Editing Tenzing Norgay (section)

==Early life==
There are conflicting accounts of Tenzing's early life. In his autobiography, he wrote that he was a [[Sherpa people|Sherpa]] born and raised in [[Tengboche]], [[Khumbu]], in northeastern [[Nepal]].<ref name="Ullman">Tenzing & Ullman</ref> In a 1985 interview with All India Radio, he said his parents came from Tibet, but that he was born in Nepal.{{Request quotation|date=June 2017}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbTgL6xpQuE| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/GbTgL6xpQuE| archive-date=17 November 2021 | url-status=live|title=Tenzing Norgay Sherpa's interview, in Tibetan, with All India Radio, Kurersong, India.|last=Sonam G. Sherpa|date=27 August 2013|access-date=27 March 2018|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> According to many later accounts, including a book co-written by his son [[Jamling Tenzing Norgay|Jamling Tenzin Norgay]], he was born in [[Tibet]],<ref>{{Cite book|contributor-first=Jon|contributor-last=Krakauer|contributor-link=Jon Krakauer|title=Touching My Father's Soul: a Sherpa's Journey to the Top of Everest|last1=Norgay|first1=Jamling Tenzing|last2=Coburn|first2=Broughton|publisher=HarperSanFrancisco|year=2002|isbn=0062516876|publication-place=San Francisco, California|page=XV|contribution=Introduction|oclc=943113647|quote=Born in Tibet, raised in Nepal, and a resident of India since the age of 19, he had become a symbol of hope and inspiration for millions of caste-bound Indians, poverty-stricken Nepalese, and politically oppressed Tibetans – all of whom regard him as a countryman.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/everestmountainw00cobu/page/112|title=Everest : Mountain Without Mercy|last=Coburn|first=Broughton|publisher=National Geographic Society|year=1997|isbn=0792270142|location=Washington, DC|page=[https://archive.org/details/everestmountainw00cobu/page/112 112]|oclc=36675993|quote=Jamling pulled out the string of flags he intended to display on the summit: Nepal, India, Tibet, U.S.A. and the United Nations. 'My parents are from Tibet, but lived for long periods in Nepal and India, where I was raised.'}}</ref> at Tse Chu in the [[Kama valley, Tibet|Kama Valley]], and grew up in [[Thame, Nepal|Thame]].<ref>{{cite web|date=1 March 2016|title=Leadership|url=http://www.thamesherpafund.org/about-1|access-date=17 May 2014|publisher=Thames Sherpa Fund|archive-date=22 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922091423/http://www.thamesherpafund.org/about-1|url-status=live}}</ref> He spent his early childhood in [[Kharta]], near the north of the country. Norgay went to Nepal as a child to work for a Sherpa family in Khumbu.<ref name="The Observer" /><ref>{{Cite ODNB|id=50064|title=Tenzing Norgay}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Webster |first1=Ed |title=Snow in the Kingdom : my storm years on Everest |date=2000 |publisher=Mountain Imagery |location=Eldorado Springs, Colorado |isbn=9780965319911}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Rai |first1=Hemlata |title=The Fortunate Son |url=http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/nepalitimes/pdf/Nepali_Times_147.pdf |access-date=22 August 2014 |work=Nepali Times |date=30 May 2003 |archive-date=26 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826115131/http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/nepalitimes/pdf/Nepali_Times_147.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Das |first1=Sujoy |title=Sixty years of the dream conquest |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/sixty-years-of-the-dream-conquest/cid/1289402 |access-date=3 October 2020 |work=The Telegraph, Calcutta |date=6 April 2014 |archive-date=31 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031113439/https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/sixty-years-of-the-dream-conquest/cid/1289402 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sherpals.com/ |title=Honours: Honours for Tenzing |date=7 October 2014 |access-date=4 March 2016 |archive-date=10 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310141209/http://www.sherpals.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Khumbu lies near [[Mount Everest]], which the Tibetans and Sherpas call ''Chomolungma''; in [[Standard Tibetan]], that name means "Holy Mother", or the goddess of the summit.<ref>{{cite book |title=''Everest'' |date=1998 |edition=IMAX |author=Norgay's son |url=http://www.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=22303843&trkid=&tctx= }}{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Buddhism is the traditional religion of the Sherpas and Tibetans, and Norgay was Buddhist.<ref name="Ullman"/>

Although his exact date of birth is unknown, he knew it was in late May by the weather and the crops. After his ascent of Everest on 29 May 1953, he decided to celebrate his birthday on that day thereafter. His year of birth, according to the [[Tibetan calendar]], was the [[Rabbit (zodiac)|Year of the Rabbit]], making it likely that he was born in 1914.<ref name="Ullman" /> This agrees with [[John Hunt (mountaineer)|Hunt's]] statement that he was 39 in 1953, and had "established himself (as) not only the foremost climber of his race but as a mountaineer of world standing".{{sfn|Hunt|1953|pp=60,61}}

Tenzing was originally called "Namgyal Wangdi", but as a child his name was changed on the advice of the head [[lama]] and founder of [[Rongbuk Monastery]], Ngawang Tenzin Norbu.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite news |author=Hansen, Peter H. |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/50064 |title=Tenzing Norgay [Sherpa Tenzing&#93; (1914–1986) |work=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2004 |access-date=18 January 2008 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/50064 |archive-date=4 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104211828/http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/50/101050064/ |url-status=live }}</ref> "Tenzing Norgay" translates as "wealthy-fortunate-follower-of-religion". His father, a Tibetan [[yak]] herder, was Ghang La Mingma (d. 1949), and his mother, who was Tibetan, was Dokmo Kinzom. She lived to see him climb Everest. Tenzing was the 11th of 13 children, several of whom died young.<ref name="Ullman" />

Tenzing ran away from home twice in his teens, first to [[Kathmandu]] and later to [[Darjeeling]], India (which at that time was the starting point for most expeditions in the eastern Himalayas), and eventually acquired Indian citizenship.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tenzing gets a new name |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/tenzing-gets-a-new-name/articleshow/4327707.cms |publisher=The Times of India |date=28 March 2009 |access-date=17 August 2023 |archive-date=17 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230817191820/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/tenzing-gets-a-new-name/articleshow/4327707.cms |url-status=live }}</ref> He was once sent to [[Tengboche Monastery]] to become a monk, but he decided that was not for him and left.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ortner, Sherry B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wLgim3BZ5mwC&q=norgay+Tengboche&pg=PA112 |title=Life and Death on Mt. Everest: Sherpas and Himalayan Mountaineering |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2001 |page=112 |isbn=0-691-07448-8 |access-date=4 December 2020 |archive-date=28 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230828072052/https://books.google.com/books?id=wLgim3BZ5mwC&q=norgay+Tengboche&pg=PA112 |url-status=live }}</ref> At the age of 19 he settled in the Sherpa community in the Too Song Busti district of Darjeeling.<ref name="Ullman"/>