The “Crowning Jewel” of the 112 km long Sikkim – Nepal border, Mt. Kanchenjunga, is one such peak. Floating above the clouds, halfway up the sky, this peak stands the third tallest at 8,586 m.

 

Revered by the Sikkimese as the abode of guardian deity, the etymology of “Khang – chen – dzonga”, as the Sikkimese know it, means “the sore house of five treasures”.

The power and immutability, and the solitude and beauty that is Kanchenjunga have drawn adventurers since the 1890s. The fact that the mountain could only be scaled for the first time in 1955 is proof of both the resoluteness of the climbers and resilience of the peak itself.

K2 might be known as the “killer mountain”, but climbers acknowledge that Kanchenjunga is the most “technically challenging” of all Himalayan peaks.

When Charles Evans started out for the first successful ascent of Kanchenjunga in 1955, he was allowed to proceed only after he gave a “personal undertaking” to the Chogyal (king) of Sikkim that “in deference to the religious significance attached to the peak, the highest point on it would remain untrodden”. This has been a practice, at least from the Sikkimese side, ever since.

Buddhist legends explain that the peak is the abode of Namtse Dungmar, the “guardian of the north” and “the god of riches”. It is on Kanchenjunga and its five subsidiary peaks that he is believed to have hidden the five treasures (thus explaining the etymology of its name) of gold, silver, gems, grains and holy books. Other legends believe Mt. Kanchenjunga to be the residence of five divine brothers.

Whatever the beliefs, Sikkim’s Buddhists believe that the mountain god played an active role in introducing Buddhism into this former kingdom. The biography of Lhatsun Chembo, the chief propagator of Buddhism in Sikkim, states that divine visions sent by the mountain god guided him to Demajong (the hidden valley of rice), as Sikkim is referred to by the locals. Upon reaching this blessed place, the priest performed elaborate thanksgiving rites which are observed to this day as Pang Lhabsol, a major Sikkimese festival where the mountain god is invoked and prayed upon to continue “protecting” Sikkim.

Perhaps the best (and most elaborately colorful) description of the mountain is found in the works of a divine finder of hidden treasures, Terton Sherab Mebar. Kanchenjunga is compared to a king seated on his throne draped by white silks. The five peaks, clad in eternal snow, resemble a crown, and the seven lakes of crystal clear water lying in front of the mountain are compared to bowls containing water offering to the Buddha. There are white cliffs to the right and left, which look like lions romping up towards the sky, their necks adorned with vultures’ nests.

The Lepchas of Sikkim, who arrived here even before Bhutias, looked up at Kanchenjunga with equal reverence. Following an animistic, nature-based religion, the Lepchas would place a stone, Longstock, in every act of venerating, worshipping and invoking their gods. The “original big stone” for them was Kanchenjunga. Even their legend sees Kanchenjunga and its five peaks as five brothers. The fact that the peak was special can be gleaned also from the fact that Lepcha burials had the body sitting upright and facing Kanchenjunga.

The peak, for the Sikkimese, is the ever watchful deity, involved in every decision, action and direction that its protectorate has taken. The mountain was invoked and made the witness to the blood-brotherhood sworn between the Lepcha chief, The-kong Tek, and the Bhutia leader, Khye-Bumsa. Statewide prayers are conducted each time Sikkim suffers the warth of nature in the form of landslide or drought.

Whether the peak is really the abode of Sikkim’s guardian deity or not is a matter of belief; what is proven fact, however, is that Kanchenjunga makes Sikkim what it is – a biological hot-spot and also the “place of bountiful” (another transliteration of its other name, Demajong).

Kanchenjunga is one of those rare Himalayan peaks which is large enough, not only have its own glaciers and vassal peaks, but also one independent enough to have its own weather system. Kanchenjunga catches the full force of the southwest monsoon rising from the Bay of Bengal. Given its positioning, the mountain not only receives the highest precipitation of snow in all of the Himalaya, but by breaking the force of monsoon, also protects the main watershed to the north from its onslaught. The result is an extraordinary variation of scenery and climate within a small area (the Sikkim horseshoe measures all but 7,000 sq km which packs in flora and fauna from the tropical to the alpine to the cold desert).

While entering range that stretches across the Sikkim-Nepal border inspires a mixture of excitement and desire, it is Kanchenjunga that is centerpiece. The vision of its majesty on a clear day with a spiff of cloud spiraling skyward from the peak lording over all else, as if supported by a plinth of purple foothills, is a sight that defies all description. What is more, the peak appears unique from every vantage point that offers an unobstructed view.