[Serku Sherpa is a researcher and high-altitude tour and trekking guide. An MA in Rural Development from Tribhuvan University, Sherpa takes interest and researching and writing about the Sherpa culture, Buddhism and ethnography. He is the author of Sherpa Samudayako Maulik Pahichan and Maulik Sherpa Geet in Nepali, and The Last Nomads of Everest and The Sherpas and Their Original Identity in English, the last name work—a translation—published by Cambridge Scholars, UK. Mahesh Paudyal of English.Sahityapost has interviewed Mr. Sherpa on various aspects of Sherpa life, beliefs, worldviews and mountaineering. Presented herewith is an excerpt of the talk.]
If I argue that the Sherpas never consider the height of the Himalayas a challenge they should conquer while the foreigners look at it as an object to pacify their egos, how would you react?
I would agree to that. There are reasons. The Westerns apparently compete with nature, and when they see a high mountain, they are provoked to conquer its peak. They gauge their success that way. But that is far from being a reality in our case. For us, all the mountains are the same, as are all human beings and other living creatures. The mountains have been giving us everything, and we can imagine no life without them. We have little to do with the heights of the mountains. This is what our forbearers also believed. They never had the hubris to drive themselves atop the mountains. I hear some friends talk about haunting for a name in the Guinness World Records Book, but that name, if it comes anyway, will be one given by an organization that knows next to nothing about mountaineering.
You mean the Sherpas do not climb a name. They climb as guides and helpers, don’t they?
Yes. It’s like pilgrimage. The pilgrims undertake their journey with faith and are content with whatever they achieve. For a pilgrim, what counts is the successful accomplishment of the pilgrimage and not the reward thereof. Such views keep the region sanctified, but in the later days, mountaineering has been tagged with cash-drive, and this has influenced many of my Sherpa brethren as well.
What, in the Sherpa belief, makes the mountains so sacred?
Our people believe that the mountains are our deities. But in fact they are not absolute deities; they are guards (rakshaykpals) of our people. Around Chomolungma, we locate the abodes of five of such rakshakpals: Tashi Tseringma (Gauri Shankar), Thingki Syalsangma, Chyopen Disangma, Takar Dosangma, and their youngest sister Zyomo Miyo Lasangma, who believably resides on Chomolungma. These goddesses are together called Chhering Chenga or Five Sisters of Long Life. There are other myths associated with other mountains. Like the Sherpas, there also are other communities that have their holy shrines on the mountains. These age-old beliefs of the Sherpas make the mountains sacred places.
As far as I have read, the Buddhist lamas prohibit the Sherpas—or anyone else for that matter—from climbing the mountains, as that would defile their sanctity. What is the truth?
They prohibit it even today. Yet, people climb. We consider the mountains the savior deities of the villages or khumbi yulha. There are a few mountains in the Himalayas that are still forbidden areas. Pangboche, Tobuche, Dingbuche, Chaukhulu etc. are not open to climb. Even Machhapuchhre in the Annapurna Range is officially out-of-bound for climbers, as it is considered the abode of a Gurung deity. Similarly, Gauri Shankar, considered a sacred mountain, is not open to climbers. In Solu, we have the Numbur Himal, upon which no human is allowed to step. Of more than 1600 peaks in Nepal, only around 300 are open to climb.
This means much of the Himalayan climbing is restricted by cultural and religious considerations.
True. The Himalayas have many unique religio-cultural specifications. There are regions in these mountains above which one cannot take any meat item or undertake animal hunting. Though there are some Himalayan communities that practice animal sacrifice at high elevations, the Sherpas completely refrain from such violence. They are totally a no-violent community as far as animal sacrifice and meat consumption in the Himalayas are concerned. But then, if any animal falls off the cliff and dies and the meat is fresh, people sometimes consume it, and that is not considered an offense. It is believed that if the animal thus fallen into death-trap is not consumed immediately, it will take time to decay or become food to birds or animals of prey, and in such a case, the unliberated soul of the deceased will suffer for a longer time. We also believe in body donation. We call is lui jinba. First, letting the birds and animals feed on it. Second, disposing it off in water so that water animals feed on it, or cremate so that underground creatures find food. Third, leaving it open to allow birds of prey to feed on it. Cremation is considered the best way of donating the body. Nepal stands unique in having in its myth a case of living body donation at Namo Buddha. As the myth has it, an earlier incarnation of the Buddha cut off his flesh and donated it to a tigress so that she could feed her hungry cubs. The place is called Tag-mo Lui-jin – the spot where a living body was sacrificed to a tigress. The same personage later took birth as Shakyamuni Buddha in Lumbini. For this reason, the Sherpas consider Namo Buddha a sacred place, as sacred as Lumbini. When the Sherpas visit Kathmandu Valley, they visit three Buddhist shrines in a row: Swoyambhunath, Bouddhanath and Namo Buddha, all on the same day.
I have read somewhere that the Sherpas pray before a climb, and repeat the process upon the completion of the climb. Some even consult lamas to read their luck before launching a climb. Is that true?
That is. We prostrate at the monasteries, touching the ground with five parts of our bodies—from top to bottom, as these parts are believed to represent the five elements that constitute the Creation. We don’t usually climb a mountain more than three times; this is because, climbing is an act of pilgrimage, and we consider three visits to a shrine enough to earn the divine merits. But then, our own people have made mountaineering a case of business. This is regrettable.
Even Tenzing worshipped at the top, didn’t he?
He did, and we all do. These days, the puja starts right from home. On the way, we keep throwing cereal seeds on the mountain trail. We believe that those cereals will keep us alive in our next birth. We burn incense and offer holy katas all throughout the ascent.
Sherry Ortner has written somewhere that the Himalayas always ring with mantras the Sherpas chant. Is that true?
That’s damn true. There is no Sherpa who does not chant the mantra of the Padmasambhava during his or her ascent, especially north of the Base Camp. The Sherpas consult the lamas and if the latter say climbing is not auspicious anytime soon, the Sherpas hold back. But there are many people who are ignoring the sanctity of the mountains. I am not even happy about hoisting different nations’ flag on the top of Chomolungma as though her top is a conquerable object and someone has conquered it. I was unhappy when Nims Purja draped the top of Ama Dablam with a giant Kuwaiti flag in 2019. No Sherpa has ever done so, though there are many of them who have been on the top of the mountain multiple times. Some people have even gone to the extent of blaming Nepali Sherpas of cutting the climbing ropes. But this is baseless, much away from reality. It is a mere conspiracy to tarnish the image of the Sherpas and thus affect Nepal’s tourism.
How high have you been to the mountains?
I have been to Khumbhu Icefall once. Otherwise, I have not been above the Base Camp. We are not usually allowed. The high mountains are open only to the expedition members who secure the permit upon a payment of high fee to the government.
I strongly think we should promote the native worldview to safeguard our mountains. Otherwise, their future looks bleak. What do you think?
I think Nepal’s natural resources, including our mountains, are lifeline to the entire humanity of the world. But regrettably, many are making them sources of their income or sites of ego appeasement. This state of affair should change. The foreigners come and chide us for destroying the mountains whereas our government continues issuing permits to the potential climbers for a fee as low as 15,000 dollars. What fee is that for wealthy Westerners? If the fee is increased, say for example to 100, 000 dollars per climber, it will automatically restrict the number of climbers each season. From the money thus collected, the government can institute a fund that will eventually go to the families and dependents of the accompanying Sherpas if in case anything happens to him or her during the climb – injury, physical deformity or even death.
That is sensible. Do you think easy access to Everest, aided by modern equipment of climbing has devalued it?
I do. The changes have devalued Everest to a huge extent. Consider the Base Camp for example. With restaurants, massage centers and saloons all around, Everest Base Camp has truly lost its past aura and denigrated itself to a luxury spot. It has become like a modern town with hotels and all the luxury items and services on sale everywhere. Earlier, a successful climber used to return from the top as a pilgrim who availed a very rare darshan of the deities up there on the top. But these days, the climb has become so frequent and commonplace that it has lost its aura.
No doubt. I share your concern that our mountains should be saved from becoming sites of ego appeasement or entertainment. Thank you for your time.
Thank you.
