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Quest for Kim: In Search of Kipling's Great Game

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Okay, I'm one of those people who, like author Peter Hopkirk, am totally enamored of the novel Kim. Hopkirk researches and traces the sources and inspirations for many of the characters and places in Kim. I confess that when I started to read Hopkirk's book, I was fearful lest it spoil Kim's magic. But I found the very opposite to be the case. The more I read Hopkirk's book, the more Kim grew in richness, depth, and life, and the more I felt awe for Kipling's masterpiece.

While not as scholarly or well written as FOREIGN DEVILS ON THE SILK ROAD, this was an enjoyable book to read. Hopkirk combined a bit of travelogue, detective story and literary criticism in writing this volume.

The essence of this volume is Hopkirk's search in the Northwest Frontier of Pakistan and northern India for Kipling's Kim. While few of the characters in Kim have direct historical parallels, there were models Kipling drew on for many of them. Kim himself was probably based an orphan of mixed parentage; his father was probably a British army soldier and his mother a Tibetan. Colonel Creighton was probably modeled off of Colonel Montgomerie of the Survey of India, while Lurgan
is believed to be modeled off of A. M. Jacob, a notorious jeweler in Simla. St. Xavier's in Lucknow was probably the source for La Martiniére.

Hopkirk does an excellent job in setting Kim into the Great
Game-the Russo-English rivalry over Afghanistan and the Anglo-French rivalry over the India trade. Throughout the book he also discusses whether Kipling was a racist or not. Unlike many critics who would judge Kipling by today's standards, Hopkirk tries to judge him the mores and values of Victorian England.

That Mr. Hopkirk comes to the study of "Kim" as an historian and not as an author of literature is immediately apparent to the reader of "Quest for Kim". The prose could hardly be called beautiful, and phrases and large passages are repeated throughout the work. With that fact recognized, Hopkirk's pedestrian prose is certainly sufficient to convey the information he has put together, and even the most ill-formed of his writing cannot cover his deep and passionate love for his subject. And this is what makes "Quest for Kim" such a joy to read, even for one who knows much of what Hopkirk says: his love of the work is contagious and inspiring; it brings pleasure to see how much pleasure he gets from it. Many readers may, as this one was, be uninterested in whether the characters in "Kim" were modelled after real-life contemporaries of Kipling, let alone where these real-life men lived, and yet the sections -- and there are many of them -- seeking out the homes of Colonel Creighton and Lurgan Sahib never fall into dullness because they are buoyed up with their historically interesting descriptions of late 19th-century India and the fun that Hopkirk clearly had looking into the matter.
On finishing "Quest for Kim", one may be left with the feeling that the historical information contained therein could have been greater in both quantity and detail. One will certainly not feel greatly informed on the literary qualities of "Kim", beyond that Hopkirk is extremely impressed by them. "Quest for Kim" is not a great scholarly tome, but it is an enjoyable read, encompassing a light, welcoming introduction to a study of British India and "Kim" itself wrapped in a pleasant narrative of one man's brief travels through Pakistan and India.

Chela: disciple or follower of a religious figure. From India, I forget which language. Made famous in the novel "Kim."




In "The Quest for Kim", by Peter Hopkirk, the author might be thought of as Kipling's Chela. The book is devoted to exploring the writing of the novel Kim, by Rudyard Kipling.

Few writers are better qualified to write,"The Quest for Kim", than Peter Hopkirk. A noted historian of border intrigue in Asia, he is a splendid source for a novel which is among many other things the most famous spy-story ever written. In Kim, the hero is a small street orphan familiar with the ways of the city. Among other things he is what is called a "cut-out" in spy jargon (a minor local asset - like a street rat in an Indian city, like the hero). He does his work mostly for Mahbub Ali, the swashbuckling Pathan border-spy and horse trader who comes down from the mountains every once in awhile bringing horses to sell, and information for the Imperial government. At the beginning Kim also makes friends with such figures as the Red Lama, an endearing old man from Tibet. He becomes, as the Lama says, his "Chela", and looks after him for the Lama is not a very streetwise character, and needs more than a little protection. At the same time he carries a message for Mahbub Ali, thus setting up as a theme for the rest of the story the tension between the two worlds, which is left completely unresolved in the end. No one knows which path Kim takes and perhaps
that is the best ending.

In The Quest for Kim, Peter Hopkirk goes through India and Pakistan, and ruffles through old records, exploring the real-life ideas that he believed to have been the inspiration for ideas in Kim. This is a fascinating exercise and well worth the reading.

There really is a giant cannon rusting away in retirement at
the city where the story begins. The "wonder-house" (as it is called) is of course the museum where Kipling's father was curator. And so on. Other things were harder to identify, especially characters - the author tends to believe that the characters were inspired by real people.

Hopkirk's tale of his travels is well worth reading. It is both a giant book review, and a travel story and it succeeds on both counts.

Among Kiplingiana available for the 21th Century Kipling fan,. Hopkirk's "Quest for Kim" holds a well conquered place. Written in 1996 after many excellent books on British exploration, adventure and espionage in Asia, this small gem that stands between travelogue, literary commentary and pure act of loving memory toward one's own childhood dreams and expectations has become a classic.
Rudyard Kipling's "formation" novel "Kim" is one of the most loved books of English literature (I personally read it over 10 times) and many of its readers have asked themselves if the plot and characters are true or imaginary. Well, Peter Hopkirk went further and actually explored the possibility that every single aspect of the novel was inspired by real people and happenings.
After a brief introduction that updates on early and modern critical appraisal of RK's novel (colonialism? Racism? Orientalism?) we are introduced to the principal characters and a plot synopsis of the book. Kim would be half RK himself and half a mysterious Anglo-Tibetan "Doola" (from Doolan) a half-caste born from a British soldier that had eloped with a Sikkim girl and had gained some newspaper fame during the period RK was working in Lahore. Teshoo Lama really existed and had visited Kipling's father Lockwood, the Curator of the Lahore Museum, when Kipling was a child. Mahbub Ali as well was a real person, a horse dealer in the Sultan Sarai that used to visit Kipling when in Lahore. The Te-rain still runs today even if interrupted at the Pakistanian-Indian frontier, and the whole line has witnessed atrocious bloodshed during the Separation in 1947. The Colonel's Bungalow in Umballa is almost impossible to trace but some similar still stand in memory of colonial England. Colonel Creighton was definitely inspired by Colonel Thomas Montgomerie of the Survey of India a great spy master whose few selected pundits made the story of the Great Game. Huree Chunder Mookerjee Babu among these was probably a Bengali graduate from the University of Calcutta named Babu Sarot Chandra Das towards whom Kipling had an ambiguous feeling describing him as physically repulsive but extremely intelligent. The real Babu was one of the major experts on Tibet and wrote a Tibetan-English Dictionary. St. Xavier, Kim's school, was modelled on La Martiniere as recognized by many of those that had attended this prestigious institution. Lurgan Sahib, and here comes the surprise, was the mysterious A.M.Jacob, a jewel dealer, occultist and hypnotist of Madame Blavatsky stature and owner of the famous Victoria diamond later known as Jacob's diamond. Jacobs appears also in other Nineteenth Century novels such as "Mr. Isaacs" by F.Marion Crawford and in Newnham Davies' "Jadoo".
Of the Russian and French spies Hopkirk surely identifies the Frenchman as a certain Bovalot that penetrated into India from the North and maybe the Russian as the famous Captain Gromchevsky who went out to meet Younghusband on the Himalaya.
The Great Game was in full progress in the years 1865-1875, when the novel is set and greater information is present in the book. But what captures the reader most is the feeling of living anew Kim's adventure for the second (or the hundredth if you prefer) time in an exponential form.
Truly a great companion book to RY's chef d'oeuvre "Kim".

Peter Hopkirk has written an enthralling, easy to read account of his trip following Kim's travels from Lahore to Delhi, Simla and beyond. Hopkirk displays boundless energy and resourcefulness following leads in his determination to locate residences, shops and schools mentioned in the original book and the reader gets carried along in his efforts. I've purchased another copy of Kim to read again and I'm planning a visit to India to check out some of the locations myself! Nice map and pen and ink sketches.

In this study of Kipling's novel Kim, Peter Hopkirk attempts to follow the story as he travels approximately the same route as Kim does in his adventures. On the way he discusses many of the characters and places, attempting to put them in their real world historical context. So the book is part travel narrative, part literary study and part historical research. This interesting melange is mixed very well.
Hopkirk is writing from an imperialist perspective; that is: the agents of the British empire are the good guys. But as long as you understand where he is coming from, there is nothing to detract the value of this book as a historical study.
It is very readable, and an interesting approach to a great book. But don't read it before reading Kim itself, because this book gives away too much of they story.

I confess to having always loved everything I could get my hands by Rudyard Kipling. It all began when I was about ten and spending time with my grandmother in South Texas. I found a mini treasure trove that my Aunt Eleanor had accumulated as an English major in college, including Kipling's PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS, BARACK ROOM BALLADS, DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES and SOLDIERS THREE. I don't recall KIM being there, but my father used to tell me the story ever and anon.

I have worked for the U.S. Government in Afghanistan and Pakistan and vacationed and traveled widely in India. I have been fascinated for over 65 years by the British Raj and have read dozens of books of the calibre of the memoirs of Sir Alexander Burns and the Shahnama of Firdausi written in Ghazni, Afghanistan about the year 1,000. KIM renders my favorite fictional India. And my favorite factual history is the two volume THE MEN WHO RULED INDIA by Philip Woodruff, focusing on the fabled ICS or Indian Civil Service.

Peter Hopkirk, author of QUEST FOR KIM: IN SEARCH OF KIPLING'S GREAT GAME, would, I think, be first to admit that his book is not in the same league as either KIM or THE MEN WHO RULED INDIA. It is not deep. It is not very scholarly. It moves, however, pleasantly and briskly along on three levels:

-- (1) Hopkirk's fairly brief travels in Pakistan and India retracing movements of the hero of KIM while doing a wee bit of "boots on the ground" research into the originals for characters like Kim, the Tibetan lama and Mahbub Ali and places like Lurgan Sahib's shoppe just off the mall in Simla and the "old" museum/wonder house in Lahore;

-- (2) chronological sampling of key scenes from Nobel Prize Winner Kipling's 1901 novel -- mainly to refresh the memory of people who haven't read KIM in a score or more years;

-- (3) and marshaling evidence for real-life models that Kipling probably drew on in KIM for fictional places and persons.

Here is a sample of the way Peter Hopkirk presents his material. Afghan horse trader and British spy Mahbub Ali is about to hand the young Irish boy Kimberly (Kim) O'Hara in Simla over to master of observational techniques and disguises, the white Lurgan Sahib. There is a time for any recruit to enter the "Great Game," that Victorian Cold War between Britain and Russia in the high passes of Central Asia. The 1870s are Kim's time and Simla is Kim's place.

"After purchasing him an ill-fitting set of European clothes, he told Kim how to find the Mall. There he was to ask where Lurgan Sahib lived. His final words of warning were that he must forget for a while 'that thou has ever seen or spoken to me, Mahbub Ali, who sells horses to Colonel Creighton, whom thou dost not know.' Then, as Kim turned to leave, the Afghan muttered softly to himself: 'Here begins the Great Game'" (Ch. 8, "School for Spies").

Hopkirk, in my judgment, does a notably better than average job at each of the three levels. Little definitive about identifying sources. But plausible and suggestive. One thing that Hopkirk does very well is to convey Kipling's passionate, nostalgic fondness for and knowledge of British India long after he had left there to live and work in the USA and Britain.

-OOO-

If you've ever wished that you could actually visit Kipling's India, this book is for you. You will not be able to put it down...The author's detective work is intriguing and quite a feat. I loved this book!

"Quest for Kim" is an enjoyable book, particularly for those who read Kim again and again. However, there's an astonishing error on page 117, where Hopkirk discusses the Lama's stay "at a temple belonging to the Thirthankars, or Jains. Founded by Buddha's own son, the faith of the Jains..." The Buddha's son, Rahul, did no such thing. Jainism has no founder, but a series of 24 preceptors stretching back into time well befor the Buddha's own day. The last, Mahavira, was a contemporary of the Buddha's. It's distressing to see such an elementary error being made by an author as distinguished as Peter Hopkirk. He might as well have claimed that Judaism was founded by the son of the Christ!