Sri Pada: Buddhism’s Most Sacred Mountain
Sri Pada soars upwards to a height of 7360 feet from the
very edge of the central highlands and viewed from the southwest looks
like a pinnacle on a verdant castle wall. For about half the year it is
often hidden in cloud and the torrential rains that rush down its
steep sides during this time makes visiting the summit almost
impossible. This abundant precipitation feeds Sri Lanka's four main
rivers which all have their sources on the mountain's lower slopes.
Over the aeons these rains have also washed nearly a thousand feet of
rock and soil off Sri Pada and its surrounding peaks and the alluvial
deposits that extend from its foot towards the south and east are one
of the world's richest gem mining areas. Here are found rubies, topaz,
garnets, cat’s eye, aquamarine, Alexandrite and sapphires ranging in
colour from yellow to blue. Like the mountain itself many legends are
told about these gems. The Arabs believed they were the crystallized
tears Adam and Eve shed when they were expelled from Paradise. The
story the Chinese told about them was even more beautiful. They said
that when the Buddha visited Sri Lanka he found the people poor and
given to theft. So out of compassion and to turn them to virtue he
sprinkled the island with sweet dew which crystallized into gems thus
freeing the people from poverty by giving them a commodity to trade
with.
Sri Pada is surrounded by exceptionally dense forest, much
of it now making up the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary. This is not the lush
steamy cover one usually associates with the tropics but a cool misty
forest similar to that found in the lower reaches of the Himalayas.
Giant trees hang heavy with moss, rhododendrons put forth large red
blossoms and rare orchids like the Regal and the Chandraraja grow in
the dark moist loam. In the past Sri Pada's forests were the home of
numerous elephants and the animal was so identified with the mountain
that it came to be seen as the mount of Samanta. In 1840 Major Skinner,
the famous engineer, actually reported finding elephant droppings on
the very top of Sri Pada early one morning. But with the establishment
of the coffee plantations in the 1850's these majestic creatures were
completely shot out although pilgrims still occasionally report seeing
Samanta's white elephant as they make the nocturnal journey up the
mountain of the two animals still associated with Sri Pada the first is
the butterfly. Today the jungle besides the paths that lead up the
mountain is cut back at the beginning of each the pilgrim season thus
lessening this problem.
However it not Sri Pada's
geological particularities or natural beauty that has made it so famous
but something else altogether. On the summit of the mountain is a
boulder with a mysterious mark or indentation on it resembling a human
footprint. Since from perhaps as early as the first century BCE the
Sinhalese believed this mark to be the footprint of the Buddha himself.
According to the Mahavamsa, the Buddha visited the island three times.
During his last sojourn he flew from Kelaniya to Sri Pada, leaving the
impression of his foot on the mountain top, and then left for
Dighavapi. Whether the Buddha's journey to Sri Lanka is true or not as a
metaphor it is very true. The Buddha's teaching has left its
impression on every aspect of Sri Lankan life as surely and as
indelibly as if it had been engraved in stone. Legend says that after
King Valagambha was driven from his throne in 104 BCE, he lived in a
remote forest wilderness for 14 years. On one occasion while stalking a
deer he was led up the mountain and discovered the sacred footprint.
The gods revealed to him that it had been made by the Buddha. The
legend of the Buddha's visits to Sri Lanka is not, it should be noted,
confined to the Theravada tradition.
Sri Paadaya Adam's Peak is a conical
mountain located in central Sri Lanka. It is well known for the Sri
Pada, i.e., "sacred footprint", a 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in) rock
formation near the summit, which in Buddhist tradition is held to be the
footprint of the Buddha, in Hindu tradition that of Shiva and in
Muslim and Christian tradition that of Adam, or that of St. Thomas.
The mountain is located in the southern reaches of the Central
Highlands, in the Ratnapura district of the Sabaragamuwa Province -
lying about 40 km northeast of the city of Ratnapura. The surrounding
region is largely forested hills, with no mountain of comparable size
nearby. The region along the mountain is a wildlife reserve housing
many species varying from elephants to leopards, and including many
endemic species.
Adam's Peak is important as the main watershed of Srilanka, four of the
principal rivers of the Island, including the Mahaveli Ganga, the
longest, having their source from this mountain, and descend to the sea
on the eastern, western and south eastern coasts. The districts to the
south and the east of Adam's Peak yield precious stones-emeralds,
rubies and sapphires, for which the island has been famous, and which
earned for its ancient name of Ratnadvipa.
Trails
Access to the mountain is
possible by 6 trails: Ratnapura-Palabaddala, Hatton-Nallathanni,
Kuruwita-Erathna, Murraywatte, Mookuwatte & Malimboda. The
Nallathanni & Palabaddala routes are most favored by those
undertaking the climb, while the Kuruwita-Erathna trail is used less
often; these trails are linked to major cities or town by bus,
accounting for their popular use. The Murraywatte, Mookuwatte &
Malimboda routes are hardly used, but do intersect with the Palabaddala
road midway through the ascent. The usual route taken by most pilgrims
is ascent via Hatton and descent via Ratnapura; although the Hatton
trail is the steepest, it is also shorter than any of the other trails
by approximately five kilometers. Once one of the starting 'nodes' of
Palabadalla, Nallathanni or Erathna are reached, the rest of the ascent
is done on foot through the forested mountainside on the steps built
into it. The greater part of the track leading from the base to the
summit consists of thousands of steps built in cement or rough stones.
The trails are illuminated with electric light, making night-time
ascent possible and safe to do even when accompanied by children. Rest
stops and wayside shops along the trails serve refreshments and
supplies.
History
Sri Pada is first mentioned (as
`Samanthakuta') in the Deepawamsa, the earliest Pali chronicle, (4th
century), and also in the 5th century chronicle Mahawamsa, where it is
stated that the Buddha visited the mountain peak. The chronicle
Rajavaliya states that the King Valagamba (1st century BCE) had taken
refuge in the forests of Adam's Peak against invaders from India, and
later returned to Anuradhapura. The Mahawamsa again mentions the visit
of King Vijayabahu I (1058-1114) to the mountain. The famous Chinese
pilgrim and Buddhist traveler Fa Hien stayed in Sri Lanka in 411-12 CE
and mentions Sri Pada although it is not made clear whether he actually
visited it. The Arab traveler Ibn Batuta on arriving on the island in
1344 CE, and Marco Polo, have recorded their visits to Sri Pada. John
Davy (1817) was the first English traveler to visit the peak, and
recorded observing an oversized foot print carved in stone and
ornamented with a single margin of brass and studded with gems.
The Sacred Mountain
It is revered as a holy site by Buddhists,
Hindus, Muslims and Christians. It has specific qualities that cause it
to stand out and be noticed; including its dominant and outstanding
profile, and the boulder at the peak that contains an indentation
resembling a footprint. As the 1910, Encyclopædia Britannica notes "For
a long period Sri Pada was supposed to be the highest mountain in
Ceylon, but actual survey makes it only 7353 ft. above sea-level. This
elevation is chiefly remarkable as the resort of pilgrims from all
parts of the East. The hollow in the lofty rock that crowns the summit
is said by the Brahmans to be the footstep of Siva, by the Buddhists of
Buddha, by the Muslims of Adam, whilst the Portuguese Christians were
divided between the conflicting claims of St Thomas and the eunuch of
Candace, queen of Ethiopia. The footstep is covered by a handsome
roof, and is guarded by the priests of a rich monastery half-way up the
mountain, who maintain a shrine on the summit of the peak."
It is an important pilgrimage site, especially for
Buddhists. Pilgrims walk up the mountain, following a variety of
difficult routes up thousands of steps. The journey takes several hours
at least. The peak pilgrimage season is in April, and the goal is to
be on top of the mountain at sunrise, when the distinctive shape of the
mountain casts a triangular shadow on the surrounding plain and can be
seen to move quickly downward as the sun rises.
Climbing at night can be a remarkable experience, with the
lights of the path leading up and into the stars overhead. There are
rest stops along the way.
Legends
The mountain is most often
scaled from December to May. During other months it is hard to climb
the mountain due to very heavy rain, extreme wind, and thick mist.
For Buddhists, the footprint mark is the left foot of the
Buddha, left behind when Buddha visited Sri Lanka, as a symbol for
worship at the invitation of Buddhist God Saman.
Tamil Hindus consider it as the footprint of Lord Shiva. It
is also fabled that the mountain is the legendary mount Trikuta the
capital of Ravana during the Ramayana times from where he ruled Lanka.
Muslims and Christians in Sri Lanka ascribe it to where
Adam, the first Ancestor, set foot as he was exiled from the Garden of
Eden. The legends of Adam are connected to the idea that Sri Lanka was
the original Eden, and in the Muslim tradition that Adam was 30 ft
tall.
A shrine to Saman, a Buddhist "deity" (People who have spent
spiritual life during their life on earth and done pacificism service
to regions are deified by Sri Lankan Buddhists) charged with protecting
the mountain top, can be found near the footprint
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