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Bhutanese thangka of Mt. Meru and the Buddhist universe (19th cent., Trongsa Dzong, Trongsa, Bhutan).
Mount Meru —also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahameru—is a sacred, five-peaked mountain present within Hindu, Jain and Buddhist cosmologies, revered as the centre of all physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes.[1] It is professed to be located at the junction of the four great cosmic continents—Pubbavideha Dipa, Uttarakuru Dipa, Amaragoyana Dipa and Jambu Dipa. Despite not having a clearly identified or known geophysical location, Mount Meru is, nevertheless, always thought of as being either in the Himalayan Mountains or the Aravalli Range (in western India). Mount Meru is also mentioned in scriptures of other, external religions to India, such as Taoism—which was influenced, itself, by the arrival of Buddhism in China.[2]
Bhutanese thangka of Mt. Meru and the Buddhist universe (19th cent., Trongsa Dzong, Trongsa, Bhutan).
Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: ????)—also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahameru—is a sacred, five-peaked mountain present within Hindu, Jain and Buddhist cosmologies, revered as the centre of all physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes.[1] It is professed to be located at the junction of the four great cosmic continents—Pubbavideha Dipa, Uttarakuru Dipa, Amaragoyana Dipa and Jambu Dipa. Despite not having a clearly identified or known geophysical location, Mount Meru is, nevertheless, always thought of as being either in the Himalayan Mountains or the Aravalli Range (in western India). Mount Meru is also mentioned in scriptures of other, external religions to India, such as Taoism—which was influenced, itself, by the arrival of Buddhism in China.[2]
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Meru's three peaks from left to right: Southern, Central, and Northern. The Shark's Fin is just left of the wide snow slope in the centre.
The five important peaks of the Himalayas are:
Mount Everest: Mount Everest is the highest peak in the world with a height of 8,850m, i.e., 29,035 feet above sea level, located in the southern part of Asia, lying on the border between Nepal and Tibet. It is named after George Everest, who was former surveyor General of India. It is also known as, i.e., Tibetan call it ‘Chomolungma’ meaning ‘Mother Goddess of the World’ and the Nepali call it ‘Sagarmatha’. The first-ever man to climb Mount Everest was Edmund Hillary and his guide Tenzing Norgay.
Karakoram: The Karakoram Mountain is the second highest mountain range globally, expanded in the borders of China, India, and Pakistan and extending in the northwest to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. It is the second-highest range in the world, with a height of 8,611 m or 28,251 feet. It shields Kashmir from the cold winds of Siberia. It is known to be the most glaciated part of the world, covering 28 to 50 percent of the mountain range.
Kanchenjunga: Kanchenjunga is considered the third highest mountain range globally with a height of 8,586 meters, i.e., 28,169 feet situated in the eastern Himalayas on the border Sikkim and eastern Nepal and extends in all the four direction – north, south, east, and west. The name is derived from four Tibetan origins, ‘Kang-chen-dzo-nga or Yand-chhen-dzo-nga’, meaning ‘Five treasuries of the Great Snow’.
Nanga Parbat: Nanga Parbat is the fourth highest mountain range of Himalaya with a height of 8,126 meters, i.e., 26,660 feet located in the western Himalayas in Kashmir. The name has come from the Sanskrit words ‘nagna parvat’, meaning ‘naked mountain.’
Annapurna: Annapurna is the fifth-highest range of Himalayas in central Nepal with a height of 8,091 meters, i.e., 26,545 feet, and ranks the tenth highest mountain globally. It extends from west to east. It consists of four significant peaks- Annapurna I (8,091 m), Annapurna II (7,937 m), Annapurna III (7,555 m), and Annapurna IV ( 7,525 m)