Baburam Acharya

इतिहास शिरोमणि Ishan Subedi
Baburam Acharya at his old age
Native name	बाबुराम आचार्य
Born	1888
Died	1971
Nationality	Nepalese

Baburam Acharya (Nepali: बाबुराम आचार्य) (1888–1971 AD) was a Nepalese historian and literary scholar. He is known as the historian laureate (इतिहास शिरोमणि) of Nepal. The four part biography of King Prithivi Narayan Shah, founder of Modern Nepal is a key series of work he created. He is known for the study of ancient Nepalese inscriptions.

Sagarmatha

Nepal’s eminent historian late Baburam Acharya is credited with the Nepali name Sagarmatha (सगरमाथा) for Mount Everest that straddles Nepal-China border. Previously, Nepal had no official name of its own for the world’s tallest peak in Nepali, although names among many Nepalese people - Sherpa, Limbu, etc. existed long ago. What may not be true however is that he coined the name for the mountain. Baburam wrote an essay in the late 1930s in which he said that among the local population of the remote Everest region the mountain was popular by the name Sagarmatha (meaning the Head of the Earth touching the Heaven); some even called it Jhomolongma. In his own words:

In the map of Nepal published by the then Survey of India Office, the name of the tallest peak of the Himalayan Mountain range was written as Mount Everest. In the map's second edition, the peak had two names: Mount Everest and the Tibetan name Chomolongma; but there was no Nepalese name. With a view to providing a Nepalese name, especially for the map, an investigative essay entitled as Sagarmatha or Jhomolongma was published in the Sharada, a Nepalese-language monthly.

The then rulers of Nepal took exception to publication of the essay and the historian was admonished. In his book A Brief Account of Nepal, Baburam wrote

I was charged with attempting to bring about insult to the British by giving a Nepalese name to the peak already named after 'our friends,' and nearly deported from the country for publishing the article...

In his book China, Tibet and Nepal Baburam wrote: "The name Sagarmatha already existed; I only discovered it; it is not that I christened the mountain with a new name."

Two decades after the publication of the essay, the Nepalese government gave official recognition to the name.

Publications

• The Bloodstained Throne: Struggles for Power in Nepal (1775–1914)
• Chin, Tibet ra Nepal
• Purana Kavi ra Kabita
• General Bhimsen Thapa: Yinko Utthan ra Patan
• Nepalko Sanskritic Parampara
• Hamro Rastrabhasa Nepali
• Shree Panch Pratapsingh Shah
• Prachinkaalko Nepal
• Nepalko Samchhipta Britanta
• Shree Panch Prithvi Narayan Shah ko Samchhipta Jeewani
• Baburam Acharya ra Unka Kriti

Recognition

Acharya was commemorated in a stamp issued by the Government of Nepal 12 March 1973.

Further Studies

• Sahitya ra Srasta.