Mt. Khangchendzonga and me
May 25, 1955 – Mt. Dzonga first climbed

S Balakrishnan *

Mt. Dzonga at Pang Lhabsol festival

Mount Khangchendzonga did not grant me a darshan on the first day of my arrival in Sikkim in May 1983. Well, he can’t be blamed, because it was raining and it was almost evening.

But during the next 5 & 1/4 years that I lived there I had eyeful and soulful darshan of the snowy peak in various colours and moods; gold-like when the morning and evening sunrays embrace it, silver-like when the sun shines and full moon glows; sometimes in full glory and sometimes covered in mist and clouds, but always enchanting. I was lucky in that our office (PIB) building (owned by who else but a forest official) on Paljor Stadium Road had a very fine view of the snowy peaks.

Exactly a hundred days after my arrival I had the chance to view Sikkim’s unique festival, Pang Lhabsol; this religious ceremony is held to propitiate and thank Mt. Dzonga (as Mt. Khangchendzonga is fondly called by Sikkimese), the Guardian Deity of Sikkim. This chaam (religious Lama dance) is held in the lawn of Tsuklakhang (Palace Monastery) in Gangtok on the 15th day of the 7th month of Tibetan lunar calendar which is usually in Aug.-Sept.

Mt. Dzonga appears in red mask, holding a red flag and Vajra on either hands and symbolically riding a white horse. I had noticed that despite being the rainy season, Mt. Dzonga never fails to give a clear darshan on Pang Lhabsol day. Pang Lhabsol, the first chaam that I witnessed, was as enchanting as Dzonga.

Mt. Dzonga being the guardian deity of Sikkim is the reason why no climber had actually climbed the peak’s full height (28,168 ft./8,586 metre), as it is prohibited for religious reason. Lying on the Indo(Sikkim)-Nepal border, Khangchendzonga (corrupted to ‘Kanchenjunga’) has its own legends; it literally means ‘The House of Five Treasures’; ‘Khang/se’ or Ghang/se=snowy mountain ridge in Tibet, ‘chen’ – great, ‘dzo’ - treasure and ‘nga’ – five.

The five treasures are the gold lavished on it by the rising and setting sun, the silver-like virgin snow, the jewels of the scriptures containing the teachings of the Lord Buddha, and its explanations by His Reincarnations/Gurus. The five treasures could also indicate the five nearby soaring summits of Kabru (7,320 m.), Siniolchu (6,888 m.), Pandim (6,691 m.), Narsingh (5,825 m.) and Jano (7,709 m.) as well.

Mt. Dzonga from Darjeeling 1984

My next step to getting closer to Mt. Dzonga, world’s 3rd highest peak and India’s top peak, was to have a close-up view from Tashi View Point. Some 5 kms. away from Gangtok at Phatak, this Point was a desolate place in 1980s; it was so serene unlike the crowded new Tashi View Point. The concrete mandap in traditional Sikkimese architecture had some beautiful paintings depicting Mt. Dzonga.

I waited for the winter to set in, as winter mornings are the best time to view snowy peaks without mist. I took a day off on Nov. 25 1983, thus using up the saved casual leave quota before it lapsed along with the calendar year. I requested my colleague Mr. Sher Bahadur Gurung (alas, he died later in a road accident!) to accompany me.

As arranged by him, Mr. Muktan arrived with his Fiat taxi SKM 1948 for the trip to Tashi View Point at Phatak. The weather was pleasant and the view was fantastic! Gurung and I walked down to Gangtok enjoying the crisp morning air.

Of all the views of Khangchendzonga, the most elaborate and most beautiful one was from Darjeeling. It was during Dashain (Durga Puja) holidays of 1984 that I undertook a trip to the nearby Darjeeling when I chanced to view the snowy range in full blast from Observatory Point.

The morning sun showered the range with gold and what a mesmerizing sight it was! But it was bad luck that mist prevented me from enjoying the snowy peaks from the most popular Tiger View Point of Darjeeling, both in 1984 and in 2014.

What if I can’t ascend the Peak, let me get further closer, I thought and reached Singhik in North Sikkim in Dec. 1985 for the chaam at Phodang Monastery. Singhik is acclaimed for the panoramic view of the snowy range Siniolchu. I was the only one tourist at the forest bungalow and I had the snowy ranges all to myself for two days!

View from Pelling hotel

My revisit to Sikkim in 2014 was rewarding in that we had a terrific view of Mt. Dzonga from our hotel bed itself in Pelling! We leisurely enjoyed the glowing view of the silver peaks as the sun rose gently. I could not believe the transformation of Pelling in a span of 30 years. It was just a wayside hamlet when I visited it in 1984 during the Tulo Thangka ceremony at Pemayangtse Monastery.

No hotels, no bazaar, nothing but a tiny solitary provision store run by the Shreshta family, the brother’s family of my landlord in Gangtok. I don’t even remember seeing Mt. Dzonga, else I would have definitely clicked it; maybe it was completely veiled off by mist. More than the view of the peaks, it was the complete transformation of Pelling that was reeling in my mind. The credit(?) goes to commercial tourism.

Kanchenjunga is so enchanting that Satyajit Ray had named one of his movies as Kanchenjunga. Made in 1962, it essays the goings-on within a rich family vacationing in Darjeeling. It was his first colour film and he had written the original screenplay as well for the first time. An Assamese film was also named Kanchanjangha in 2019. A few trains run in the name of Kanchanjunga express.

Though the first attempt to climb Mt. Dzonga was made in 1905, it was only on 25th May 1955, after 50 years, that Joe Brown and George Band succeeded in climbing Mt. Khangchendzonga. They were part of a British expedition team. They had promised to the then Chogyal (King) of Sikkim, Sir Tashi Namgyal, that they would stop short of the true summit, in reverence to religious sentiments.

Climbing from Nepal side, they stopped 6ft. before the summit. To this day, the Indian side of the mountain is off-limits to climbers, particularly since 2001. In 2016 UNESCO declared Khangchendzonga National Park/Biosphere Reserve as World Heritage Site, India’s first ‘Mixed Heritage Site’! This ‘Site’ is culturally significant because it is considered the ‘beyul’ (core) of the sacred hidden land blessed by Guru Padmasambhava (Rimpoche).

Despite viewing Mt. Dzonga from different places and at different angles, I can’t pinpoint Mt. Dzonga except from Gangtok where I viewed it for full five years. So much for my mountain(eering) viewing skill!