the 1833 event (see above) and that of Chenand Molnar (1977) for the 1934 earthquake, bothlocate along the same latitude of 27.55N with adifference of 2 degrees of longitude (~85-87) andin that case the causative fault for both of theearthquakes would be same, the north dippingMain Frontal Thrust (MFT). Recently, Sapkota etal (2012) documents surface rupture along theMFT to correlate with the 1934 earthquake thatcorroborates the epicentral location of Chen andMolnar (1977) [compare Fig. 5 of Sapkota et al.(2012)]. We however do not intend to deliberateon the details of 1934 earthquake exceptmentioning that the damage pattern, extent andintensity of the 1934 and 1833 events as recordedfrom both India and Nepal do not depict similarpattern.

APPENDIX 1Other commentaries from archives

In the November issue of the same journal(1833, JASB, II, 564- 567), A. Campbell publishedhis first account on the earthquake under the titleAccount of the Earthquake at Kathmandu whichwe reproduce below:

On the 26th of August last, about 6oclock P. M. a smart shock of earthquake

was experienced throughout the valley,and the neighbouring hills, westward inthe valley of Nayakot and Duny Byas;eastward at Panouti, Baneppa, Dulkele,and Pholam Chok; and southward atChitlong, Chisagarhy, Etounda, andBissoulea. The shock was preceded by arumbling noise from the eastward. Themotion of the earth was undulatory, as ofa large raft floating on the ocean, and thedirection of the swell was from north-easttowards southwest. The shock lastedabout 1 minute. At 10-45 P.M. (not bychronometer but by a good-going clock,which stopped during the great shock, itspendulum vibrated north and south) [Ifthe clock was set by the sun, the shockmust have been 51m. earlier than inCalcutta.ED.] of the same day anothershock of equal duration and of the samecharacter occurred, and at 10-58, a thirdand most violent one commenced: at firstit was a gentle motion of the earth,accompanied by a slight rumbling noise;soon however it increased to a fearfuldegree, the earth heaved as a ship at sea,the trees waved from their roots, andhouses moved to and fro far from theperpendicular. Horses and other cattle,terrified, broke from their stalls, and it wasdifficult to walk without staggering as alandsman does on ship-board. This shocklasted for about three minutes in its fullestforce. And the following is as correct anestimate as can be ascertained (withoutofficial documents) of the damage doneby it to life and property throughout thegreat valley and neighbouring districts ofNipal. It is believed that the two firstshocks were harmless [DoctorCampbells subsequent letters inform us,that there have been frequent shocks ofless violence since the above, many ofwhich (on the 4th and 18th Oct.particularly) were felt at Calcutta,Monghyr, Chittagong, Allahabad, andJabalpur, nearly simultaneously. On the26th Oct. he writes, At 10h. 45m. A. M.a sharp shock of the dangerous orundulating kind occurred. The embassyhas returned from China, and I aminformed that the great shock was not felt


at Lassa, so that it would appear to havebeen confined to India within theHimalaya.ED.]

The above shows that the earthquake wasmuch more severe to the north and eastof the valley than here; and that evenwithin the valley it was much more violentto the east of Kathmandu than at thecapital itself or other places to the westof it. The town of Bhat gaon is not morethan eight miles in a straight line fromKathmandu, and even there its violencemust have greatly exceeded what it wasat the latter place. To account for theimmense disproportion in the loss of lifeand property at both places, somethingmay be allowed for the more frail state ofthe buildings at Bhatgaon; but this is notsufficient, and this circumstance must beconsidered as inexplicable as most othersattending this fearful phenomenon. Thebrahmans of Nipal say (and it is believedwith truth) that the occurrence of a moreviolent earthquake than this is recordedin their histories. It was about 600 yearsago, and then the cities of Mangah, Patanand innumerable towns were utterlydestroyed and thousands of theirinhabitants killed : the modern capitalKathmandu did not then exist.

Dr Campbell published furtherinformation in the December issue of the samevolume (pp. 636-639) under heading Furtherparticulars of the Earthquake in Nepal,reproduced below:

In pursuance of the attempt made beforeto note the destructive effects of theearthquake of the 26th August last,throughout the valley of Nepal, and itsimmediate neighbourhood, and with thehope of showing, as correctly as myinformation will permit, the probable seator central point of the commotion, I begto offer the following memoranda of otherplaces at which the shock wasexperienced, as well as its comparativedegree of intensity at each.

The means of estimating the violence ofthis phenomenon are of course most

defective, if not wholly inadequate to thepurpose; but in absence of better data, theascertained amount of damage done to thefrail and perishable works of man, maybe received as an index of its intensity atone place, compared with that of another,and in conformity to this mode, it wouldappear, that the most extreme violence ofthe shock, as far as its occurrence is asyet known, was expended within a tractof country extending from this side of thegreat Himalayan range on the north, tothe course of the Ganges on the south,and from the Arun river (in the Nepalhills) on the east, to the western branchesof the Trisul Ganga on the west,comprising a space of about 200 milesfrom north to south, and 150 from east towest. In this space, the valley of Nepal,though not geographically the centrepoint, is most assuredly the portion thathas suffered the greatest violence of thecalamity ; and, unless the inexplicableproducing causes have been expended inthe frequent and severe shocks that haveto this day continued to recur, we mayfrom our experience of the progress ofearthquakes in other parts of the world,with reason, as we ought with resignation,look forward to further and more violentexhibitions of the same terrible nature.

In the notice of the earthquake by theSecretary of the Asiatic Society, in hisJournal for August, he expressed a belief,that the greatest intensity of the shockwould be found to have occurred beyondthe Himalaya, in the direction of Lassa;and judging by the direction from whichthe shock was felt to have proceeded, andits intensity in the valley of Nepal, suchwas the probability, though other hasturned out to be the fact, and that upongood authority.

The recent return from Pekin of anEmbassy from Nepal, to the court of theCelestial Emperor, has furnishedauthentic information on this subject,which otherwise might have been longwanting; and the whole tenor of it showsthat the great Himalayan range itself, andthe country on this side of it, was alone


Register of Earthquakes experienced at Kathmandu from 26th August to 26th November 1833

Date Time Remarks

August 26th One at 5h 55m PM; another at All of the undulating kind, as well as nine others10h 50m; 10.58 PM was the time the that occurred during the same night [12 shocks]great one commenced, and its durationwas three minutes

27th 4.53 AM; 5.20 AM; 5.26 AM Also undulatory [3 shocks]28th 7.15 AM; 4.55 PM Also undulatory [2 shocks]30th 4 shocks, one at 9 AM [9 PM] [all undulating, 4 shocks]31st 2 during the night Slight [2 shocks]Sept 1 to 11th 10 shocks Slight [10 shocks]October 4th 7.30 AM, a smart one; one minute This was a severe one, and of the vertical kind;

duration it was felt at Gorakhpur and AllahabadOctober 18th 1.55 PM [4.55 PM] severe and Same character as last one; was felt slightly at

ushered in a loud noise Allahabad, lasted here at least a minute.October 26th 10.37 AM, slight [1 shock]November 8th 1.35 AM, slight [3.35 AM] [1 shock]16th At mid night [1 shock]26th 11.45 PM severe [full moon] This was of up and down kind, lasted a minute and

In all 39 shocks have been noted; occurring at the full moon when the whole peoplemany slight ones have occurred of Nepal were praying at Pasputinath, excited abesides. great commotion and was the only instance where

the prophecies of the Brahmins were realizedalthough a hundred lucky moments had for the lastthree months been determined on for theoccurrence of violent shocks

[Not being satisfied with the table, Captain Robinson got reprinted the table through W. B. Clarke in The Magazine ofNatural History and Journal, London, Volume 8, page 148; here added in italics]

the theatre of the earthquakes presence,and that it was not even in the slightestdegree felt beyond a very short distanceon the Tibetan side of those hugemountains. The Embassy was at Lassa,on the 26th of August, when and wherethe shock was not experienced. AtDigarchi, in the following month, it firstreceived accounts of its occurrence fromNepal; to the inhabitants of that place thecircumstance was known only fromreports brought from this side of themountains; along the road from Digarchi,the answer to all inquiries was the same, No earthquake on the 26th of August,and not until its arrival at Tingri was itfound that the shock had been felt. Tingriis a small Chinese post, immediatelybeyond the great Himalaya, and the first

stage on the table land (as it is called) ofTibet, going from hence to Lassa, (by theKuti or eastern pass from the valley ofNepal). From Tingri to Kirung, a distanceof 8 or 10 marches, the route is nearlydue west, running along; and through thenorthern side of the Himalaya, andthroughout this tract, though but thinlyinhabited, authentic reports of theoccurrence of the shock were received.By Kirung (the eastern pass from thevalley into Bhote), the Mission penetratedthe great range, and at each stage (four innumber through the pass), intelligence ofthe occurrence was communicated by thefew individuals who inhabit that wild andsterile region. But such information wasnot required, as its effects weresufficiently manifest; in the village ofKirung itself, supposed to contain 400


houses, 60 were fairly demolished, andmany more seriously injured; two menhad been killed under the ruins of theirhouses, and about a dozen wounded.From the exit of the pass to Kathmanduthere are no towns along the route, andscarcely any villages; but at many places,insulated houses of the mountaineers hadbeen thrown down, and the precipitousbanks of hills and mountains had beenhurled into the subjacent valleys.

This shows the extent of damage donetowards the north, and enables us to fixupon the line of Tingri (Lat. 28) as thenorthern limit, of the earthquakespresence, and reports would show that ofJabalpur and Calcutta to have been thesouthern one. Rangpur [Mr. WALTERSinforms me that it was also felt atChtttagong.ED] defines the east andDehli the west.

North-east from Kathmandu, as far asDulka and Kuti, the violence of the shockwould seem to have been greater than inthe valley. West from Kathmandu itdiminished at every step. At Gorkha, onlytwo houses were destroyed; at Palpa,none; and at Doti, on the borders ofkemaon, the shock was felt, but not byany means severely. It will strike everyone as remarkable, that while here, theshock was more violent than elsewhere;its effects should not have been feltequally at as great a distance from henceto the north as to the south. Why this? isthe natural question, but who can answerwhere all are in darkness. Other explosiveforces spread equally in all directions; thisdid not; granting that the centre was wherethe violence was greatest. To the south,the country is a level, uninterrupted plain,calculated to facilitate the rapidtransmission of the agitating force, whileto the north are the mightiest mountainsof the world ; it may therefore besupposed, that the quantity of forceexpended in reaching to the summits ofthe Himalayan peaks, and in shaking likemolehills the whole of the mountainregion around, could not be far short inintensity of that required to agitate slightlythe plains to the southward, even to the

distance above recorded. In this light, itmay be imagined, that the explosive forcemay have spread itself equally on all sides,the greater surface distance to which itreached towards the south being balancedby the immense vertical spaces ittraversed in shaking from their bases totheir summits the innumerable hills andmountains of the extensive region lyingbetween the plains of Hindustan and thoseof Tibet.

I subjoin an accurate register of the shockswhich have occurred up to this date, givenme by Captain Robinson. Many of themhave been severe, and throughout thewhole course of these visitations, therehave been two distinct varieties observedin the character of the shocks: all those atthe commencement were of undulatory orswinging kind; the others wanted thisswell, and were a violent up and downshaking, with little lateral, motion. Thefirst may be called the horizontal, the latterthe vertical, variety. The former alonehave been destructive to property, whilethe latter, from the greater noise by whichthey are accompanied, and the more rapidoscillations of the ground, are perhaps themore terrifying.

The above account on the earthquake of26 August 1833 gives a clear picture on thepossible epicentral location, the size and the extentof damage of the earthquake. We shall nowproceed to reproduce the effects of the earthquakethat was described from different locations in Indiaand published in various newspapers and othersources. Most of the newspaper reports weresubsequently published in the Asiatic Journal andMonthly Register for British and Foreign India(Volume 13, New Series, January-April, 1834; partII- Asiatic Intelligence, 156-159, 195, 241).

On the 26th August, shocks of a verysevere earthquake were felt at thepresidency and in various parts of theinterior. At Calcutta there were threeshocks, which set hanging lamps inmotion; but the oscillations, though verydistinct, were not strong enough to doinjury to any building.


At Agra, the shocks were rapid andstrong, lasting a few seconds each, butproduced no injury.

At Lucknow, there were four shocks, thefirst about sunset, the others between 11and 12 p.m. The tremulous motion of twoof the shocks resembled the motion feltin a steam-vessel; the rocking caused thebeams of the houses to creak, the lampsto swing to and fro, and in one housefragments of a cornice to fall.

Additional information from Lucknow isreproduced from Anon (1834a):

On the 26th of August, 1833, the city ofLucknow, the capital of Oude, was visitedat midnight by the alarming earthquakewhich shook India from the snowymountains of Himalaya, even to thedistant ocean. The dreadful scourge ofcholera had for some time previous beensent to afflict people.sudden death inan awful form threatened every family,and superadded to the apprehension fromthis mortal scourge it was very awful tobe awake at midnight by an earthquake!The beams of the houses creaked, thelamps and punkas swung to and fro, thewalls moved, and a tremulous motion,fearfully distinct, shook the whole earth.The tall minarets trembled in the sky, andthe trees were shaken at their base; eventhe birds in the branches were aroused andevinced their apprehensions by theirclamours. The sagacious elephants wereawakened, and rose from their lairs, andshowed their consciousness by thatpeculiar hollow noise in their trunks. Thepeople left their houses, now sensiblyrocking with the troubled earth, andsought safety in the open air, fearfullyawaiting the result, and expecting everymoment to hear the crash of fallingbuildings! The stoutest heart quailed, andat such an awful time, when the earthrocked beneath the feet, there wassomething peculiarly striking in hearingthe sudden simultaneous and loudmingling of prayer from every quarter ofthe city; from thousands the appeal to theAlmighty, Ullaho AkbarGod is great![CCO, III, 336- 338]

We go back to the original document(Anon, 1834b) to extract and reproduce damageinformation for more localities.

At Tirhoot [26.11N: 85.40E] theearthquake was visited at 6 p.m., of the26th, with a severe shock of anearthquake, which began with a motionfrom E. to W., and was repeated at 11 and12 with double violence, continuing atintervals throughout the night until 6, nextmorning. The two shocks in the middleof the night were most awful, lasting, Ishould think, each time more than aminute. The bungalow in which I residewas violently shaken, rocking to and fro;the doors and wall-shades were equallyagitated, and the walls were rent in manyplaces. The walls of my press-house anddrying-house were opened in severalparts, and the water in the reservoir fourfeet deep, and three from the surface, wasso much agitated, as to fly over on eachside. The atmosphere, during the night,was very dense and warm and the moonnearly obscured. I have been in Indiamany years, and I never experienced anything half so awful as the shocks duringthe flight.

Purneah, August 27This place hasbeen visited by the severest shocks ofearthquake within the memory of theoldest inhabitant; the following is ascorrect an account of it as I was able topreserve.

1st shock at past 5 P.M., rather slight;2d at 11 PM severe; 3d at 18 past 11 PM,most violent.

So great was the undulation, that birdswere driven from their nests, men scarcelyable to keep their feet, and the cattlerunning about wild with fright; during thissevere shock, several old buildings in thetown tottered to pieces, and a part of onein the station partially sunk; a heavycornice of a newly-erected wall in agentlemans bungalow came boldlydown, and literally smashed a table andsome chairs to pieces;every buildinghas suffered more or less;a recently-vacated upper-roomed house has not an


arch left, large masses of bricks havingactually fallen out; the roof in many placessplit, and the beams and burgahsseparated by an inch or more; the out-offices in this compound are in a heap ofruin.

4th shock at 28 minute past11 P.M. slight;5th at 32 m. p.11 PM: slight; 6th at 46 m.p.11 PM: slight; 7th at 1 AM: slight; 8that 25 m. p. 3 AM: slight; 9th at 52 m. p. 5PM: slight; 10th at 8 AM: rather severe.

I am led to infer, from the stoppage of aclock and other testimony that theundulation came from the southward andtraversed east. During the third andseverest shock, a heavy fell of rain fell tothe south, accompanied by much wind.

Buxar, August 27.Last night, severalvery smart shocks of an earthquake werefelt. The first decided one took place at11h.20m. PM. but the smartest of all at11h 55m; each continuing for severalminutes in a direction apparently from N.to S. The latter was so severe as to causethe members of all the families residenthere to run into the open air to securethemselves against the danger whichseemed about to overwhelm them. Themotion was so strong as to upset severalwall-shades and glasses in one of thebungalows here, and the general rattlingof doors and windows and the creakingof rafters were really most alarming. Theundulating motion of the ground was sogreat, as to cause horses that were asleepto start up suddenly with every mark ofalarm, and the birds roosted upon the treesto rise into the air, uttering wild cries.Strange to say, the violence of the shockseemed a good deal bounded by the river;as, at Koruntadhee, immediately oppositeto Buxar, the motion of the earth was solittle felt as hardly to awaken a singleindividual; whereas, on the right bank ofthe river, all were obliged on the instantto evacuate their habitations and run intothe open air. The effect on the water, aboutsix miles above Buxar, as described to me,was that of a rocking motion, as ifoccasioned by a heavy swell consequenton an east wind.

Monghyr, August 27th We were lastnight visited with a succession of sevenshocks of earthquake from five oclocklast night till half-past eight this morning,in which many fine houses have beenmuch injured and some totally destroyed.It was truly awful to hear the cries of thepeople and crash of houses falling, theringing of bells, beating of tomtoms, theMussulmans at prayers, and all thepopulation of Monghyr, of everydescription, out in the open air; the groundevery five minutes shaking and tremblingin a frightful manner. There were upwardsof twenty-five shocks during the night,and five after day-break, and upon thewhole, the night in some degreeresembled that awful night in Egypt whenthere was one dead in every house.

Additional information on damages fromMonghyr is from Anon (1833):

Our readers are perhaps aware, that on26th September [it must be August, asthere was no reported aftershock on 26thSeptember], the night of the earthquake,Mrs. Chamberlain, the widow of the lateRev. J. Chamberlain, expired. She did sounder circumstances peculiarly afflictingto her friend. The dreadful shocks whichfollowed in quick succession havingcracked the walls of the house in whichMr. and Mrs. Leslie with Mrs.Chamberlain resided, the former wereobliged to leave the house, and in herdying moments to remove Mrs. C. to theopen air, where after a few hours sheexpired. . On the 4th October [there wasa smart and severe aftershock also felt atGorakhpur and Allahabad] there wasexperienced another shock of anearthquake at Monghyr, after which Mr.Leslies residence was deemed, by asurvey, so unsafe, as to render residencein it quite dangerous. It will therefore beimmediately taken down. The house ofthe Rev. Mr. Moore and of others at thestation has been much injured.

Extract from the original letter of Mr.Leslie (see above) from Monghyr was publishedin the Baptist Magazine Vol. 26, 1834, 178;


relevant portion from the letter is also reproducedbelow.

.Could I get another I should certainlyleave our present abode. I fear, however,that we may soon be compelled to leaveit. A violent earthquake occurred 11oclock on the night of 26th inst. hasshattered the walls on every side. Anothersuch shock will level it with the ground.The wall of the room in which I am nowsitting was split from head to foot in threeplaces. One of the openings is an inch oran inch and a half wide. Other houses,stronger than ours, have shared the samefate. I never experienced any thing likethe awful commotion. The earth literallyreeled to and fro, and staggered like adrunken man. There was simultaneousshout of consternation through the wholecity. We have often had shocks ofearthquakes in this part of India, but neverwas anything known similar to what hasrecently occurred.Hearing all the housecracking, and feeling myself violentlyrocked in bed, I rose up, jumped over ahigh wall at the back of the house, gotround as well as I could to the front, whereMrs. C. and Mrs. L. and a young ladywere. We carried Mrs. C out of the roomunder what is called verandah, and therewaited for a number of hours, in awfulexpectation, amidst shocks which were atintervals of twenty minutes till six in themorning. Since then we have had atlonger intervals, shocks extendingthrough two days; but as I have not beensensible of any for the last sixteen oreighteen hours, I should hope they havenow ceased.. The shocks of earthquakecontinued till 5th inst. when they ceased.Our house is so much shattered that I fearI shall have to pull it down.. But muchas we suffered, we have sustained littleinjuries compared with some others. Oneof the largest and best buildings of thestation is completely ruined. Others arenearly in the same state. It is reported herethat 500 persons were killed in Patna.

Patna, August 28.But now we haverecovered from the horror of theearthquake. Its first access was half-past

six on the evening of Monday, and Idistinctly felt the shock, but as I was notsupported by any observation of a similartendency, I began to think it must havebeen fancy. About half-past eleven PM Iwas awakened by a horrid rattling, andshocks apparently from E. to W. with arumbling noise, the servants running intothe room in great consternation. This wasthe first of two very severe shocks, thelast of which occurred at midnight, andthe oldest inhabitants here say, that aseverer one they never remembered. It isquite impossible to describe the horrorsof these two shocks. Several houses atBankipore have been cracked by theearthquake, amongst which are themagistrates cutcherry, and in the city, theopium godown has shared the same fateas well as the great gate-way built byMaha Rajah Metre Jeyt Sing, while manyof the pucka native dwellings have bodilyfallen. At Dinapore, the former brigademajors house was split and some housesbetween Patna and Diggah. Eighteenshocks were counted by some, but theyappeared continuous. The last was at eightA.M. Almost all the inhabitants left theirhouses during the continuance of theshocks and remained out the whole night.There was a strange look in the heavensfor forty-eight hours preceding theearthquake, and the weather veryoppressive; not a breath of wind; theThermometer 86 17'.

In another journal (Anon1834c, page 218)one Mr. Lawrence wrote on the earthquake fromDigah [Diggah]

August 26th, 1833: For some days past ithas been hot and close, and this eveningparticularly sultry. About half-past elevenas I was sitting at my desk writing, Isuddenly became giddy, and felt as thoughI could not sit still. For a few seconds Ithought that I was taken ill, and was aboutto rise, unable to account for so singularsensation, when I perceived every thingaround me moving, and heard the doorsand windows begin gently to clatter. I wasthen convinced that it was an earthquake.I proceeded to Mrs. L. who was in bed,


and in a few minutes another shock,somewhat more severe than the former,commenced; it lasted scarcely a minute,but it made every thing in the housetremble, and produced a sensation verymuch resembling sea sickness. There havebeen several other tremblings of the earth,but they can scarcely be called shocks.This morning (27th) I have been informedthat the earthquake was felt severely inthe bazaar; several houses were throwndown, and many of the natives ran out oftheir houses in consternation, expectingthey would fall upon them.

We retrieved a firsthand account on theearthquake as felt at Allahabad from an unlikelysource in a book Wanderings of a Pilgrim. byFanny Parks Parlby (1850). The author was thewife of Charles Crawford Parks, a Bengal CivilService Official who during the period was postedat Allahabad as Collector (of Customs). MemsahibFanny Parks write (p. 285):

I was sitting in my dressing room, readingand thinking of retiring to rest, when theKhansaman ran to the door and cried outMemShiba, did you feel the earthquake?The dishes and glasses in the almirah(wardrobes) are all rattling. I heard therumbling noise, but did not feel thequaking of the earth. About half-pasteleven, PM, a very severe shock came on,with a loud and rumbling noise; itsounded at first as if a four-wheeledcarriage had driven up to the door, andthen the noise appeared to be just undermy feet; my chair and table shook visibly,the mirror of the dressing glass swungforwards, and two of the doors nearest mychair opened from the shock. The houseshook so much, I felt sick and giddy; Ithought I should fall if I were to try towalk; I called out many a times to myhusband but he was asleep on the sofa inthe next room and heard me not; not likingit at all I ran into the next room, and awokehim; as I sat with him on the sofa, it shookvery much from another shock or rathershocks, for there appeared to be many ofthem; and the table trembled also. Myayha came in from the verandah and said,

The river is all in motion, in waves, as ifa great wind were blowing against thestream. The natives say tiles fell fromseveral houses. A shoeing-horn that washanging by a string to the side of mydressing glass swung backwards andforwards like the pendulum of a clock.The giddy and sick sensation oneexperiences during the time of anearthquake is not agreeable; we had onein September, 1831 but it was nothing incomparison to that we have justexperienced. Mr. D. and Mr. C. who livenearly three miles off, ran out of theirbungalows in alarm.

More information on the 1833 earthquakeparticularly on its continued aftershocks asappeared in different newspapers and subsequentlyreprinted in journals are collated; e.g., whilediscussing the affairs of the State of Rajpootana(Anon 1834b, page 195) that earthquake shockscontinued to be felt in the various parts of theterritories under the presidency and in the monthof October, some of them were severe. Thissuggests that aftershocks were strong enough tobe felt as far west as Rajasthan. Descriptiveaccounts for other places in India continue, andreproduced from page 241 of the same journal.

The Meerut Observer reports anotherearthquake which was not felt in Calcutta: Meerutwas visited on the night of 20th September[aftershock] by a smart shock of an earthquake.It continued for about fifteen seconds, but was notsevere enough to do any mischief.

A correspondent, writing fromGoruckpore, says that that station wasvisited on the 18th October, at twentyminutes to five A.M., by a mosttremendous earthquake, whichapparently came from east to west, andlasted for nearly one minute. He addsthat it was much severer than that whichwas experienced on the 26th of Augustlast.Englishman.

A letter from Monghyr dated the 4thinstant states: At half past seven, a shockof an earthquake was experienced there,


which lasted one minute and a half! It isdescribed to have been quite as severe asthat experienced on the 26th August, andhave alarmed the inhabitants so much asto have caused them to quit their houses.Fortunately, however, no damageoccurred. The shock felt here on the samemorning was very slight indeed, so muchso that many did not feel it at all. BengalHurkaru, Oct. 11.

Jionpor.Another earthquake was felthere on the 4th, at or about eight in themorning; the shock was sudden andsmart, and lasted a few seconds; it shookall the jillmills and doors. What are we toexpect? The natives predict a famine asthe consequence. The meteor I wroteabout last week was seen by a friend ofmine, and he describes it thus: Animmense ball of tire, apparently largerthan the moon, rose in the east and set inthe west, passing with great rapidity;shining most brilliantly, and emittingnumerous star-shoots or small meteors asit passed, leaving also a broad whitishlight behind it, which rapidly disappeared;it happened between four and five in themorning of the 20th of last month.Mofussil Ukhbar, Oct. 12.

Further accounts have been received fromNepaul, describing the terrible effects ofthe earthquake of August at Lassa, wherethe destruction of lives and buildings hasbeen greatest. A late number of theMofussil Ukhbar has a long article uponthe last earthquake, in which the writerconcurs with the author of the article inthe Journal of Science, in tracing the seatof the disturbing cause to some unknownspot among the Himalaya mountains. Afact is mentioned in the Chupra Report,which merits the attention of ourgeologists, if true, but which we shouldhesitate to believe without further details,namely, that the earth opened, and achasm of some depth was formed abouttwo miles from that place.Cal. Cour.

An opinion prevails among the majorityof Hindoos, that Benares forms no partof this globe, but is fixed upon the tridentof Siva; and that an earthquake, which

may affect the rest of India, will not befelt at that sacred place. This opinion isby the pundits deemed a vulgar errorwhich is now abundantly established bythe fact, that the earthquake of the 26thof August last was felt severely atBenares.Sumachar Durpun

In addition to certain corrections in theTable provided by Dr Campbell (see above), someinformation on the aftershocks is provided by W.B.Clarke, within the article On certain recentmeteoric phenomena etc, published in TheMagazine of Natural History and Journal,London, 1835, 8, 148-152. After printing the tableit states:

The undulating shocks were destructiveto property; but the vertical shocks wereaccompanied by a violent noise, and morerapid oscillations of the ground. Theshocks of Oct. 4 and 18 were felt nearlyat the same moment, at Monghyr,Calcutta, Allahabad, Chittagong andJubalpoor. At Kat Sing Choke, northeastNepal there were noises for five daysprevious, like firing of cannon.. TheBrahmans say that about 600 years ago afar more frightful earthquake occurred,doing greater damage far and near. Thecountry shaken by these earthquakes wasthat comprised between Tingri, Calcutta,Rangpoor and Delhi, a tract of 3000square miles in and south of the Himalayarange.

We have brought together and reproducedall available published documents withdescriptions of effects of the 26 August 1833earthquake and its aftershocks both from Nepaland India. These are all first hand observationsand obviously constitute important datasets for anysubsequent analyses and review. After these initialpublications at least three compilations werepublished subsequently by Baird-Smith (1843),Robert Mallet (1855) and Thomas Oldham (1883).So far as the 1833 earthquake is concerned theselater publications are also important as these arethe basic source which the contemporaryresearchers have extensively referred. Again these


documents particularly that of the first two, arenot easily available in the public domain. We havethus reproduced all three these documents in spiteof several repetitions with already that have beenpresented above.

We reproduce materials published byBaird-Smith (1843, JASB, 12, 1046-1054) exceptthe tables that are already reproduced above.

The first shock of this Earthquake wasexperienced at Katmandu, the moderncapital of Nepaul, about 6. P. M. Itextended throughout the valley andneighbouring hills, being felt westwardin the valley of Nayakot and Duny Byas:eastward at Panouti, Baneppa, Dulkeleand Pholam Chok; and southward atChitlong, Chisagarby, Etounda andBissoules. The shock lasted about 40seconds, and during its continuance, therewas a distinctly audible noise as ofordnance passing rapidly over adrawbridge. This rumbling noise camefrom the Eastward, and Dr. Campbellsays, I felt it was travelling with thespeed of lightning towards the West, andjust under my feet: the houses shook mostviolently, and trees, shrubs, and thesmallest plants were set in motion, notshaking, but waving to and fro from theirvery roots. No injury to life or propertywas done by this first shock, either inNepaul or in its course to Calcutta, whereit appears to have been experienced atabout 6h. 28m., Katmandu time. Themotion of the earth was undulatory, as ofa large raft floating on the ocean, and thedirection of the swell was from North-easttowards South-west.

At l0 h. 45m., by a good going clock, asecond shock occurred, of the sameintensity, equal duration, and likecharacter with the preceding. This alsowas experienced at Calcutta.

The great shock was felt at Katmandu atabout 5 minutes to 12 P. M., Calcutta time.It commenced very gradually by a gentlemotion of the earth, accompanied by aslight rumbling noise: soon however itincreased to a fearful degree, the earth

heaved as a ship at sea, the trees wavedfrom their roots, and houses moved to andfro from the perpendicular. Horses andother cattle terrified broke loose from theirstalls, and it was difficult to walk withoutstaggering as a landsman does on ship-board. Dr. Campbell, as an eye-witness,thus describes the scene: The earthheaved most fearfully, and when theshock was at its worst, we heard theclashing of falling tiles and bricks in everydirection: and to add to the impressivenessof the scene, a general shout rose fromthe people in all directions. The murmurof human prayers was carried audiblyfrom the city to our grounds, (a mile,) andnothing could be more imposing and vastthan the whole scene. In a dead calm, thenoise of an hundred cannon burst forth:full grown trees bended in all directions,and houses reeled about like drunkenmen. In our grounds no lives were lost;but in Katmandu 19 persons were buriedunder the ruins of their own houses, andin the towns of Bhatgaon and Patan, manymore. Dr. Campbells estimate of theduration of this great shock, varies in hisletters and memorandum published in theJournal of the Asiatic Society, (Vol. II. p.439-564). In the former the duration issaid to have been one minute, in the latter,three minutes at its fullest force. Duringthe following hour, from 12 to 1 A. M.,there were six distinct and strong shocks,the ground in the intervals being scarcely,if at all steady, and from midnight of the26th to the morning of the 27th, twentyshocks are said to have been felt, whileduring the whole of the 27th and 28th,the earth was in a constant state oftremblement

The comparative intensity of the shock atdifferent points in its course can only beestimated, in the absence of properinstruments, by its destructive effects onbuildings when exposed to its influence.Dr. Campbell has furnished me withmaterials, which in this point of view arevaluable, by having collected accounts indetail of injuries sustained by the varioustowns throughout the valley of Nepaul,arranging these with reference to their


bearing from Katmandu as a central point.This Table I here transcribe:

The table under reference has already beengiven with the first note of Dr Campbell (seeabove) and hence not repeated.

The preceding details establish verydistinctly, that toward the North and Eastof the valley, the disturbing force wasmuch more violent in its action thantoward the South and West. In the formerdirection therefore we are to look for thefocus of the shock, and it seems probable,from all the facts recorded, that this wassituated among the hills which bound thevalley of Nepaul on the North-eastward.As Dr. Campbells views on this pointcoincide with my own, I will takeadvantage of his remarks upon it: Itwould appear, he says, that the mostextreme violence of the shock, so far asits occurrence is as yet known, wasexpended within a tract of countryextending from this side of the greatHimalayan range on the North, to thecourse of the Ganges on the South, andfrom the Arun river (in the Nepaul hills)on the East to the Western branches ofthe Trisul Ganga on the West, comprisinga space of about 200 miles from North toSouth, and 150 from East to West. In thisspace, the valley of Nepaul, though notgeographically the central point, is mostassuredly the portion that has suffered thegreatest violence of the calamity, andmay therefore be fairly considered as thespot whence the shock emanated.

The intensity of the shock to the North-east of Nepaul, and the direction of itsmotion, had led Mr. Prinsep, in his noticeof the Earthquake, to anticipateintelligence of some fearful catastrophein the vicinity of Lassa, in Thibet. By amost fortunate coincidence, Dr. Campbellwas enabled to collect some informationwhich elucidated this point in aninteresting manner. In the notice of theEarthquake by the Secretary to the AsiaticSociety, in the Journal for August (1833)Dr. Campbell remarks: he expressed abelief that the greatest intensity of the

shock would be found to have occurredbeyond the Himalayas, in the direction ofLassa: and judging by the direction fromwhich the shock was felt to haveproceeded, and its intensity in the valleyof Nepaul, such was the probability,though other has turned out to be the fact,and that upon good authority.

The recent return from Pekin of anEmbassy from Nepaul, to the Court of theCelestial Emperor, has furnishedauthentic information on this subject,which might otherwise have been longwanting: and the whole tenor of it shows,that the great Himalayan range itself, andthe country on this (the South) side of it,was alone the theatre of the Earthquakespresence, and that it was not even in theslightest degree felt beyond a very shortdistance on the Thibetan side of thesehuge mountains. The embassy was atLassa on the 26th August, when andwhere the shock was not experienced. AtDigarchi, in the following month, it firstreceived accounts of its occurrence fromNepaul: to the inhabitants of that placethe circumstance was however only fromreports brought from this side of themountains: along the road from Digarchithe answer to all enquiries was the same,no Earthquake on the 26th August, andnot until its arrival at Tingri, was it foundthat the shock had been felt. Tingri is asmall Chinese post, immediately beyondthe great Himalaya, and the first stage onthe table-land (as it is called) of Thibet,going hence to Lassa (by the Kuti orEastern Pass from the valley of Nepaul.)From Tingri to Kirung, a distance of 8 or10 marches, the route is nearly due West,running along and through the Northernside of the Himalaya; and throughout thistract, though but thinly inhabited,authentic reports of the occurrence of theshock were received. By Kirung (theEastern Pass from the valley into Bhote)the mission penetrated the great range,and at each stage (four in numbersthrough the Pass) intelligence of theoccurrence was communicated by the fewindividuals who inhabit that wild andsterile region. But such information was


not required, as its effects weresufficiently manifest: in the village ofKirung, itself, supposed to consist of 400houses, 60 were fairly demolished, andmany more seriously injured : two menhad been killed under the ruins of theirhouses, and about a dozen wounded.From the exit of the Pass to Katmanduthere are no towns along the route, andscarcely any villages: but at many places,insulated houses of the mountaineers hadbeen thrown down, and the precipitousbanks of hills and mountains had beenthrown into the subjacent valleys.

Tingri, therefore, in latitude 28 may befixed upon as the extreme Northern limitof the influence of the shock, and I nowproceed to trace its progress in otherdirections. Before, however, quitting thevalley of Nepaul, I may mention as aninteresting fact, that torrents of rain fellimmediately after the Earthquake,washing down many of the walls whichhad previously been only shaken.

In tracing the course of the Earthquake tothe westward of Nepaul, the diminutionof its intensity is remarkably exhibited.At Gorkha, Dr. Campbell mentions, thatonly two houses were destroyed; at Palpafarther to the Westward, none; and at Dotion the borders of Kemaon, the shock wasfelt, but by no means severely. AtLohooghat in Kemaon, Dr. McClellandstates that it was scarcely felt at all, soslightly indeed, that he himself wasunconscious of its occurrence, althoughit was perceived by a friend on whoseauthority he registered it. In themountains, therefore, the influence of theEarthquake appears, in so far as shownby the information recorded, to haveextended from the meridian ofLohooghat, about 80 E. to that of Tingri,about 87 E. or over about 7 of longitude.In the plains, however, it extendedconsiderably farther both to East andWestward. In the latter direction, theextreme point appears from the publishedaccounts to have been Delhi, in longitude77 16' E., or nearly 3 farther to the Westthan Lohooghat. Toward the East, the

boundary was the meridian of Chittagong,91 42' E. in the Plains, or nearly 5 tothe Eastward of Tingri, which so far aswe know, formed the corresponding limitin the mountains. The Southern lineappears to have been nearly the parallelof 22 N. latitude. Thus then the entirerange of the Earthquake of August 1833,was from between 28 and 29 to 22North latitude, and from about 77 to 92East longitude, embracing accordingly 7of latitude and 15 of longitude; asuperficial extent, upwards of four timesthat of the British Isles, and about twiceand a half that of the kingdom of France!

Baird-Smith (1843) further quotescomments of James Prinsep, Editor JASB asfollows but do not refer to the source. The text isas below:

As all comment on the phenomena of thisshock is reserved to a future period, I needonly now state, that I am not aware of anyEarthquakes having occurred in Nepaulsince 1833. I ought however before thisto have mentioned that in 1829, dailyshocks continued to recur for 40 days,although none were equal in intensity tothat of the 26th August, 1833. Thefollowing Register of the shocks thatfollowed the great one of the 26th waskept at Katmandu by Captain Robinson.Regarding them Dr. Campbell remarks:Many of them have been severe, andthroughout the whole course of thesevisitations, there have been two distinctvarieties observed in the character of theshocks, all those at the commencementwere of the undulatory or swinging kind:the others wanted the swell, and were aviolent up and down shaking, with littlelateral motion. The first may be called thehorizontal, the latter the vertical variety.The former alone have been destructiveto property, while the latter, from thegreater noise by which they areaccompanied, and the more rapidoscillations of the ground, are perhaps themore terrifying.

We next go to the accounts given by RobertMallet (1855) for the earthquake of 26 August


1833 and reproduce his notes as contained (pages238-239) in Third Report on the Facts ofEarthquake Phenomena- Catalogue of recordedearthquakes from 1606 BC to AD 1850.

August 26; 5h 30m or 6 PM and again at11 and 12, the latter being the mostviolent. The time of the principle shockfor several of the places was as followsreducing to Calcutta time At Calcutta(the second shock) 11h 34m 48s. AtKatmandu, 10h 57m; At Rungpur, 11h18m; At Monghyr, 11h 34m; At Arrah,11h 29m;In the Rotas Hills, 11h 39m;AtGorackpur, 11h 39m; At Allahabad, 11h28m; At Bankura (Rampoora?) 11h 34m.

Locality: Calcutta, Agra, Lucknow,Tirhoot, Purneeah, Patna, Buxar,Allahabad, Monghyr, Katmandu, &c.; infact all over the centre and east of northernIndia, especially in Nepaul. Also felt atLassa.

A violent earthquake: At Calcutta therewere three shocks, at Lucknow four, atPurneeah three, and at each of the otherplaces mentioned, several shocks of greatviolence, besides numerous slighter ones.The most violent were those at the hoursmentioned, but the slighter onescontinued to recur at intervals until thefollowing October, some of the shocksduring that time being rather severe. Eachof the shocks lasted but a short time,generally 3 or 4 secs. but some mentionedof a minutes duration. At Tirhoot themotion was from E to W, at Buxarapparently from N to S, at Calcutta fromNE to SW, at Katmandu in Nepalapparently from E to W. All the shockscame from E or NE. At Katmandu themotion lasted about 40 seconds. AtPurneeah the direction is given as S to E.At most places the earth was in almostcontinual agitation for twenty- four hours.

Water in many places (was) thrown outof the tank, as at Tirhoot from a tank of 4feet deep in which the surface of the waterwas 3 feet below the edge. Birds werethrown out of their nests, cattle weregreatly frightened, and men couldscarcely keep their feet. At Buxar the

shocks were felt with great violence onone side of the river, and but very littleon the other. Accompanied in many placesby loud subterranean noises, especially atKatmandu, where the most violent shock(at 11 PM) was attended by a noisecompared to 100 pieces of artillery. Herealso (at Katmandu) the trees and even thesmallest shrubs waved in the air from theirroots. Above 100 houses were leveled ina moment, and at other places still greaterloss of buildings and life occurred. AtChupra a chasm opened in the earth ofconsiderable length and depth. Precededby very close and oppressive weather, andfollowed in several places by wind andrain.

The last and final document on the 26August 1833 is from Thomas Oldham (1883)published in GSI Memoir, 19. The transcript is asfollows:

1833 August 26th - Nepal and all over thecentre and east of northern India AtKatmandu, accompanied (11 PM) by aloud subterranean noise, compared withthe noise produced by the discharge of100 pieces of artillery. More than 100houses were leveled in a moment, andequal or worse destruction in other places.Trees and even the smallest shrubs rockedfrom their very roots. At Chupra, a chasmof considerable size was said to have beenformed in the earth. In Tirhoot, waterthrown out of tanks, 4 feet deep; the waterof which was 3 feet below the edge. Birdsthrown out of their nests; Men could notkeep their feet. At Buxar, shocks said tohave been felt violently at one side of riverand not at the other proceeded by veryhot close weather, and in many placessucceeded by stormy winds and heavyrain.

The direction of the motion is veryvariously stated. At Tirhoot, said to havebeen from east to west; at Baxar, fromnorth to south; at Patna, apparently eastto west; at Calcutta from, north-east tosouth-west; at Katmandu apparently eastto west; all shocks came from east tonortheast! Each of the shocks lasted only


three or four seconds generally, but someare stated to have lasted one minute. AtLucknow, four shocks are reported; atCalcutta, three; at Purneah, three. In allplaces, several shocks of greater violence(reported), besides numerous slighterones. At most of the places, the earth wasin almost continuous agitation for 24hours.

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Anon. Additional information from Monghyr and Lucknow.The Calcutta Christian Observer, II (1833): 559; III(1834a): 336.

Anon. Earthquake Reports from different Indian Stationsin Newspapers. Asiatic Journal and Monthly Registerfor British and Foreign India, 13, New Series, part-II,(1834b):156-159; 195; 241.

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Historiography and Commentary on the Nepal - India Earthquake of 26 August 1833

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