Arunachal peak named after 6th Dalai Lama

In a subtle twin-messaging to the global Buddhist community and to China, a peak in Arunachal Pradesh has been named after the 6th Dalai Lama, who was born in 1682 near Tawang.

The 20,942-foot-high, un-named and unclimbed peak is now Tsangyang Gyatso Peak.

“This is to honour his Holiness the 6th Dalai Lama, Rigzen Tsangyang Gyatso,” the National Institute of Mountaineering and Adventure Sports (NIMAS) said.

NIMAS is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Defence. A team of NIMAS scaled the peak. The website of the 14th Dalai Lama — the present spiritual leader — says “the Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, was born in 1682 in the region of Mon Tawang in present-day Arunachal Pradesh, India”.

NIMAS, which has been at the forefront of adventure and mountaineering, has informed the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) about the ascent and the decision to name the peak. The necessary formalities are being completed to ensure that Tsangyang Gyatso Peak is recognised on the official map.

China claims large parts of Arunachal Pradesh as its own, a fact disputed by India that draws its map based on the McMahon-line of 1914. The peak is in the Gorichen range of the Himalayas in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang-West Kameng region.