This paper reconstructs the history of the trigonometrical surveying of Kashmir from 1855 to 1865. It highlights the strategies through which surveyors had to justify the employment of high-precision instruments and methods in Himalayan terrain. Only by tediously manipulating their institutional environment in India and Britain did the staff of the Kashmir survey manage to complete its operations in light of constant financial and physical hardship. To sustain their measurements, surveyors aligned themselves with various political projects, entertaining and shifting allegiances with local rulers, scientific societies, and colonial institutions. After suffering severe cuts to instruments and assistance staff, the party was entirely stripped of funds by the East India Company in 1857 and relied on the material support of Maharaja Gulab Singh. Subsequently, surveyors adopted an expansionist rhetoric to gather the support of the Royal Geographical Society. In doing so, they framed precision as an essential contribution to imperial expansion, effective colonial rule, and intervention in ‘backward’ Kashmiri society and infrastructure. The Kashmir survey illustrates that rendering precision valuable requires an ongoing performative effort of justification to align epistemic with political and institutional interests.

本文重建了从 1855 年到 1865 年克什米尔三角测量的历史。它强调了测量员必须通过哪些策略来证明在喜马拉雅地形中使用高精度仪器和方法的合理性。克什米尔调查的工作人员只有通过繁琐地操纵他们在印度和英国的制度环境，才能在持续的经济和身体困难的情况下完成其运作。为了维持他们的测量，测量员与各种政治项目保持一致，娱乐和改变对当地统治者、科学团体和殖民机构的忠诚度。在遭受严重的仪器和援助人员削减之后，该党于 1857 年被东印度公司完全剥夺了资金，并依靠大君古拉布辛格的物质支持。随后，测量员采取了扩张主义的言论来获得皇家地理学会的支持。在这样做的过程中，他们将精确定位为对帝国扩张、有效殖民统治和干预“落后”克什米尔社会和基础设施的重要贡献。克什米尔的调查表明，要使精确有价值，需要持续进行合理的表演努力，以使认知与政治和制度利益保持一致。