Samanala Mountain:

The religious and aesthetic appeal

By Amal HEWAVISSENTI

As I stood gazing atop Mount Samanala, (Sri Pada or Adam's Peak), the fog had lifted and revealed a landscape of mountains against the green leafy expanse tapering off to the far horizon. Below, from the base of the mountain, the track snaked dangerously upward and white dots of people were moving towards the top of the mountain in a continuous flow.

My spirits soared to have seen the mysteriously charming but dark atmosphere hovering over the valleys, hills and plains below and strange coloration of sky early in the morning. Whether the visitor is a Buddhist, Christian, Muslim or Hindu, he is strongly gripped by a sense of awe and respect for the hallowed nature of the peak.

A view of Mount Samanala

The footprint of the Buddha carved on stone, and the altar stacked with Buddhist devotional symbols and sacred objects add to the overall religious solemnities of the place.

It is interesting to note that this attractive "Samanthakoota" with a conical peak was aptly compared to the coil of hair worn by the 'Woman Lanka' by ancient Sinhalese poets. Situated in the Ratnapura district and linked with God Saman, Sri Pada mountain is conspicuously visible from most parts of the island.

The mount Samanala which towers some staggering 2238 metres above sea level is an ideal place for sighting natural miracles at sunrise, through a nature lover's eyes. this mountain of age-old worship has an exclusive visiting season in which millions of people stream up the seemingly perilous ascent with ever increasing zeal undisturbed by the prospect of fatigue.Though the season spans from December to May, we identify the period from January to April as the most desirable period with themost favourable weather conditions prevailing on the Samanala range.

People of multiple faiths adore the great One who sanctified the place once and there is a baffling array of beliefs and opinions about the religious significance of this peak. Be that as it may, some foreign travellers such as priest Fahien, priest Huent Sien, Abuseyad Haisen (an Arab), Lishin Huo (a Chinese) and Ibr Burdabe (a Persian) are recorded to have been highly fascinated by this legendary mountain centuries back.

Ira Sewaya

Anyone who is totally impressed by freakishly natural phenomena at sunrise or sunset, may tend to attribute supernatural element to the place. yet, the real process of Ira Sewaya is of entirely different scale, if you gaze at the Eastern horizon, just before the daylight appears in the sky, you could catch a rather off-beat spectacle of the sun appearing and disappearing beneath the horizon - one of Sri Lanka's perhaps the world's unmissable sights.

The sky undergoing spectacular transformations in colours, bears a surprising resemblance to a lovely evening portrayed by an experienced painter. Then the viewer sees that the sun is bobbing on the horizon as Ira Sewaya tricks his eyes from afar. Through the colourful layers of clouds, the sun at times shows considerably higher than the horizon and at times lower to it giving the viewer the illusion of a possible shaking of the sun.

A few minutes after the panoramic bobbing up of the sun's image, the real sun gradually appears recognizable to the naked eye, through the range of clouds of different colours. This is the real "miracle" of Ira Sewaya. The devotees look on with open-mouthed wonderment when the rather bright real sun begins to show up somewhat lower than the point in the sky which the earlier "false" image of the Sun has risen to.

Mechanism

My friend who is a teacher of science in a government school and who joined me in the arduous hike, seemed to be uncontrollably impressed with the sighting of Ira Sewaya in action.

This spectacular view of Ira Sewaya made my friend give a scientifically passable interpretation for the natural situation noted only to be seen from mountain tops.

Accordingly as he said, the freakish bobbing of the sun before dawn is readily observable from most mountain peaks in the world and aeroplanes flying at a higher level. However, a cloudless sky and a clear, fog-free atmosphere are the essential pre-requisites for a perfect sighting of Ira Sewaya at eastern horizon.

According to my friend, the teacher, the sun's rays which travel through transparent atmosphere, generally encounter different layers of density, particles and small holes in the air. The rays are then thrown into a complex process, when the sun's rays meet the different physical conditions of the atmosphere, they create impressive optical illusions such as the rainbow, halo and the particular Ira Sewaya, to be easily captured by naked eye in various occasions.

Generally, the rays of light from the sun (before the dawn ) do not directly reach the eyes of the person standing atop the mountain. Instead, the sun's rays from eastern horizon reach his eyes through the highly dense layers of gas close to the earth.

Then the sun's rays are refracted to the ground at a wide angle through different layers of atmospheric gases. This refracted rays sun's light create an optical illusion of a "sun" to the viewer's eyes though the real sun is still in visible below the horizon.

The relative movements of sun and earth thus create multiple images of the sun to reach the viewer's eyes even before the dawn. Yet the images can, under no circumstances, be counted.

As these "false" images of the sun are naturally positioned in different points of the sky above the horizon, the viewer is led to believe that the sun is moving up and down. the refraction process creates millions of sun's images above the horizon within a few minutes.

However it, becomes surprisingly obvious to the viewer that the play of sun's images (reflections) above the eastern horizon comes into the final stage with the rising of the sun and soon the mountain peak is resounded with a myriad voices chanting Sadhu.

The visiting season of Sri Pada is ceremonially launched with a perahera which commences from the Saman Devale of Ratnapura. People of all faiths from different parts of the island visit the mountain top and engage in devotional rites or enjoy the picturesque view around it.

Old days

A few decades ago climbing the Samanala mountain was a pleasurable experience but so arduous and hazardous the journey proved to be that the people believed it would determine their destinies of life. It is said that a person who was to set off on pilgrimage to Sri Pada mountain had to make arrangements for months and transfer all his valuables and property to his closest relative who was to be a stay-at-home.

They had a fine practice of taking preserved sweets tucked away inside a light bag called Sehelluwa and chanting verses of Thunsarana till they reached the peak. People used to cling on to huge iron chains fixed on the rocky surface and clamber to the top with possible chances of their lives being sacrificed in the ordeal.

In contrast to the situation in the old days, visiting Samanala mountain has been highly facilitated today .the Samanala region which is the lifeblood of most precious trees and the spring for five major rivers has been plunged into a deplorable condition by man's activity.

The indiscriminate burning of the forest covering has posed a major threat to the aesthetic value and the eco-balance of this natural treasure. People have virtually turned the Samanala Adawiya into a garbage site of empty plastic bottles, polythene bags and other forms of obnoxious rubbish.

Finally it is the collective responsibility of pilgrims, visitors or devotees to leave the place as they first entered it.