had, without doubt, a common origin. The express object of Buddhaghósa's visit to Ceylon, was to translate from Sinhalese into Pali the Atthakathás on, as well as the text of the Pitakas, but during his residence in the island, he himself composed additional comments, regarding which one of the most learned priests of the present day remarked, "that any one who read them through would be able to fulfil the office of Sangha Rajá, or supreme ruler of the priesthood." But at the same time, "they abound much more with details of miraculous interposition than the Pitakas they profess to explain," and as there is absolutely nothing in the text of the Winiyapitaka respecting the alleged foot-mark, to give occasion to the extract quoted from the comment, it seems evident that Buddhaghósa embodied in his commentary, as in a kind of common-place book, everything that in any way tended to the glorification of Buddha, however remotely connected it might be with the special subject he had on hand. *The Dipawansa, or history of the Island, written in Pali, perhaps a century and a half earlier than the Mahawansó, is the oldest known book in which the legend is stated. Both Buddhaghósa and Mahanáma seem to have been indebted to its pages for what they have written on this particular subject. † HARDY'S Manual of Buddhism, p. 512. HARDY'S Eastern Monachism, p. 171. Adam's Peak. "All the giant mountains sleep Shining into distant lands Like a new-created star." J. MONTGOMERY. CHAPTER II. NOTICES OF THE PEAK AND FOOT-PRINT BY EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITERS.-ACCOUNTS BY MARCO POLO, SIR JOHN MAUNDEVILLE, CAPTAIN RIBEYRO, ROBERT KNOX, AND THE DUTCH HISTORIAN VALENTYN. THE Gnostics, in framing their theological system, made Adam rank as the third emanation of the Deity; and in a manuscript of the fourth century, containing the Coptic version of the discourse on " Faithful Wisdom," attributed to Valentinus, the great heresiarch of that early corruption of Christianity, there occurs the oldest recorded mention of the sacred foot-print of "the primal man." The veneration they cultivated for Ieû, (the mystic name they gave to Adam) the protoplast of the human race, seems, after their dispersion under persecution, to have been communicated by them to the Arabs, and it was probably under this influence that Mohammad recognized him in the Kurán, as the "greatest of all patriarchs and prophets," and the "first of God's vicegerents upon earth." It does not appear, however, that pilgrimages were at any time made by Christians, as acts of devotion, to the sacred foot-print. The Portuguese authorities, when they became interested in the affairs of Ceylon, were not at all inclined to believe in the impression, as being that of the foot-print of Adam; some attributing it to St. Thomas, and others to the Eunuch of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia. Percival, in his account of the island, apparently adopting this view, states, page 208, that "the Roman Catholics have taken advantage of the current superstitions to forward the propagation of their own tenets; and a chapel which they have erected on the mountain, is yearly frequented by vast numbers of black Christians of the Portuguese and Malabar races." But in this respect he seems to have fallen into an error; there are no traces of such a chapel on the mountain at the present day, nor does it appear, upon inquiry, that there had been any such in former times. Probably, when writing his work, he had present to his recollection traditions of the old Roman Catholic church, which in the times of the Portuguese stood on the spot now occupied as the great Saman Déwale, about a couple of miles from Ratnapura, in which city there is * Sir J. E. TENNENT'S Ceylon, vol. ii. p. 135. still a body of Roman Catholics, and a small chapel where they assemble for worship. Early Christian travellers have not failed to make mention of the Peak in the narratives they have left of their voyages and travels to the far East. Chief amongst these stands Marco Polo, the celebrated Venetian whose travels through the dominions of the Emperor Kublai Khan and adjacent countries, A. D. 1271-1295, led Sansivino, the historian of the city of Venice, to call him "the first before Columbus who discovered new countries." He thus refers (book III. ch. xxiii.) to the traditions that connect the mountain of Zeilan with both Adam and Buddha. "I am unwilling to pass over certain particulars which I omitted when before speaking of the island of Zeilan, (ch. xix.) and which I learned when I visited that country in my homeward In this island there is a very high voyage. mountain, so rocky and precipitous that the ascent to the top is impracticable, as it is said, excepting by the assistance of iron chains employed for that purpose. By means of these some persons attain the summit, where the tomb of Adam, our first parent, is reported to be found. Such is the account given by the Saracens. But the idolaters assert that it contains the body of Sogomon-barchan,* the founder of their religious system, and whom they revere as a holy personage. Evidently a corruption of the terms Sákya-muni, chief sage of the Sákya race; and Bhagawat, supreme spirit; commonly used by Buddhists to designate Gautama Buddha. He was the son of a king of the island,* who devoted himself to an ascetic life, refusing to accept of kingdoms or any other worldly possessions, although his father endeavoured, by the allurements of women, and every other imaginable gratification, to divert him from the resolution he had adopted. Every attempt to dissuade him was in vain, and the young man fled privately to this lofty mountain, where, in the observance of celibacy and strict abstinence, he at length terminated his mortal career. By the idolaters he is regarded as a saint. The father, distracted with the most poignant grief, caused an image to be formed of gold and precious stones, bearing the resemblance of his son, and required that all the inhabitants of the island should honour and worship it as a deity.† Such was the origin of the worship. of idols in that country; but Sogomon-barchan is still * Marco Polo is here in error. Gautama Buddha was the Prince Siddartha, son of king Suddhódana, who reigned at Kapilawastu, a city on the borders of Nepal; he was born in a garden near that city in the year B. c. 624.-HARDY's Eastern Monachism, p. 1. † PHILALETHES, in his History of Ceylon, ch. xxiii., gives a similar account; they both originated in traditions concerning Buddha current amongst the Sinhalese. The translation and publication of the Mahawansó and other ancient native histories, and the learned researches of Turnour, Gogerly, Hardy, Max Müller, D'Alwis and others, regarding the life of Buddha, and the origin of Buddhism, have cleared up much that was obscure in the matter of these traditions, and shew, that while they teem with fanciful fiction and imaginary legend, they also contain a fair proportion of historic truth. |