Pilgrim's progress

Legend and history of Adam's Peak:

by K.G.H. Munidasa

Perhaps, there is hardly any mountain in the world, which is held in such sanctity and veneration or redolent of legend and history as Adam's Peak or Sri Pada.

According to Buddhist tenets, it was on the special entreaty of God Saman, tutelary guardian of Samantha Kuta, that Lord Buddha visited the Peak and left His footprint on the summit.

The Mahavansa records the event thus:- "When the Teacher, compassionate to the world, had preached the doctrine there (at Kelaniya). He rose and left the traces of His footstep plain to sight on Samantha Kuta, and after He had spend the day as it pleased Him on the side of the mountain, with the brotherhood, He left forth to Digavapi."
 

Tradition has it that it was in honour of God Saman that the butterflies had taken the name of "Samanalayo." This accounts for the popular story, which is told when large flights of butterflies are seen moving in one direction that they are making for the Peak to do homage to the sacred footprint.

Many are the legends relating to the discovery of Adam's Peak and the sacred footprint there, being recounted during the annual pilgrim season, and of which one runs as follows:- King Nissanka Malla of Polonnaruwa found to his dismay that Jasmine flowers in his garden were mysteriously disappearing in the night, and wanted, somehow or other, to apprehend the thief.

The king sent out a decree offering a reward equal to the weight of an elephant to anyone, who could catch the flower thief. But should anyone accept the challenge and fail in the effort he would be summarily punished with death.

No one came forward to take the risk but, finally, a cripple volunteered to try his hand. He spent the night in a hut in the royal gardens, reciting poetry. In the middle of the night he heard a gentle tap on the door of the hut and inquired who it was.

"We are fairies and we would like to listen to your singing!" came the reply. The cripple hit upon an idea to trap one of the fairies and announced that owing to his physical disability he was unable to get up and open the door. However, should anyone of them lend him her apparel he would be miraculously cured and be able to do so.
 

A fairy dropped her apparel into the room. But the cripple would neither open the door nor return the dress. The fairy pleaded with the cripple to give her apparel back, but in vain. And finally, all the other fairies left, leaving behind their companion who had lent her apparel.

The next morning the cripple returned the apparel to the fairy and lead her before the King. Upon being questioned by the king, she confessed that the flowers were picked for the purpose of worshipping the sacred footprint on the summit of Samanala Kande. Then she showed to the King and his followers the way to the sacred footprint by dropping flowers along the route.

There is the story of how King Walagambahu discovered the footprint. The king, driven into exile by the Malabar invaders, was wandering as a fugitive in the mountains for many years, living on jungle herbs and fruits.

One day he was resting in a cave on the slopes of the Samanala Kande, when he spied a deer in a glade. On impulse, the king approached the animal. The deer moved into the tree jungle, followed by the king, slackening its pace or stopping altogether as the king did, in his tracks.

Eventually, they reached the top of the mountain, where on the very summit of the peak as if by some miracle the deer vanished from view. The king hurried to the spot and there, lo and behold, discovered the footprint on the rock.

It is believed that it was since this chance discovery of Walagambahu that the pilgrimage to Adam's Peak commenced.

The route from Ratnapura to the Peak via Gilimale, being steep and entailing sixteen miles of arduous climbing, is supposed to be the most meritorious from the pilgrims' point of view. The ascent begins at Palabaddala. This village is the location of a pathetic story involving a very poor pilgrim.

A long time ago a destitute man embarked on a pilgrimage to the Peak, by himself. He carried with him a parcel of stale vegetables to appease his hunger on the way.

Towards mid-day seated in the shady bank of a stream he opened the parcel to partake of the meal, when to his utter amazement he found that the vegetables had miraculously turned to cooked rice, hence the popular name "Pala-bath Dola", literally meaning Vegetable rice-stream.

Lini Hela the next resting place of the pilgrims on the route is perched on a narrow ledge of the rock, which curves round a deep gorge. This was the locale of a stunning tail of woe. Once upon a time a young mother by the name of Nili lived there in a hut with her son. Her hut was a popular rendezvous of the crowds of pilgrims during the season.

One morning she washed some items of linen and put them to dry on a shrub by the edge of the precipice. Later in the day she sent her little son to fetch the clothes. In his efforts to do so the child climbed up the bushy tree, while the mother watched from the doorstep.

The shrub leaned over with the extra weight and suddenly lowered towards the edge of the precipice. The mother realizing the danger at once ran forward and clasped the child to her heart. But it was too late and the tree went over with a crash. Locked in each others arms, mother and child were hurled through space on to the giddy depths below, where the waving tops of the great big trees hid them forever from view.

From then on, as the parties of pilgrims go past Lini Hela, the story is told and retold. Learning over the precipice, one or another would cry out "Nili Akka" (sister Nili). From the apparently bottomless depths there comes a reply. The lofty crags take up the cry, which is thrown hither and thither, merging eventually in to a hum in the distance. The legends and stories which have sprung up in association with the pilgrimage to Adam's Peak over the years are diverse.

Some of them may have become obsolescent with the passage of time. Yet, the epic pilgrimage to the holy mountains is sure to go on in the centuries to come, thus creating more captivating stories for future generations.