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.
[13](p108) Later, when Shipton was arranging his 1934 expedition to Nanda Devi with Bill Tilman, he sought assistance from Karma Paul: "Before leaving England I had arranged with Karma Paul to engage the services of three of the sherpas who had been with us on Everest the previous year – Angtarkay, Pasang and Kusang – and to send them down from Darjeeling to meet us in Calcutta, At Vizagapatam we sent him a wire informing him of the date of our arrival".
He was accompanied on the expedition by a servant named Pensho who "grooms and rides racing ponies in Darjeeling in ordinary life sometimes for Karma Paul".
[16](p54) Before leaving Darjeeling the expedition leader, Bill Tilman, "was obliged to borrow a suit of Karma Paul's as my own was condemned as unsuitable for a luncheon party".
[16](p31) After he had taken part in a few Everest expeditions Karma Paul became a go-between in Darjeeling for a range of visitors heading into the mountains who were looking for local staff to support them.
In 1933 Maurice Wilson met Karma Paul and talked with about his plans to make an illegal journey into Tibet so that he could attempt Everest alone.
[8](p101) In 1948 the Italian orientalist Prof Giuseppi Tucci sought Karma Paul's assistance in engaging local staff when he arrived in Darjeeling at the start of one of his several expeditions into Tibet.