Karma Paul

Karma Paul (1894–1984) was a Tibetan who lived in Darjeeling and accompanied six of the early British Mount Everest expeditions, as their interpreter, between the years 1922–1938. He was born as Karma Palden in Tibet in 1894 and died in 1984. and he was raised as an orphan by missionaries in Darjeeling.

He worked in Calcutta and had been a schoolmaster in Darjeeling When meeting the Rongbuk Lama he was "very much of a Buddhist". and he had 2 children who were educated in Christian schools. One of them, Lamu Amatya, became the first Nepalese-trained nurse.

By the 1940s he was described as "sirdar" and "a business man from Darjeeling". and ran a taxi service in Darjeeling. and in the 1950s he made "a small fortune" from horse racing.

The early Everest expeditions Karma Paul filled the role of interpreter for six of the British Everest expeditions (1922, 1924, 1933, 1935, 1936 and 1938 ). Each of these expeditions approached the mountain from the northern, Tibetan, side whereas the later large expeditions approached the mountain from the southern, Nepali, side.

In 1921/22, before being involved with Everest, Karma Paul had taught Tibetan to Henry Morshead who worked for the Survey of India. Morshead's testimonial described Paul as "well educated and intelligent". Morshead had been a member of the 1921 British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition and also became a member of the 1922 British Mount Everest expedition.

General Bruce, the leader of the 1922 British Mount Everest expedition, was the first to recruit Karma Paul as interpreter. As well as speaking the various local languages he was also able to both read and write English (at one stage during the expedition Morshead was unable to write because he had frostbitten fingers and Karma Paul wrote a letter on his behalf).

Bruce regarded Karma Paul as "the most important subordinate member of the Expedition" and "quite new to the kind of work that he would have to do" and he described Karma Paul as "a heavily built man, broad and short, of more than middle age". It was Karma Paul who suggested that Tenzing might act as one of Denman's sherpas and much of the discussion between Denman and Tenzing concerning this arrangement was through Karma Paul as interpreter.