A video that has gone viral, featuring a stunning, crystal-clear sight of the Himalayan ranges from Jainagar in Bihar's Madhubani district, has been making waves online lately. (Image Source: X.com/@Satyamraj_in)
A video that has gone viral, featuring a stunning, crystal-clear sight of the Himalayan ranges from Jainagar in Bihar's Madhubani district, has been making waves online lately. Posted on X (formerly Twitter) by Satyam Raj with the tagline, "View of the majestic Himalayas as seen from Jainagar, Madhubani, Bihar," the clip claims to feature the faraway, snow-clad peaks, including a possible glimpse of Mount Everest, after recent rains. The spectacle has left everybody wondering: is this sight real or merely a digital illusion?
Expert opinion and local accounts are that the sighting is real but very rare. Madhubani is in the North Bihar plains, hundreds of kilometers away from the main Himalayan range. The visibility of such distant mountains is an atmospheric phenomenon. The air over the Gangetic plains is usually loaded with dust, smoke, and pollution, forming a thick haze that makes distant objects invisible. But immediately after heavy rain, the atmosphere gets "purified" through a process of "atmospheric cleansing." The rain clears away the particulate matter, greatly enhancing the quality of the air and visibility.
This sudden drop in pollution and haze provides the perfect, and temporary, conditions under which the mountains can be seen by the naked eye. The same has been reported commonly in 2020 during the lockdown for COVID-19 when the precipitous fall in industrial and automotive emissions naturally swept the skies clean. Occasional sightings verify that viewing is feasible, albeit under particular, spotless weather conditions.
Madhubani's location places it in one of the very few locations in the North Indian plains where such a phenomenon can take place. The district borders the nation of Nepal, in which the Himalayan foothills commence. In particular, Madhubani is bordered by the following districts in the state of Bihar: (South: Darbhanga district, West: Sitamarhi district, East: Supaul district).
The video was allegedly shot in the border town of Jainagar, which is geographically situated with the great peaks over the border. Seen from there are the great peaks such as Mount Everest and Kanchenjunga (which run through five nations, including Nepal and India), which belong to the Mahalangur Himal sub-range. The unusual viral clip is an eye-opener of how the natural scenery looks without temporary human pollution.
