Let's go today for a time-travel with our Sanskrit speaking
ancestors who had discovered Mt. Everest and other Himalayan peaks. To be
sure, the British had not discovered Mt. Everest and that it was not an
un-named peak when they arrived on the scene. Mt. Everest was
known as Sagar.māthā सगरमाथा in Sanskrit
and Nepali. By using trigonometry, the British surveyors of in the
19th century had measured the height of Sagarmāthā, and had declared
it to be the world's highest mountain peak. They re-named Sagarmāthā in
honour of Sir George Everest, the former Surveyor General of India. The
Nepalese had also told the British surveyors about another high peak called
Gauri.shankar. Somehow, confusion prevailed that Gaurishankar is
another name of Sagarmāthā, i.e. Everest. The confusion lasted for more than a hundred years.
As a primary school student in the 1960s, I had also read in my textbooks
that Gaurishankar is the Indian and Nepali name of Mt. Everest. While we know
the story behind the name Everest, we have no clues about the etymology of
Sagarmatha or Gaurishankar. It is believed that Sagarmatha in Nepali
means ‘Mother of the Sea’. But why is a mountain being called the mother
of sea? Is it because the snow covered peaks are source of water that flows in rivers
that go to form the sea? However, this explanation seems to be too far-fetched! On the other hand, Shankar means Lord
Shiva and Gauri is another name of his wife Parvati. Both Gauri and Shankar are
believed to live in the Himalayas. Would Gauri and Shankar call this peak
by their own names Gaurishankar?
Let's imagine that we are travelling with our explorer ancestors
who saw and named Sagarmatha and Gaurishankar for the first time. On seeing
the peak, our ancestors might have used the Sanskrit words for
‘mountain peak’ -- GIRI.SHIKHAR गिरिशिखर (Giri mean mountain and shikar
mean peak). And this word might have changed while getting passed down the
generations in the following way--
Giri.shikhar गिरिशिखर > Gauri.shikhar गौरीशिखर > Gauri.shikar गौरीशिकर > Gauri.shinkar गौरीशिंकर > Gauri.shankar गौरीशंकर!
On seeing the highest Himalayan peak, our ancestors might have said in Sanskrit
– SHIKHAR.TAMA (highest peak)! And the word would have changed
in this manner --
Shikhar.tama शिखरतमा >
Shikhar.mata शिखर मता > Sigar.mata > सिगरमता
> > Sagar.matha सगरमथा > Sagarmāthā सगरमाथा
Image of Mt Everest from
Wikipedia :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest#/media/File:Mount_Everest_as_seen_from_Drukair2_PLW_edit.jpg
Sagarmatha does not mean "mother of the sea", it is सगरमाथा not सागरमाता. Sagarmatha derived from सगर (sagar) meaning "sky" and माथा (matha) meaning "head" in the Nepali Language.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your comment.
Delete1. I have written clearly in the above blogpost that I do not agree with the suggestion that Sagarmatha means mother of the sea. You have also said the same thing.
2. I tend to agree with your suggestion that Sagarmatha (may be) derived from सगर (sagar) meaning "sky" and माथा (matha) meaning "head" in the Nepali Language. Thanks for this new theory. I would like to incorporate it in my blog. Unfortunately, however, ‘sagar सगर mean sky’ is not there in any Nepali dictionary available on the Internet. According to one dictionary, svarg स्वर्ग is one of the Nepali words for sky. It would make sense if the original word was Svargmatha स्वर्गमाथा and it got corrupted to सगरमाथा Sagarmaatha.
3. When I wrote this blog in 2015, there was no such suggestion on the Internet. On the contrary, "Sagarmatha means mother of the sea" theory was there and is still present on many reputed sites on the Internet. For example, according to an article on Reuters website, “Sagarmatha, which means head of the sea, is the Nepali name for the world’s highest peak that stands at 8,850 metres (29,035 feet).”
https://www.reuters.com/article/oukoe-uk-nepal-notes/mt-everest-to-replace-nepal-king-on-currency-note-idUKDEL21082420070209
According to High Camp Trekking website, “In Sanskrit and Nepali the mountain is named Sagarmatha, meaning “Ocean Mother”, in Tibetan it is Chomolungma, meaning “Goddess Mother of The World” or “Goddess of the Valley” and in Chinese Zhumulangma Feng. https://www.highcamptrekking.com/nepal/walking-and-trekking-holidays/everest-region/
According to the National Geographic website, “The Tibetan name is Chomolungma, which means “Mother Goddess of the World.” The Nepali name is Sagarmatha, which has various meanings. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/mount-everest/