Benares – Origins of Western Civilization
by Beezone
Mainly taken from
About the Author
Samuel Turner (19 April 1759 – 2 January 1802), an officer and diplomat of the East India Company, entered history through his association with Warren Hastings, the British Governor-General of India, and Hastings’ protégé George Bogle, the first English envoy to Tibet. In 1783, Hastings commissioned Turner—his cousin—to undertake a diplomatic mission to Bhutan and Tibet. This mission, the second to Tibet and the fourth to Bhutan, was prompted by news of the discovery of the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, whose predecessor had died in Beijing in 1780. The event offered Hastings not only a renewed diplomatic opportunity in the region but also a chance to advance British interests in the Himalayas and gain a deeper understanding of its cultures. Following in Bogle’s footsteps, Turner was tasked with furthering relations with Tibetan authorities, including the Panchen Lama—referred to in his writings as the ‘Teshoo’ or ‘Teshu’ Lama.
Much of Tibet was inaccessible to European travellers, Chinese authorities having occupied the capital Lhasa. However, the residence of the Panchen Lama, Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, at Shigatse was more welcoming.
Turner travelled through Bhutan to Shigatse and had an audience with the eighteen-month-old Panchen Lama on 4 December 1783. The infant could not yet talk but Turner wrote in his account that he looked ‘stedfastly [sic] towards me, with the appearance of much attention while I spoke, and nodded with repeated but slow movements of the head, as though he understood and approved every word, but could not reply’ adding ‘though he was unable to speak a word, he made the most expressive signs, and conducted himself with astonishing dignity and decorum.’
Turner published his account of the mission in 1800. It was the first account of Bhutan and Tibet to be published in English. It would remain the most important account of the region to be printed in English until the 1870s.
The Teshoo Lama, Tibet, and the Sacred Geography of Civilization
n the mid-18th century, as the British East India Company expanded its influence throughout the Indian subcontinent and beyond, it encountered deeply rooted civilizations with vastly different conceptions of history, knowledge, and spiritual authority. One of the most revealing moments of cultural encounter occurred during Captain Samuel Turner’s diplomatic mission to Tibet in the 1790s, recorded in his Account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet (published in 1800 and formally submitted to the directors of the East India Company).
At the time of Turner’s visit, the Teshoo Lama—often associated with the Panchen Lama—was acting as Regent of Tibet, overseeing both spiritual and political matters during the minority of the Dalai Lama.
Turner described the Regent as “about forty years of age, greatly venerated on account of his sacred office, and not less beloved for the benevolence of his character and the courtesy of his manners. All who approached him were his worshippers; so that he united, in his own person, both the political authority, and the spiritual hierarchy of the country.” Though the Teshoo Lama acknowledged the sovereignty of the Chinese Emperor, who maintained a delegate in Tibet, his local authority was paramount.
His dignity and confidence were apparent in a letter he had written earlier, in 1774, to Warren Hastings, then President and Governor of Fort William in Bengal. He wrote:
“I am the Raja and Lama of this country, and rule over a number of subjects, a circumstance with which you have no doubt been made acquainted, by travellers from these parts.”
This dual designation—Raja and Lama—captured the Tibetan model of leadership: a theocratic sovereign whose authority encompassed both the civil and the sacred, the kingly and the cosmic.
But perhaps the most striking moment in Turner’s report comes in the form of a philosophical testimony from the Teshoo Lama himself, supported by his senior official, Soopoon Choomboo. In conversation with Turner, the Regent affirmed a worldview diametrically opposed to the rising Eurocentric vision of history:
“The general belief, as I was repeatedly assured by the Regent and Soopoon Choomboo, which prevails amongst them, is, that both the sciences and the arts had their origin in the holy city of Benares, which they have been taught to esteem as the source and centre both of learning and religion. Hither they refer, as to a common origin, all the knowledge of other nations, as well as the first dawn of light, that beamed upon their own spiritual and civil institutions.”
This belief, faithfully recorded by Turner and conveyed to the Company directors in London, challenges the Enlightenment narrative of European primacy in science and philosophy. It reveals a Tibetan conception of sacred geography in which India—specifically Benares (Varanasi)—is the axis mundi, the origin point from which spiritual light radiated across the East and eventually, even toward Europe. The Regent’s view affirms a pan-Asian model of civilizational flow, one that aligns with older testimonies from ancient Greek writers such as Herodotus and Plutarch, who also pointed toward Egypt and India as sources of wisdom.
For those studying the transmission of spiritual and philosophical knowledge, this Tibetan testimony offers rare confirmation from a high ecclesiastical and political authority that India was regarded as the mother-source, not merely of Buddhism but of science, ethics, and civic order. That such a view appears in a formal colonial document—delivered to the most powerful commercial and military organization of its time—makes it even more poignant.
Further strengthening this point is the thematic content of Chapter VII of Turner’s report, which expands on the symbolic and cultural correspondences between Tibet and other ancient civilizations. This chapter includes:
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Egypt, Eunani (Greece), and Singhi (possibly China or India), indicating a recognition of civilizational interconnectedness.
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The use of the lion as a sacred symbol in both Tibet and Egypt, suggesting shared archetypal iconography.
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A superstitious regard for celestial phenomena, echoing the cosmological preoccupations of ancient Indian and Egyptian traditions.
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Recognition of Tibet’s skill in science, despite Western perceptions of religious “bigotry.”
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Mentions of the Court of China and Mount Soomeroo (Sumeru), reinforcing Tibet’s cosmological integration with Indian metaphysics.
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A notable coincidence with Hindu scientific knowledge, pointing to shared systems in astronomy, medicine, and metaphysics.
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And most importantly, a reiteration that Benares is esteemed as the sacred seat of all human learning.
Turner’s report, structured for a colonial audience yet permeated with Tibetan reverence for Indian spiritual authority, preserves a profound counter-narrative to the dominant Western mythos of civilizational self-origination. It portrays Tibet not as an isolated plateau, but as a node in a larger web of sacred knowledge, stretching from India to Egypt to Greece, with Benares at its radiant center.
Confirmation from Empire: Younghusband’s Echo of the Regent’s View
More than a century after Turner’s embassy, Sir Francis Younghusband led the 1904 British mission to Lhasa. Though an instrument of imperial power, Younghusband echoed Turner’s findings in his own volume India and Tibet (1910), reinforcing the deep cultural and spiritual links Tibet held with India.
“The Tibetans are not an original people. Their religion, their learning, their arts, have all been imported from India. It was from India that they derived their Buddhism and their sacred books. It is to India that they look as the land of sanctity and enlightenment…”
(India and Tibet, p. 8)
He continued:
“They have always had a feeling of reverence for India, and Indian influence has long been the most powerful factor in the development of their religion and culture.”
(India and Tibet, p. 9)
And explicitly confirmed the pilgrimage and transmission dynamic:
“The Tibetans revere the shrines and holy men of India. Pilgrims used to pass freely through Nepal to pay their devotions at the sacred places in India, and Indian pundits visited Tibet to expound Buddhist learning.”
(India and Tibet, p. 13)
These statements, recorded by a military officer and colonial administrator, demonstrate that even within the framework of empire, there remained acknowledgment of India as the spiritual heart of the broader Asian cultural sphere. As Younghusband writes:
“They have never resented the idea of India being more enlightened. Rather, they have accepted it with humility and have turned to India as the mother of their faith.”
(India and Tibet, p. 8)
Thus, Turner and Younghusband—two voices from two distinct imperial generations—both preserve a Tibetan worldview in which Benares is not peripheral, but primeval: the spiritual and intellectual womb of civilization.
Far from being a peripheral backwater, the Tibet of the Teshoo Lama saw itself as a link in a chain of sacred transmission flowing from the holy centers of the South and East. To modern readers, this moment stands as a testament to the plural origins of human civilization and a reminder that the maps of knowledge we inherit are often shaped more by empire than by truth.
This counter-narrative, preserved unintentionally in the records of empire, offers an opening. It invites a reevaluation of the true origins of Western civilization, suggesting they lie not only in Greece and Rome but deeper still—in Egypt, in Mesopotamia, and, as the Regent of Tibet affirmed, in Benares, the sacred heart of India.
About the Publication
The First Published Account of an English Embassy to Tibet
Captain Samuel Turner. An Account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet; Containing a Narrative of a Journey through Bootan, and Part of Tibet. London: G. And W. Nichol, 1800.
First edition. Quarto. xxviii, 473, [1] pages. With all 13 engraved plates and fold-out map of Tibet at front.
Samuel Turner entered history on the coattails of Warren Hastings, the British Governor-General of India, and Hastings’ protégé George Bogle, the first English envoy to Tibet. Bogle, originally a clerk in the East India Company, was commissioned in 1774 to open diplomatic relations with the Panchen Lama (whom Turner calls by the alternate title the ‘Teshoo’ or ‘Teshu’ Lama).
“Although Turner did not embrace Tibet as Bogle had done, he was acclaimed a reasonable diplomat. Trade arrangements were made, and a few years after his departure Tibetan, Bhutanese, Indian, and British markets were all able to offer each other’s merchandise. Peking remained unmoved, however, and the opportunity for peaceful meetings with China was dropped when the Hastings administration ended in 1786. Before he left, Turner procured a yak for the Governor-General’s private menagerie in England.
“Turner’s memoir of his trip was never as popular as the published version of Bogle’s diary, but it nonetheless contributed both to the mythologized image of the Land of Snows as an inaccessible Shangri-La and to a truer perception of its position at the intersection of the world’s great powers” (NYSL).
More Information:
“Samuel Turner entered history on the coattails of Warren Hastings, the British Governor-General of India, and Hastings’ protégé George Bogle, the first English envoy to Tibet. Bogle, originally a clerk in the East India Company, was commissioned in 1774 to open diplomatic relations with the Panchen Lama (whom Turner calls by the alternate title the “Teshoo” or “Teshu” Lama).
Because the Dalai Lama was then in his minority, his capital of Lhasa was run by a regent and representatives from the Qianlong Emperor in Peking, who considered Tibet a Chinese protectorate. The Chinese were disinclined to host the Englishmen whose empire had taken over India, but Hastings hoped that the Panchen Lama’s court at Tashilhunpo might be more open to trade agreements and to negotiations about problems with neighboring Bhutan and Nepal. Bogle was also to feel out a possible role for Tibet as a “back door” to trade with China and keep a diary about Tibetan culture and nature.
Somewhat unexpectedly, Bogle became a close friend of the Panchen Lama, living and traveling with his court, recording numerous details about Buddhist religion and culture, and even marrying a Tibetan noblewoman, according to some sources. Tragically, Bogle and the Lama both died young within four months of each other in 1781, the diplomat by accidental drowning and the Lama of smallpox. The English mission to Tibet appeared to have gone with them.
However, the following year Hastings received word that the new incarnation of the Panchen Lama had been found and that he would welcome contact with the English. To replace Bogle, Hastings selected his cousin Samuel Turner, a lieutenant with the Company army. Turner joined many of Bogle’s original party in the difficult trip across the Himalayas to Tashilhunpo. There he found that the Panchen Lama, in Bogle’s day a wise and cultured adult, was now an eighteen-month-old child.
“I found myself, though visiting an infant, under the necessity of saying something,” Turner wrote. Through the regent and interpreters, Turner presented compliments and reiterated Bogle’s goals of open trade and possible contact with China. Although he was too young to speak, the little Lama listened courteously. “I must own, that his behaviour, on this occasion, appeared perfectly natural and spontaneous, and not directed by any external action or sign of authority,” Turner marveled. “The scene, in which I was here brought to act a part, was too new and extraordinary, however trivial, or perhaps preposterous, it may appear to some, not to claim from me great attention, and consequently minute remark.” According to the Tibetan observers, the Englishman was astonished at the child’s maturity and instantly converted to a belief in reincarnation.
Although Turner did not embrace Tibet as Bogle had done, he was acclaimed a reasonable diplomat. Trade arrangements were made, and a few years after his departure Tibetan, Bhutanese, Indian, and British markets were all able to offer each other’s merchandise. Peking remained unmoved, however, and the opportunity for peaceful meetings with China was dropped when the Hastings administration ended in 1786. Before he left, Turner procured a yak for the Governor-General’s private menagerie in England.
Turner’s memoir of his trip was never as popular as the published version of Bogle’s diary, but it nonetheless contributed both to the mythologized image of the Land of Snows as an inaccessible Shangri-La and to a truer perception of its position at the intersection of the world’s great powers” (NYSL).
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Summary of “A Second Tibet Mission Is Considered (1779–1783) and the End of an Era” from Bhutan and Tibet: The Travels of George Bogle and Alexander Hamilton 1774–1777, Vol. I, ed. Alastair Lamb
Following the death of George Bogle and the Tashi Lama, Warren Hastings, Governor-General of Bengal, sought to revive diplomatic and commercial relations with Tibet. Despite earlier setbacks, Hastings believed that fostering ties with Tibetan leaders, especially through the influence of the Tashi Lama, could potentially open communication with the Chinese imperial court and create new trade opportunities. Though acknowledging the uncertainties and obstacles, Hastings felt the venture was worth the risk, likening it to navigating unknown seas.
In 1783, Hastings appointed Lieutenant Samuel Turner to lead a second mission to Bhutan and Tibet. Turner, a trusted associate and relative of Hastings, was supported by surgeon Dr. Robert Saunders and Lieutenant Samuel Davis, an engineer and skilled artist. The mission was prompted by messages from Tibetan officials and news of a newly identified incarnation of the Tashi Lama. Hastings saw the mission as a chance to build upon Bogle’s prior work and explore trade prospects north of Bengal.
Turner’s party departed Calcutta in early 1783, reached Bhutan in May, and arrived in Tashilhunpo, Tibet, in September. Delays were caused by Bhutanese internal conflict and hesitations about European visitors. Turner was only permitted one European companion, leaving Davis behind. In Tibet, Turner met with Bogle’s former contacts, including the Regent and the Lama’s steward, and later visited the infant Panchen Lama at Terpaling Monastery.
Though Turner was barred from visiting Lhasa, he assessed the geopolitical climate based on discussions with Tibetan leaders. He concluded that without a powerful Tibetan intermediary, British access to China remained unlikely. However, he saw potential for expanding Indo-Tibetan trade, provided European involvement remained minimal and local elites could be persuaded of its mutual benefit.
Upon returning in early 1784, Turner reported to Hastings and offered insights into Tibetan commerce, culture, and natural resources. He brought back yaks and cashmere goats, some of which were exhibited in England. His detailed account was later published and contributed to European knowledge of the region.
Hastings acted on Turner’s suggestions by encouraging Indian merchants to pursue trans-Himalayan trade. This culminated in a 1785 commercial expedition that was tax-exempt and fairly successful, although it was not repeated. Instead, Tibetan and Bhutanese traders began attending fairs like the one at Rangpur, marking a shift in British strategy from direct diplomatic missions to encouraging localized trade exchanges.
In the end, while the Turner mission did not achieve political breakthroughs with China, it reaffirmed the value of Tibetan relations and laid groundwork for continued, if modest, commercial interaction—closing the chapter on British diplomatic ventures in the region during that era.
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Additional readings
https://www.petermalakoff.com/benaras