DNA Special: Mount Everest should have been named after Radhanath Sikdar and not a Britisher

In today's show, we will tell you how Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, got its name.

In 1865, the Royal Geographical Society named the highest mountain peak in the world as 'Mount Everest'. It was named after Sir George Everest, who was the head of the survey and map-making organization Survey of India from 1830 to 1843. Sir George Everest died on this day in 1866.

Why is the name of Mount Everest not Mount Radhanath Sikdar? 

Radhanath Sikdar, a mathematician from West Bengal, first recorded the height of Mount Everest. But the British empire hid his name and attributed the great discovery to Sir Andrew Scott Waugh. He was the director of Survey of India at the time, so this credit was taken away from Radhanath Sikdar and given to Andrew Waugh.

The official assessment of the height of Mount Everest was first done by the Survey of India in the British Raj. This agency was established to create an official map of India.

In 1830, Sir George Everest became the director of Survey of India and in the year 1831, he appointed Radhanath Sikdar, a mathematician from West Bengal, to the post of 'Computer' in the Survey of India.

Computers were not invented at that time. All calculations were done by humans and such people were called 'Computer' in the Survey of India.

The team of Survey of India reached close to the Himalayan range in the 1830s. At that time, the peak of Kangchenjunga mountain was considered to be the highest mountain peak in the world.

In the year 1852, Radhanath Sikdar started the work of measuring the mountain peak named 'Peak 15'. At that time, Mount Everest was known by this name. With the help of a special device, Radhanath Sikdar recorded the height of 'Peak 15' at 8839 meters.

Andrew Scott Waugh, the then director of Survey of India, examined Radhanath Sikdar's assessment for four years. Scott had worked with Sir George Everest, former director of Survey of India and considered him his mentor. That is why he sent a proposal to rename 'Peak 15' mountain peak to 'Mount Everest' to the Royal Geographical Society of Britain.

This means that the credit for measuring the official height of Mount Everest was taken away from Radhanath Sikdar and the highest mountain peak in the world was named after an Englishman. The British government tried its best to hide this information. Despite this, the great discovery of Radhanath Sikdar could not be hidden.

In the year 1966, the information about Radhanath Sikdar's success was also given in the Indian Journal of History of Science. It is a Science Journal and was first published in the year 1966. According to this journal, Radhanath Sikdar had become the Cheif Computer of the Survey of India in the year 1849.

The name of Mount Everest on the border of Nepal and Tibet is Chomo Lungma in the Tibetan language. The people of Nepal know it as Sagar-Matha. But in the whole world, it is famous as Mount Everest. The surprising fact is that George Everest himself never actually saw Mount Everest. However, it is still possible to rectify this mistake by renaming it Mount Radhanath Sikdar.

There is no agency to name mountain peaks worldwide. But if the Indian government wants, it can try to change the name of Mount Everest with the help of Nepal, China and UNESCO.

Mount Everest is located on the border of Nepal and Tibet. Currently, Tibet is under Chinese occupation and the consent of these countries will be required to change the name.

Mount Everest is located in Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. That is, the consent of UNESCO is also necessary to change the name of Mount Everest. However, to do so, the Government of India will first have to start diplomatically. And this attempt is as difficult as climbing Mount Everest in itself.

Interesting facts about Mount Everest

1. The height of mountains is calculated based on its height from the sea surface. But if the height from the base of a mountain to its summit is measured, then Mount Everest is not the highest mountain. Hawaii's 'Mauna Kea' is the world's highest mountain in terms of elevation from base to top. The height of Mauna Kea is 10,210 meters.

2. The Himalayas stand as one of the youngest mountain ranges in the world, whose height is still increasing. According to scientists, the height of Mount Everest increases by 4 millimeters every year. That is, its height increases to 16 inches in 100 years.

3. The 'Death Zone' of Mount Everest starts at an altitude of 8,000 meters because of bad weather and lack of oxygen. Recently, the queues to reach Everest's summit have been so long that climbers in the Death Zone are dying of exhaustion waiting in line for their turn to climb.

4. Those climbing Everest have to follow the 'Two o'clock rule', which means that the climbers have to reach Mount Everest by 2 pm because the weather starts changing after that.

5. Due to the advancement in technology, the deaths due to climbing Everest are decreasing by 2% every year.

6. 10 weeks of hard training is required before officially climbing Mount Everest.

If Mount Everest was named after India's mathematician Radhanath Sikdar, it would have made India's name famous worldwide. However, efforts for this did not start earlier.

Not only Mount Everest, but the same happened with the name of our country. Foreigners gave India its name. Historians believe that the people of Greece first called India as 'Indika' and later gradually changed the name to India. Even today, there is a class in India which sees its identity not with Bharat but with India and considers the British as its ideological ancestor. Due to such people, the gap between India and Bharat is constantly increasing.

It is also written in the first article of the Constitution of India - 'India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of States'. That is, the name given by foreigners eventually became part of the Constitution of India.

Apart from this, India was also named Hindustan after the Indus River. Sindhu is pronounced Hindu in Persian and many people believe that this is why India is also called Hindustan. Indian Puranas and texts have also given different names to India. These include names like Meluha, Bharat, Bharat Varsh, Aryavrata, and Jambudweep.

People from abroad slowly tried to erase the identity of Bharat and in this effort, Mumbai was converted to Bombay, Chennai to Madras, Kolkata to Calcutta and Dilli to Delhi. And the victims of the slave mentality first accepted it happily and then continued to accept this identity of slavery as their real identity for years and continue to this day.

But remember, that a country that forgets its roots is never seen by other countries with respect.