Shortlisted for the Atta Galatta-Bengaluru Literature Festival Award (Children’s Nonfiction)
“… astonishing clarity and perfect tenor …[.] … Their storytelling is filled with immense joy bordering on almost childish glee at stringing together the stories that make up this sparkling narrative.” – Jaya Bhattacharji Rose
“The difficult mathematics involved in triangulation has been simplified by Rao and Iyer and presented in a manner that would allow children (the main target-audience) as well as adults who are non-specialists to easily understand the highly technical subject.” – Historian Amar Farooqui, The Book Review
“A Brilliant Book Worth Reading” – Confessions of an Archaeologist [A COA Book Club Recommendation]
“Highly Engaging, Reads Like an Adventure Novel” – Udaya Kumar PL, The Mythic Society
“A Little Gem of a Book” – Enakshi Johri
How Triangles Mapped India (Deccan Herald)
Available Now in India!
At your favorite bookstores across India – Funky Rainbow, Champaca, Lightroom, KitaabKhana, Eureka, Crossword, Sapna, and many, many more.
(Signed copies available at Funky Rainbow, until stocks last)
Also available on Amazon India
(US Release – Sept 2025)
India in Triangles: The Incredible Story of How India was Mapped and the Himalayas Measured |
Explore the History and Science Behind The Great Trigonometrical Survey | Ages 11+
Authors: Shruthi Rao and Meera Iyer
Cover art: Mohith O; Cover design: Samir Bansal
Published by: Penguin Random House India
Nineteenth-century India
+ dedicated men
+ simple instruments
+ lots of paper
= One of the greatest scientific undertakings in history.
Step into the boots of fearless surveyors as they trek across forests, mountains and monsoons—facing disease, wild animals and gruelling terrain—to chart the subcontinent with astonishing precision.
This was the Great Trigonometrical Survey, an ambitious mission to map India using triangulation—a brilliant method that helped them measure every inch with accuracy. Along the way, they calculated the height of the world’s tallest mountain and revealed the true shape of the earth.
Packed with adventure, ingenuity, mishaps and the unsung heroes of science, this is the epic true story of mathematics, grit and discovery.