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Khangchendzonga: Untrodden Peak
Khangchendzonga National Park or Biosphere Reserve, located in the Northeastern state of Sikkim is listed as a mixed UNESCO World Heritage Site (2016). Situated on the borders of Sikkim and Nepal, it includes plains, valleys, mountains, glaciers, lakes, forests, and a rich wildlife. It is the only mixed World Heritage site in India. A paradise on Earth, Round Kangchenjunga (1903) describes its splendour, “as nowhere can it be found within so small a radius, a combination of tropical luxuriance, sylvan beauty, and a mountain sublimity equal to that which meets the traveller’s eyes…”.
Sunrise at Khangchendzonga
A Sikkimese boy painting a mask
The third highest peak in the World, its name means, “the five repositories or ledges of the great snows” in Tsangpa Tibetan. The mountain is regarded as sacred by the Sikkimese and Tibetan people. Dzonga, Sikkim’s guardian deity, owner and protector of the land resides in Mt. Khangchendzonga and has the mountain rightfully named after him. Lord Dzonga and his supreme acolyte, Yabdu reside at the summit of the mountain, from where they protect the filial subjects from natural calamities. This protection was especially important as the Eastern Himalayan region has landslide and earthquake prone terrain.
Dzongu, an age-old permanent settlement of the Lepchas, resides in the shadows of the mountain. The Lepchas also have oral traditions like poetry, folk tales, folk songs, and hymns that centre around the connection that the mountain, their king, and the Lepcha people share. Before the onset of Buddhism and Christianity, Lepchas practised the indigenous Mun faith. The Bongthings (priests) were believed to be the first soldiers of the Kong Chen, which translates to “Big Stone'' and is associated with the Lepcha creation story of the mountain being the Eldest Brother. According to lore, the first Lepcha couple, Tukbothing and Nazong Nyu were created by Itbu Mu from the freshest snow of the mountain’s summit. Nung, a Lepcha hamlet in Talung valley had a permanent open-air altar (Lha-tu), where offerings and prayers were dedicated to Khangchendzonga. Thus, the Bongthing of Nung was also called Khangchendzonga Bongthing. Major worship was held in the Lepcha month of Kursong (February-March), with offerings of a bull Yak sent by the Chogyal himself all the way from his palace in Gangtok. Yaks are not native to Gangtok and could have been acquired from the herding community of Bhutias. This highlights how important the Nyingma Buddhist King considered the blessings of Khangchendzonga. Unfortunately, this elaborate ritual has failed to stand the test of time as the last Nung Bongthing passed away in 2011, and the Mun practices have now become diluted.
Khangchendzonga and its snow-capped peaks have always stirred the imagination and curiosities of poets, philosophers, artists, and photographers alike. Among them are included, the only Non-Indian Navaratna, Nicholas Roerich, legendary mountaineer-photographer Vittorio Sella and Edward Lear, who called the mountain as “god-like and stupendous”.
Kanchenjunga (Khangchendzonga), Himalayas #93 by Nicholas Roerich, 1936
Red Panda, state animal of the state of Sikkim
Khangchendzonga holds a special place for all Sikkimese people across religion and ethnicity. Sikkimese believe that the summit of Mt. Khangchendzonga was the residence of sentient beings and consider it sacred. In 1955, mountaineers Charles Band and Joe Brown, became the first people to scale Mt. Khangchendzonga, but they stopped a few feet short of the summit in honour of the Sikkimese belief, giving it the sobriquet “Untrodden Peak.”
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