Asim Mukhopadhyay

The potential of Kuti valley in terms of research work on various branches of science inspired the council to conduct the second scientific expedition in the region. The team led by Dilip Kumar Dutta started from Kolkata on 3 October and reached Tawaghat in Pithoragarh district, the final point by bus, on 10th. They reached in Kuti village on 22nd. Zoological collections were not up to the mark as anticipated earlier. Zoologists Probal Dey and Kamal Banerjee collected some reptiles including a poisonous snake, butterflies, parasites etc. Botanist Dr. Gour Maiti collected about two hundred plant species. Anthropology data were collected emphasizing on marriage system, Philology and physical studies. Anthropologist Mukul Hazra found that consanguineous marriage was common in this region earlier. Dr. Tridib Kumar Bose, a geographer, recorded a complete weather chart from Pithoragarh to Kuti. Some plants used by local people for medicinal purpose were also collected. Mukhopadhyay organised the expedition and handled its administrative side.

Manirang is one of the highest peaks in Himachal Pradesh. A six-week-long expedition for climbing the peak was organised by Council of Himalayan Exploration and Research under the leadership of Pradip Dasgupta. Apart from Mukhopadhyay the other members were Sailesh Chakravorty, Dilip Dutta and Prashanta Roy. The purpose of the expedition was to conduct a survey on socio religious life of the indigenous people with special reference to Buddhist culture. Different phases of the evolution of Buddhism, Buddhist art and architecture were studied. The team started from Kolkata on 2 June 1974. The team had a meeting with Dr. Y.S. Parmar, chief minister of Himachal Pradesh and got Raptan Chhering Budh, a local interpreter through him. The journey started from Tabo and continued through Poh and Dankhar. Monasteries including Tabo, Kee and Dankhar were visited and the culture and lifestyle of Buddhist were studied in detail. In Dankhar monastery they found young monks painting about Buddhist mythology on the inner walls of caves. Pradip Dasgupta met with an accident and his thigh got severely injured during the journey to the Babeh pass. After preliminary first aid, he was carried by sherpas as the journey continued. On 2 July Mukhopadhyay fell down from a height of about 200 ft and managed to escape from a sure death by falling into Spiti river as he somehow managed to hang on to a rock at the last moment. However his knee got fractured due to the impact with the stone. This was his last expedition as a climber.

He was President of Calcutta Corporation Teachers' Union for four years. He was also member of Board of Studies, West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education during 1973–1977 as a representative of Pali.

During his exploration of Himalaya Mukhopadhyay felt the necessity of organizing scientific expeditions with scholars from different academic fields to conduct studies on mostly unexplored high altitude Himalayan region. He called for a convention with scholars of Botany, Zoology, Anthropology, Geology, Biochemistry etc. from different colleges and universities and a few experienced mountaineers in the month of January 1968. It was decided to form an organisation to conduct such scientific explorations. Thus the council, brain child of Mukhopadhyay was formed in 1968 with himself as the first chairman and Kalidas Banerjee as vice-chairman. Other notable members were Netai Roy (secretary), Pradip Dasgupta (secretary), Arun Mukherjee (secretary), Sailesh Chakravorty (accountant/treasurer). The registered office of the council was in 24 Creek Row, Kolkata.

Swami Pranavanand wrote an article named "Mysterious lake of Roopkund" on The Illustrated Weekly of India in 1962. Swami mentioned his finding of more than five hundred dead bodies at north western side of Roopkund lake. He also mentioned about local legend of king Jasdhawal and queen Ballabha sung by villagers of Wan village. The legend says that the bodies are of companions of the king. Queen gave birth of a child in the place and the whole group died due to earthquake and a snow storm created by goddess Nandadevi because of not maintaining the sanctity of the holy place.

Mukhopadhyay and Sukumar Ray surveyed Ajodhya Hills, Purulia to find out possibilities of rock climbing course in 1961. It was found unsuitable for the same. They also surveyed Jaichandi Hills, Adra, Purulia and found it dangerous for such a course. Finally Susunia hills in Bankura was surveyed in 1962 and found suitable for the course. The course was formally started in 1963 on a regular basis under the banner of Himalayan Association. Later other mountaineering clubs also included such courses to Susunia and other places. Council of Himalayan Exploration and Research later organised rock climbing courses in their training programs for new aspiring mountaineers.

Mukhopadhyay was one of the main organizers of the famous Nanda Ghunti Expedition, the first successful climb to the pick ever. The budget of the expedition was about INR 45000. They approached many industrialists including Krishna Kumar Birla, Alamohan Das for monetary help. Finally Ashok Sarkar, editor of the Anandabazar Patrika agreed to sponsor the expedition. A reporter Gour Kishore Ghosh and a photographer accompanied the climbers for regular reporting to Anandabazar. The expedition was carried out under leadership of Sukumar Ray, an employee of Calcutta Corporation. Other team members were Dilip Banerjee, Nemai Bose, Dhruba Majumder, Bishwadeb, Pemba Norbu, Nima Tashi and others. Sukumar Ray and Nima Tashi climbed Nandaghunti on 22 October 1960.

Asim Mukhopadhyay (Bengali: অসীম মুখোপাধ্যায়, also known as Asim Mukherjee Bengali: অসীম মুখার্জি) is a famous figure in the history of mountaineering in West Bengal, India. He was the pioneer in India for organizing high altitude scientific expeditions in the Himalayan region. He took part in many such expeditions as a climber between 1959 and 1974, and organised a few more in that period and later as an administrator. He was one of the main organisers of the first successful climbing on Nanda Ghunti and Tirsuli peaks by any non-government Indian organisation. Mukhopadhyay is also known for his vast knowledge on Pali, Buddhist literature and culture.

Mukhopadhyay was a teacher during 1953–1962 in Calcutta Corporation Primary School. He joined as a teacher of Pali in Ultadanga United High School in January 1963. He continued in the same school up to his retirement in 1992.

Mukhopadhyay started feeling of exploring challenges in life after completing his M.A. in 1952. He and his friend Gouranga Banerjee, working as in charge of reading section in Anandabazar Patrika started from Kolkata in October of the same year. They reached to Uttarkashi via Haridwar, Devprayag, Rudraprayag by bus and walked to Badrinath via Joshimath. After trekking of about 11 miles to Vasudhara falls on Alakananda, they returned to Kolkata. Mukhopadhyay organised a few expeditions to Himalaya before he completed his mountaineering training in 1962 in spite of being a little heavy and aged for the training at that time. He had to make himself physically fit by losing weight and quitting smoking forever. Famous Tibetan mountaineer Nawang Gombu was the main coach and trainer.

He passed Matriculation in 1946 from Collins Institute, Lenin Sarani, Kolkata. He completed his Intermediate in 1948 and Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Pali from Vidyasagar College, Kolkata. He passed Master of Arts in Pali from University of Calcutta in 1952. He got great scholars like Suniti Kumar Chatterji, Nalinaksha Dutta, Sukumar Sen and Sukumar Sengupta as teachers during the same period. Sukumar Sengupta was Head of the Department of Pali department of the University of Calcutta and research guide in the Asiatic Society.