A peak of many names

Baburam Acharya’s claim that Sagarmatha is the native name of Everest is perhaps not quite true.

I continue where I left off a couple of weeks back, retracing some of the history of the naming of Everest. I began my last article with our Prime Minister, KP Sharma Oli, declaring matter-of-factly and with the full weight of his office that the one and only monicker for the highest peak in the world is Sagarmatha and also that since it is a name, it cannot be translated. Of course, within a few weeks Oli’s self-assuredness was found conspicuously missing when, during the ‘Sagarmatha Sambaad’, the Chinese dignitary Xiao Jie continually referred to the mountain as Qomolangma. Even though Oli’s own speech followed Xiao’s, nary a word of protest did he utter against the Chinese official’s disregard of the host’s fond wish regarding the use of ‘Sagarmatha’.