of the earth is a practice that has prevailed from times of a very remote antiquity. And although history may not know, or may have failed to furnish, an answer to the questions when and how Buddhists, Hindus, and Moslems, came to attribute the special sanctity they do to this hollow in the rock, which all alike bow down before, and to which with one consent they render reverential homage, the subject is of too much interest to be dismissed without an attempt at investigation in these pages. Referring to the Rámayana,* the oldest known work which gives undoubted historic notices of Ceylon, it does not appear in the descriptions that are there given of events which happened 3000 or 4000 years ago, that any particular sanctity was at that ancient date accorded to the mountain; or that the worship of any special deity was connected with "The Adventures of Ráma," by the poet Valmíki, is an Indian epic poem of great antiquity, and unsurpassed interest and beauty. It refers to events considered by some chronologers to have happened upwards of 4000 years ago. In a note to Professor M. William's Indian Epic Poetry, p. 68, the following passage occurs. "How many centuries have passed since the two brothers (Ráma and Lakshmana) began their memorable journey, and yet every step of it is known, and traversed annually by thousands of pilgrims! Strong indeed are the ties of religion, when entwined with the legends of a country! Those who have followed the path of Ráma from the Gogra to Ceylon stand out as marked men among their countrymen. It is this that gives the Ramayana a strange interest; the story still lives; whereas no one now, in any part of the world, puts faith in the legends of Homer." it; but there can be no question that at a period not long subsequent, the district of which it forms the most conspicuous feature, was identified, under the name of Saman, with Lakshmana, the brother of the principal hero of the poem, by whose aid and with that of Vibhíshana, Ráwana, the king of the island was overthrown. Both Lakshmana and Vibíshana* were deified, and became the tutelary divinities of portions of the island; but the worship of the former, as an incarnation of Vishnu, the deliverer and restorer, now alone maintains its hold upon the native mind, especially in connection with the great Saman déwále near Ratnapura, and the Samanala mountain, of which he is still believed by both Buddhists and Hindus to be the potent guardian god. During Buddha's lifetime, and for ages previous, this mountain was the central seat of Samanite worship in Ceylon, and the Buddhist legends impute to Saman's special entreaty the fact that Buddha stamped his foot-print upon the summit of its peak. This was of course an afterthought on the part of some one in the Buddhist hierarchy, in order * Vibhíshana is stated in the Rajawaliya to have succeeded to the throne of Lanka on the death of his brother, which event occurred 1844 years before Buddha, or в. c. 2387; and to have fixed his Capital at Kelaniya, his sovereignty extending over a large extent of country long since submerged by the ocean. To Lakshmana was assigned the sovereignty of the Western and Southern parts of the island, the laws of which he much improved. The groves of scarlet rhododendron trees which clothe the eastern slopes of the Samanala from base to summit are dedicated to him. to add weight to the claim upon the belief of the worshippers of Saman that Buddha was the Lord supreme, whom even Gods adored, just as the early Buddhist missionaries taught the serpent worshippers, that the king of the Nágas (cobras) recognised and protected Gautama when he attained the Buddhahood—a legend thus commemorated by Srí Ráhula of Totagamuwe in his poem "Sela Lihini Sandése," written A. D. 1444. Thence to the Serpent chamber, where good it is and meet For there to eye depicted is seen how by the lake- In his sixth week the rains, from ten directions falling, The earliest approach to an authentic record of the mountain having been dedicated to Buddha, as well as to Saman, or Sumana, is that contained in the 32nd chapter of the Mahawanso. It is there recorded that the king Duṭṭhagámini, being at the point of death at Anuradhapura, [B. c. 140,] * "The Sella's Message." The Text, and a literal Translation, with Notes and a Glossary for the use of Students, was published in 1867, by W. C. Macready, Esq., of the Ceylon Civil Service. †The Mahawanso, which literally means "Genealogy of the Great," is considered by competent scholars, "an authentic and unrivalled record" of the national history of Ceylon. It is written in Páli verse, and was compiled from annals in the vernacular languages existing in Anuradha wished for the presence of the thero Théraputtábhayo, one of his old military chiefs who had entered the priesthood, and that the said thero, "who was resident at the Panjali mountain at the source of the river Karindo, cognizant of his meditation, attended by a retinue of 500 sanctified disciples and by their supernatural power travelling through the air,* descended, and arranged themselves round the monarch." The king lamenting his approaching end, was consoled by the thero. Recounting all his pious deeds, the dying king at last said, that of them all two only " administered comfort to his mind." The thero, referring to one of these-a donation of a mess of kangu seed to five eminent theros in a time of great faminesaid "the chief thero, Máliyadéwo, one of the five priests who had accepted the kangu mess, dividing the same among 500 of the fraternity resident at the mountain Sumano, pura. The record of events up to A. D. 301, was written by Mahánámo, uncle of the reigning king Dhátu Sena, between the years 459 and 477. The subsequent portions were composed from time to time, by order of the kings, from the national records. The first thirty-eight chapters were translated into English, and printed by the Hon'ble George Turnour in the year 1837. * The distance in a direct line from Anuradhapura cannot be less than 110 miles; the Panjali mountain being one of a range about 40 miles west of Adam's Peak. The river Karindo is that now known as the Kirindi oya. More than twenty-eight centuries ago the wisest of kings declared that there was nothing new under the sun. May not Gautama Buddha and his principal followers have been acquainted with what in modern days is termed Mesmerism, and a state of clairvoyance be understood to mean their supernatural power of travelling through the air? himself also partook of it." This passage certainly intimates that the mountain Sumano (the same as the Samanala) was believed to be a place of residence for priests at that time; but it does not settle the point as to whether the mountain peak was then a place of pilgrimage, and the alleged foot-print an object of worship. A tradition of a later period, current in the locality, with much of probability in its favor, attributes to king Walagambáhu the discovery of the Srí-páda* on the mountain top. This king ascended the throne B. C. 104, and after a reign of five months was driven from it by Malabar invaders. For 14 years and 7 months following, he wandered a fugitive amongst the hills and fastnesses of the mountain districts, dwelling in caves and supporting himself by means of the chase. During this period, while living on the Samanala mountain at Bhagawálena (Buddha's cave), he saw a deer in the distance which he resolved to kill: to his surprise however, he could not approach near enough to secure it, the deer keeping just beyond his reach, slackening or increasing its pace or stopping altogether, in exact accord with its pursuer's movements. In this way the king was led to the top of the mountain, and when there the deer suddenly vanished. On reaching the spot Walagambáhu discovered the Srí-páda; and it was then revealed to him that in this manner the god Sekrayá, to whom Buddha had entrusted the care of Ceylon and Buddhism, had chosen to make known to him the spot on * "Srí páda"-Sacred Foot-print. |