It is necessary to delienate the scope of `Himalaya'. It turns out, however, that this is a subjective exercise.
The Himalaya does not stand alone in the northern reaches of South Asia. As the Indian plate was subducted into the Asiatic plate some 200 million years ago, many roughly parallel ranges arose from the Tethis seabed and surrounding landmass.
So today, there is the main Himalayan crest, often called the Great Himalaya. To its north are the parallel and lesser ranges of Ladakh, Zaskar and Kailas. From northern Kashmir, the Karakoram stretches out over the disputed borders of India with Pakistan and China. It is home to four of the 14 peaks over 8,000m. Southwest from the frontiers of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan spring the Hindu Kush and Hindu Raj, often grouped together as one range. Northwest of the main Himalayan body is the Pamir knot, mostly lying in Tadzhikistan. Besides these ranges, there are the two poor cousins of the Himalaya, Kun Lun and Tien Shan, stretching out into China.
Ad Hoc Himalaya