Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Sept. 28: In a symbolic gesture connecting Tibet’s historical ties with the region of Arunachal Pradesh, an unclimbed and unnamed 20,942 ft. summit near Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh has been officially named ‘Tsangyang Gyatso Peak’ in honour of the 6th Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso. The 6th Dalai Lama was born in Urgelling near Tawang in 1683.
The naming followed a successful expedition by a 15-member team from the National Institute of Mountaineering and Adventure Sports (NIMAS), led by Colonel Ranveer Singh Jamwal, who scaled the treacherous peak as a tribute to the 6th Dalai Lama.
NIMAS, headquartered in Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh, operates under the Ministry of Defence. “By naming this peak after His Holiness Dalai Lama, NIMAS aims to pay tribute to his timeless wisdom and his profound contributions to the Monpa community and beyond,” a statement from the ministry read on Thursday.
“The peak was one of the most technically challenging and unexplored summits in the region. After overcoming immense challenges including sheer ice walls, treacherous crevasses, and a 2-kilometer-long glacier, the team immortalised the momentous feat by naming the peak Tsangyang Gyatso Peak in honour of His Holiness the 6th Dalai Lama Rigzen Tsangyang Gyatso,” a statement further read.
Arunachal Pradesh’s Chief Minister, Pema Khandu, praised the team’s achievement. In a message posted on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote, “Huge congratulations to Team NIMAS Dirang on their historic achievement! Led by Director Ranveer Jamwal, they’ve successfully summited an untamed peak in the Gorichen Massif of the Mon Tawang region, reaching an impressive 6,383 meters! This groundbreaking feat not only showcases the spirit of adventure but also opens new horizons for exploration in Arunachal Pradesh.”
However, the naming of the peak has sparked diplomatic tension. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian expressed discontent over the move, reiterating China’s territorial claims over the region. “Let me say more broadly that the area of Zangnan is Chinese territory, and it’s illegal, and null and void for India to set up the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ in Chinese territory. This has been China’s consistent position,” Lin stated, referring to the region as ‘Zangnan,’ the name used by China for Arunachal Pradesh.
Since 2017, China has been renaming various places in Arunachal Pradesh as part of its claims over the region, but India has firmly rejected these assertions, reaffirming that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and dismissing China’s “invented” names as ineffective in altering the status quo.
One Response
It warms the cockles of our hearts after hearing a mountain in Arunachal Pradesh has been named after the 6th Dalai Lama who was born in Tawang. The 6th Dalai Lama was a romantic Dalai Lama unlike the rest. He is said to have his lover in the Lhasa city and would walk all the way from Potala to the city to enjoy the amorous romance with his Lady love! He would do everything to be discreet not wake up the dogs that Tibetans kept in their yards in order prevent detection of his presence at night where he was forbidden as the Dalai Lama to liaise with woman. However, as he admits the dogs were in-fact more clever than human beings་ and goes onto say, ལྷ་ས་གཞུང་གི་མདོག
ཁྱི་ རྣམ་ཤེས་མི་ལས་སྤྱང་བ་ (the dogs of Lhasa are more intelligent than human beings). He was a great poet and has written some of the most romantic poems! Those who are interested can read the translation by the late Tibetan writer K Dhondup in English. One of the most popular couplet of his poem is his unabashed admission of himself as a philanderer! པོ་ཏྭ་ལ་ལ་ཞུགས་དུས་ རིན་ཆེན་ཚངས་དབྱངས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ ལྷ་ས་གཞུང་ལ་འགྲོ་དུས་ འཕྱས་པོ་དྭང་བཟང་དབང་པོ་ (when I am in the Potala, I am Rinchen Tsangyang Gyatso. But when I am strolling in the streets of Lhasa, I am the philanderer Dangsang Wangpo). Tibetans adored him! The tragic story takes a twist that makes him one of the most colourful Dalai Lamas in history. The story goes that the Manchu emperor send gold letter bearers (གསེར་ཡིག་པ་). This was a very important invitation letter for him to visit the Manchu court. So, he headed to China as per the invitation but on the way at Kunga Nor, ཀུན་དགའ་ནོར་ the gold letter bears found out that there was no such letter sent by the Manchus! Fearing for their lives for misrepresenting the Manchu emperor, the gold letter bearers committed suicide at a place called Kunga Nor (ཀུན་དགའ་ནོར་) known today as Koko Nor. According to the secret biography (གསང་རྣམ་) of the 6th Dalai Lama, being deserted by his minders to fend for himself, he joined up with a yak caravan. He asked them to take him with them and they did! He found it very hard to drink from the dirty and unwashed wooden bowls the yak herders gave him. Being the Dalai Lama, he was used to be treated with pomp and ceremony at the Potala where only ornate porcelains were used! However, he was only 28 years old and he could adapt himself. The yak herders were kind enough to put him on a yak as they travelled to their destination. While, there is no clear record of how he got to India, it is believed he arrived in India. In all probability with the yak caravan which used to travel from Tibet through Nathula སྣ་མཐུ་ལ་ in Sikkim and then on to Kalimpong which was a big trading centre when Tibet was independent. It is therefore fitting that India has immortalised the much loved Rinchen Tsanyang Gyatso by naming a mountain in his honour in Arunachal Pradesh which is his birth place. Arunachal Pradesh became part of India through the 1913-1914 Simla Convention between independent Tibet and British India! It was a mutual agreement between the two countries, whereby Tibet would cede ལྷོ་མོན་ Mon Tawang region to British India in return for British recognition of the entire Tibetan plateau inhabited by Tibetans as TIBET! India should be clear about this which gave India ownership and in return RECOGNISE TIBET’S INDEPENDENT STATUS PRIOR TO COMMUNIST CHINA’S INVASION AND ILLEGAL OCCUPATION IN ORDER TO RECTIFY THE MONUMENTAL MISTAKES IT COMMITTED AND LEGITIMISE INDIA’S OWNERSHIP OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH. For those who might think that the six Dalai Lama indulged in debauchery, it is true that he couldn’t escape the scandal and people had their tongues wagging! So, in order to dispel any notion of him indulging in sexual dalliances, he called upon the public to come to the Potala palace. As they watched him from the ground, he urinated from the roof of the Potala to the amusement of the people but to their utter surprise, the urine flowed back to its source rather than fall on the ground!!! This was to prove to them that he had gained control over his elements རྩ་རླུང་ཐིག་ལེ་ (nadir, prana and drop) through his tantric practice so even though he may be cohabiting with a female consort, he was not ejaculating like ordinary man and thus he was still a pure monk!!! This is called ཐིག་ལེ་ཡར་འདྲེན་ which is a high level of tantric achievement where the male may cavort with a female without releasing the semen!