The Rupkund expedition

The video is a documentary on the Rupkund expedition of 1956. Rupkund or the ‘lake of beauty’ is a high-altitude lake situated at the feet of the Trishul range in the Himalayas 16,000 feet above sea level. The lake remains frozen for most part of the year. In 1925, the Rupkund Lake became a centre of attention when a forest officer, H.K. Madhwal discovered human skeletal remains buried under snow at the banks of the lake. Some samples were collected by him and sent to the Department of Anthropology at Lucknow University for testing where it was revealed that the bones were 650 years old. A special investigation team led by N. Dutta Majumdar, the Director of Anthropological Survey of India set out to Rupkund in May, 1956. This expedition ended in a disaster due to bad weather. The second expedition under Majumdar undertaken in September, 1956 was finally successful.