Adam’s peak is Ceylon’s most famous
mountain (224.19m) although it is not as high as “Piduruthalagala, Kirigalpotta
or thotapalakandha”. It is a sacred mountain to Buddhist.
All the early travelers refer to it in
connection with Ceylon. “Marco Polo”, who visited the island about the year A.D
1293, says “In this island there is a very high mountain, so rocky &
precipitous that the ascent to the top is impractible, as it is said, expect by
the assistance of iron chains employed for that purpose. By means of these some
persons attained the summit, where the tomb of Adam, our first parent, is
supposed to be found. Such is the account given by the Saracens.
About fifty years later, “Iban Batuta”,
the Moroccan who ascended the mountain speaks of the chains, of the trees of
the “leaves which never falls” & of the “flowers of various colors with the
red roses” there were no doubt the rhododendrons. Another fourteenth century travelers; the floren tine friar
marignolli,writes, “On the high mountain of which we have spoken, perhaps after
paradise the highest mountain on the face of the earth, some think is paradise
itself. But this is mistaken ; for the name shows the contrary.. & from seyllan
to paradise (he adds) according to what the natives say after the tradition of
their fathers, is a distance of forty Italian miles.
The peak is seen far more readily from
the sea than from the land when it is not shrouded by mists & fogs. Arab
traders who came to Ceylon from the beginning of the Christian era, or even
before saw the peak in the distance in changing colors according to the time of
day. They came to accept the tradition that Adam & Eve found a home in the
sacred mountain after they were expelled from paradise. They called it “Father
Adam’s Mountain” Baba-Adam-mail & later, pico de Adam.
After the steep climb through mountain
paths & forest one arrive at the peak. The summit is of elliptic form &
is surrounded by a parapet about five feet high. Within the enclosure, which is
called the “Maluwa” a level space of irregular breadth runs all the ways round.
In the middle is a rock nine feet at the highest point. In the centre of it is
a hollow exhibiting the outline of a foot print.
King “Walagambahu” (First century B.C)
is said to have discovered the foot print. Driven into exile by the Tamil invaders he wandered in
the jungles around the peak. One day he saw a deer in the distance which lured
him to the top of the mountain & vanished. The foot print according to the
Buddhist tradition is that the “Gauthama Buddha” . the “Mahawanshaya” states
“when the teacher, compassionate to the world, had preached the doctrine there
(At Kelaniya) he rose, left the trace of his foot step, plain to sight on samanthakuta
& after he had spend the day as it pleased him, on the side of the mountain
with the brotherhood, he set forth to” Dighavapi”.
Some have claimed that the ture
impression of the foot was left on a precious stone produced for the purpose by
the “God Saman” which lies buried beneath the large rock & that the foot
print on the exposed hollow is an artificial print cut to the order of a
Sinhalese king. Vishnuite Hindus associate the peak with saman, worshipped in
India as Lakshman. The saivities claim that the foot print is that of “Siva”.
The Sinhalese call the mountain sripada & sometimes “Samanalakandha or
Samanthakuta Paruwatha” . the Portuguese writer De COuto refers to a tradition
that the impression on the rock is a mark left by Saint Thomas
The majority of pilgrims climb the peak
during the north-east monsoon when it is not covered by the mist, fog &
rain. There are several routes, of which the most popular is that via maskeliya
after detraining at Hatton. Vehicles halt near the Dalhousie tea factory &
the climb of begins about a mile from there. Many pilgrims stop at the “Sitha
Gangula” , bathe & wear clean clothes before resuming the climb. There are
flights of steps in the steeper parts & the ascent. Lies through forest
tracks. A rock which marks the base of the cone of the peak is called “
Indi-Katu-Pana where there are resting places or “Ambalama”. The last lap from
Indi-Katu-Pana to the summit is over a precipitous surface, but the pilgrim is
helped by ladders, iron railings & chains. Three hours is about the
shortest time that even the most athletic climber will take to reach the top.
The Rathnapura route is more strenuous. A
motor road takes one as far as carney estate at Gilimale. Between the gilimale
& the summit, the ascent upward of
2128.6m is made in less that 14.48km. there are other routes from Dehiowita
& Kuruwita, respectively, which meet the Rathnapura route at Heramitipana.
Most pilgrims reach the peak in the early hours of the morning to see the sun
rise & the wonderful phenomenon called “the shadow of the peak “
This is how the Bella Sidney Woolfs
describes it : to those waiting for the dawn on the summit of the peak, the sun
takes a long while to rise. It is bitterly cold. Below lies a drift of snowy
cloud pierced by dark peaks, a mysterious no Man’s land. Slowly the clouds turned
to gold & rose pink- roll away, the sun comes up like a golden ball &
mile upon mile of mountain & plains is revealed. As soon as the sun is up
the famous shadow of the peak appears to westward. It lies like a huge dark
cone across the country- some times of a blue so vivid that no word describes
the intensity of the color. As the sun rise higher it fades away. It is an
extra-ordinary apparition-a fitting climax to a night spent on the peak.
