The Holy Footprint


Jutting sharply skyward from the lush jungles of southwestern Sri Lanka
is the 7362 foot peak of Sri Pada, the 'Holy Footprint'. Buddhist
pilgrims climb the 7242ft high mountain to honor the legendary
footprint of Buddha. Also called Adam's Peak, the mountain has the
unique distinction of being sacred to the followers of four of the
world's major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam.
Long before the development of these religions, however, the mountain
was worshipped by the aboriginal inhabitants of Sri Lanka, the Veddas.
Their name for the peak was Samanala Kanda; Saman being one of the four
guardian deities of the island. For Hindus, the name of the mountain is
Sivan Adi Padham, because it was the world-creative dance of the god
Shiva that left the giant footprint (5 feet 7 inches by 2 feet 6
inches). According to Buddhist traditions from as early as 300 BC, the
real print is actually beneath this larger marking. Imprinted on a huge
sapphire, it was left by the Buddha during the third and final of his
legendary visits to Sri Lanka. When Portuguese Christians came to the
island in the 16th century they claimed the impression to be the
footprint of St. Thomas who, according to legend, first brought
Christianity to Sri Lanka. And finally, the Arabs record it as being
the solitary footprint of Adam where he stood for a thousand years of
penance on one foot. An Arab tradition tells that when Adam was
expelled from heaven, God put him on the peak to make the shock less
terrible - Ceylon being that place on earth closest to and most like
heaven.

The mountain is more easily seen from the sea than from land, and also
more impressive. Early Arab seafarers fascinated with the pyramidal
peak wrote of it as "the highest mountain in the world" (it is not even
the highest in Sri Lanka), and "visible from three days sail". The
ancient Sinhalese also believed it to be of great height and a native
legend tells "from Seyllan to Paradise is forty miles, and the sound of
the fountains of Paradise is heard here". Visited by many early world
travelers, among them the Arab Ibn Batuta (1304-1368) and the Venetian
Marco Polo (1254-1324), Adam's Peak attained a legendary status as a
mystic pilgrimage destination. Today the pilgrimage season commences in
December and continues until the beginning of the monsoon rains in
April (from May to October the mountain is obscurred by clouds).
Certain parts of the path leading up the mountain are extremely steep
and the climbing chains secured in these sections are said to have been
placed by Alexander the Great (365-323 BC), though there is no evidence
that he made it this far south on his Asia travels. Atop the peak is an
oblong platform (74 x 24 feet) where stands a small Buddhist temple and
the shrine of Saman with the strange footprint. Votive offerings are
made here, especially of a coil of silver as long as the donor is tall,
for recovery from sickness; and rain-water taken from the footprint is
known to have a wonderful healing power. Adam's Peak is also called
Samanalakande or the 'butterfly mountain' because of the myriads of
small butterflies that fly from all over the island to die upon the
sacred mountain.

http://hjem.get2net.dk/futtrup/srilanka/adam/adamspeak.html
http://sripada.org/

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