Everest or Sagarmatha. Symbolism of respecting a woman

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shruthiravi

@shruthiravi

Stunner

+ 2

Posted: 10 years ago

Is it me or someone else also felt the same that though subtely the show is representing Everest as a woman. Because hindu beliefs treat nature as woman. Respcting nature means respecting woman, abusing nature is akin to abusing woman. Just like man is unable to withstand the fury of nature we all know once the woman has decided to take on the mightly world there is no stopping her.

So is the show also trying to give the message of protecting nature. I mean when Aakash interviewed that Sherpa he said the mountain is not Everest but Sagarmatha. Is it the fact that the Sherpa community has respected the mountain, not evaded it but over the years conquering Mt Everest has become a challenge for mountaineers and they treated her their last frontier.

Instead of admiring her might and respecting her what they thought was to conquer her. There was another dialogue in which Nasser tells you cant conquer Everest if you think it as a war. You can conquer it only with love.

Isnt it very clear the same applies to woman. I had made the same comment in EHT forum repeating here. A man thinks he wins if he defeats a woman physically but actually he is wrong, a man only gets victory if he conquers a woman's heart.

And a woman's heart can be conquered only by understanding her, respecting her and giving her space and if a man is able to do that the woman goes any extent to protect and support him.

Same is with Everest. The man who looks at her with love she will open up for him, to come to her. But if someone looks at her let me conquer you she will close herself and will challenge him and he may end up seeing a face of hers which he thought never existed in first place.

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dey.bh

@dey.bh

Rocker

Posted: 10 years ago

The Hindu mythology believes Himalayas or the Giri raj is a man and father to adi shakti Parvati.

Where exactly do you find feminism from this point of view ? In fact no mountain in Hindu mythology is known to be a female. The sea is always a man in Hindu texts while all the rivers except the SIndhu and the Brahmaputra are women.

Nature is obviously a woman in our religion but nature creates both men and women. Mountains in fact depicts masculinity to me. Tough yet beautiful. It is the source of enormous potential but it won't let you know about it. it treats everyone equally. Its cold like it has no emotions but stands like a warroir to defend its inhabitants. The Himalayas in particular is worshiped because it is a natural barrier.

To me Everest signifies a distant dream. It signifies that never mind how far is our destination small steps will take us there.

Edited by dey.bh - 10 years ago

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shruthiravi

@shruthiravi

Stunner

+ 2

Posted: 10 years ago

I didn't mention mountain as Woman. I just mentioned nature as woman according to hindu beliefs. And maybe different communities treat various aspects of nature as men or woman. Since the Sherpa community calls Everest Sagarmatha maybe they treat it as a woman.

And the show to me is also treating Everest as a woman only. Its just my POV as I see it.

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Aditi

@bright_star89

Voyager

Posted: 10 years ago

I am not sure if it has to do with Feminism... Mountains are always synonymous with Male/Masculinity..the greater himalayas are called Himadri , AND it considered as the Abode of Lord Shiva..

Everest is about testing your limits and pushing it.. thats why Chand said , it is beautiful yet Tough ..it spares no one... And that is what Nature is all about.

But I get ur point of Preserving Nature... Maybe the Sherpas discourage outsider to climb mountains as it hampers nature.. I am not aware of this actually...

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dey.bh

@dey.bh

Rocker

Posted: 10 years ago

Originally posted by: shruthiravi
I didn't mention mountain as Woman. I just mentioned nature as woman according to hindu beliefs. And maybe different communities treat various aspects of nature as men or woman. Since the Sherpa community calls Everest Sagarmatha maybe they treat it as a woman.
And the show to me is also treating Everest as a woman only. Its just my POV as I see it.

How does the name Sagarmatha reflect feminism ?Its not Sagar mata but its Sagarmatha. Sagarmatha means "the Head in the Great Blue Sky as per wiki which means you don't have enough logic to call it a mother . The Nepalese are Hindu by faith by the way, They speak different language but they believe everything as per Hindu ritual only.

Btw you typically referred Everest as 'She'

Same is with Everest. The man who looks at her with love she will open up for him, to come to her

Edited by dey.bh - 10 years ago

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pallavi25

@pallavi25

Inactive

+ 5

Posted: 10 years ago

Himalayan peaks can be either male or female! Each peak has its own entity! Each of the highest peaks is the abode of a God or Goddess according to local folklore OR Hindu mythology!

Some of the peaks are so sacred that mountaineers are forbidden to climb the last 25 or 50 metres to avoid enraging the God or Goddess residing there.

One of the most sacred peaks in the Himalayas is Mt Kailash or Kailash parvat near Manasarovar which is the abode of Lord Shiva in Hinduism and hence its a male peak.

Kanchenjunga is also sacred to the locals living nearby. Its called Sewalungma by the locals where its name means "mountain to which we offer greetings"

Nanda Devi is a Goddess. So are Annapurna and Machapuchare.

http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Nature_Worship3.htm

As Nanda Devi, "Goddess of Bliss," Goddess Parvati dwells in beauty on the lovely peak of that name in the Himalayas northeast of Delhi. The highest mountain in India outside the principality of Sikkim, Nanda Devi soars in alluring curves of rock and ice to culminate in a delicate summit, poised at 25,645 feet above a ring of snow peaks that form a sanctuary protecting the Goddess from all but Her most determined admirers.

As the Goddess who resides on the highest mountain in the region, Nanda Devi has many shrines and temples dedicated to Her. One of the better-known ones is in the hill station of Almora, which affords one of the best views of the peak itself and the mountains that surround it. Although primarily a benevolent deity, Nanda can take on the form of Durga, the wrathful Goddess. The people of the region also view Nanda Devi as a benevolent source of life and renewal.

Everest is worshipped by Nepalese, its called Sagarmatha in Nepalese.

Sagarmatha or Mt. Everest

Why it is called Everest is explained in a book "Science and the Raj: 1857-1905" by Deepak Kumar. George Everest was Surveyor General of India from 1830-43. However, in 1852 an Indian named Radhanath Sikdar was one of the first to compute that that peak XV was the highest point on Earth. When Radhanath told Colonel Waugh, the new SGI, Waugh immediately named it Everest after his predecessor and benefactor even though the peak had local names like Sagarmatha. According to Kumar the Nepalese names were Devadungha and Gaurishankar and the Tibetan name Jamokangkar.

Annapurna and Machapuchare: Goddess Parvati dwells in yet another form on sacred Annapurna One, named like Nanda Devi for the deity said to reside on its summit. A range of peaks that includes Gangapurna, Machapuchare and Annapurnas One through Four, Annapurna rises in one long sweep above the lush green hills of central Nepal. Seen from the tropical valley of Pokhara in the twilight before dawn, the range's peaks appear to float like bluish-gray icebergs on a sea of liquid shadows. Etched with shadowed flutings, the corrugated face of Annapurna One--the highest summit at 26,545-feet--becomes a golden backdrop to the slender pointed peak of Machapuchare, the "Fish's Tail."

Annapurna means in Sanskrit "She who is filled with food."

Unlike Nanda Devi, who can take on the wrathful form of Durga, Annapurna is regarded as a purely benevolent deity. A kindhearted Goddess of plenty, She is the Queen of Banaras, the holy city of the Hindus on the banks of the Ganga south of Nepal. Each year, after the autumn harvest, the people of Banaras celebrate a festival dedicated to Her called Annakuta, the "Food Mountain," in which they fill Her temple with a mountain of food--rice, lentils, and sweets of all kinds to be distributed to those who come to receive Her blessings.

Edited by pallavi25 - 10 years ago

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dey.bh

@dey.bh

Rocker

Posted: 10 years ago

👏👏 Wow Pallavi !! so well explained. You are an encyclopedia. Itna to Rawat ya Raman bhi nahi jante honge😆

First of all let me apologise to the TM because I forgot about Annapurna or Nanda ae typically worshipped as goddess.

But still I never heard the Everest being referred as a woman anywhere ? Can you clear this confusion please?

Edited by dey.bh - 10 years ago

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shruthiravi

@shruthiravi

Stunner

+ 2

Posted: 10 years ago

I heard Sagarmatha and Pallavi said Nepalese worship it as Sagarmatha not Sagarmath. As per wiki the Nepalese meaning of Sagarmatha is Saint Mother. So they treat Everest as a woman only. And in show also when they say you can conquer Everest only with love for me it kind of depicts a woman only.

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dey.bh

@dey.bh

Rocker

Posted: 10 years ago

For the show I never noticed anyone referring the Everest as female. In Hindi everything is determined by gender so if they had called her female anytime either I didn't notice it or they probably never did it.

I will have to wait till I know about it from the Nepalese point of view.

Nevertheless I fail to connect Everest with the female energy. May be because its name also was derived from Mr. George Everest's name which restricts my imagination.

I never take love as a girly thing. Its an universal language.

Nevertheless each will have their perspective..Please note I of course respect your opinion even if I fail to accept or understand it. I hope you understand that too. I just hope I haven't hurt your sentiments but I guess I ruined this thread which had some other intention Sorry about that.

p.S: Sagarmath was a typing error

Edited by dey.bh - 10 years ago

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pallavi25

@pallavi25

Inactive

+ 5

Posted: 10 years ago

#10

Originally posted by: dey.bh
👏👏 Wow Pallavi !! so well explained. You are an encyclopedia. Itna to Rawat ya Raman bhi nahi jante honge😆
First of all let me apologise to the TM because I forgot about Annapurna or Nanda who ae typically worshipped as goddess.

But still I never heard the Everest being referred as a woman anywhere ? Can you clear this confusion please?

Thanks and you're welcome!

I will have to research abt Everest/ Sagarmatha some more to find out if Nepalese worship it as male or female...😊

Actually my whole family are all Himalayas afficionados, especially my mother, who has read all the literature available on Himalayas, written by various Bengali travel authors.

So bachpan se we grew up hearing abt Nanda Devi and Annapurna being worshipped as female Goddesses and Mt. Kailash worshipped as Shiv ji's abode. Kanchenjunga is also a male peak.

In fact, Nanda Devi is considered so sacred, very few expeditions have even tried to climb it.

The peak is regarded as the patron-goddess of the Uttarakhand Himalaya. In acknowledgment of its religious significance and for the protection of the its fragile ecosystem, the peak as well as the circle of high mountains surrounding it"the Nanda Devi sanctuary"were closed to both locals and climbers in 1983. The surrounding Nanda Devi National Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988

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Everest or Sagarmatha. Symbolism of respecting a woman

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