linen, their clothes, and all they have on them in it. They are persuaded that the place is holy, and they think that by these ablutions their sins are washed away.* "After these superstitious observances, they clamber to the top of the mountain by chains which are attached to it, and without which it would not be possible to mount, so steep is the ascent from the plain to the top, and there still remains to be achieved a distance of quarter of a league. A person leaving the foot of the mountain very early in the morning will hardly reach its summit till two in the afternoon.† "On the top of the Peak there is a large open square, 200 paces in diameter, and in the middle there is a very deep * In chapter viii. of his history, Captain Ribeyro says, that the Queen Donna Catharina, widow of king Wimala Dharma [A. D. 1592—1627], married Senáratana, the brother of her deceased husband, who at the time of the king's death, was a priest "living in penitence on Adam's Peak." The native historians relate, that on the marriage of Senáratana, he was raised to the throne, and reigned for a period of seven years. He was succeeded by his son Rája Sinha II., during whose reign of fifty years the Portuguese were expelled from Ceylon, being first driven by the king from all their possessions excepting their fortified towns on the sea-coast, after which, with the aid of the Dutch, he succeeded in finally expelling them from these; he then, by treaty with his allies, transferred to them the whole of the coast, with the exception of Batticaloa and Puttalam. It was while at Batticaloa, that Robert Knox and his companions were captured by order of Rája Sipha II. This is about the time required, taking Palábaddala as the starting point. lake of the finest water possible. Thence issue those streams of which we have just spoken, and which collecting their waters at the foot of the mountain form the three largest rivers of the island.* "Near the lake there is a flat stone bearing the impression of a man's foot, two palms long and eight inches broad; this impression is so well engraved that it could not be more perfect if it were done on wax. All the heathens profess great veneration for this relic, and assemble at the Peak from all places to see it and render it their homage, and to fulfil vows which they make regarding it. On the left of the stone are some huts of earth and wood where the pilgrims dwell: and on its right is a pagoda or temple, with the house of the priest, who resides there to receive offerings and to relate to the pilgrims the miracles which have been wrought on the spot, and the favours and blessings which have attended those who have come thither on pilgrimage; and he never fails to impress on the minds of his hearers the antiquity and holiness of that stone, which they wish the heathens to believe is the imprint of the foot of our first father.† * The statement respecting the lake and the streams is erroneous. There is however a small well near the top of the Peak. Ribeyro seems not to have known that the Sinhalese attributed the foot-print to Buddha. He probably obtained his information from a Mohammadan source. His account of the size of the foot-print differs considerably from the reality. Its present length and breadth is about four times larger than the dimensions stated in the text. "Some trees have been planted round the stone to render the spot more venerable in appearance; and in order that the heathens may have no doubt as to the holiness of the place, the priest declares to them that two smaller mountains at the side of the Peak have stooped and bowed down before. the sanctity of this mountain.* No man of common sense would believe this, any more than that the impression was made by a human foot, as the man who made it must have been of the most gigantic size; it is evident that it is the work of some heathenish hypocrite, a recluse on this spot, who sought to create a reputation for himself. "One of the rivers falling from Adam's Peak runs towards the north, crosses the Four Corles, passes through Sittawacca and Malwana, and falls into the sea near Colombo, at a place called Mutwal; another flows towards the south, and waters the Two Corles, Saffragam, the Pasdun and Raygam Corles, and falls into the sea near Caltura; but the largest and most considerable of the three rivers is that which passes near Kandy, and after crossing the kingdoms of Trincomalee and Batticaloa, discharges itself into the bay dos Arcos, near the port of Cottiar. None of these rivers have any peculiar names, but take the appellations of the places they *Sir J. E. TENNENT says, (vol. ii. p. 138,) "De Couto, in confirmation of the pious conjecture that the footstep on the summit was that of St. Thomas, asserts that all the trees of the Peak, and for half a league on all sides around it, bend their crowns in the direction of the relic; a homage which could only be offered to the footstep of an Apostle." pass in their course, receiving as they flow onwards many smaller streams which entirely intersect the island."* The assertion of the priests referred to by Ribeyro in the penultimate paragraph, is but the expression of a belief to which all true Buddhists tenaciously adhere. They appeal to the evidence of their senses; and plainly, the top of one the summits of the Béna Samanala, the mountain which nearly faces Adam's Peak in a south-westerly direction, overhangs its base with a very apparent bend; while the tall rhododendron trees which flourish on the eastern side of the Peak, appear to lean over in the direction of the footprint, as their branches rise above the wall of the platform which surrounds the rock that bears it. There, they say, you have, on either hand, a miraculous proof of the divine supremacy of Buddha, and the sanctity of the seal of his power which he has impressed upon the mountain top. Five centuries and a half ago this belief, then as firmly held as now, was again and again referred to in the Samantakúṭa-wannaná, a poem descriptive of the Peak, and the origin of the Foot-print; and from which De Couto and others seem to have derived much of their information. * This statement is not wholly correct. The first of the rivers named is the Kelani-ganga, the second the Kalu-ganga. Both of these have their origin in the western slopes of the Samanala range of mountains, but not from Adam's Peak direct. The third is the Mahawelliganga, the source of which is in Pedurutalágala, the highest mountain in Ceylon. One of its tributaries however flows from the eastern slopes of the Samanala range. The following stanza is a fair sample of the poem: මාලා වතංස සමකා ගිරයො සමන්තා Like canopies and garlands fair became the rocks around; Robert Knox, in that most interesting account he has given of Ceylon in the narrative of his twenty years' captivity in the interior, during the reign of Rája Sinha II., makes *The author of Samantakúta-wannaná is generally believed to have been one WE'DE'HA, the chief priest of a temple called Patiraja Piriwena, who also wrote the Pali work Padya-madhu, and to whom is generally attributed the authorship of the Sidat Sangaráwa, the oldest known Grammar of the Sinhalese language. He lived in the reign of king Pandita-Parakkramabáhu IV. A. D. 1320-1347. The Samantakúṭawannaná is a poem containing upwards of 500 stanzas, and describes, in flowing Pali verse, the legends which narrate the circumstances that led to the impression of Buddha's foot-print upon the summit of the Samantakúṭa. Vide Introduction to the Sidat Sangaráwa, by JAMES D'ALWIS. pp. clxxxii, clxxxiii, and celxxxi. Colombo, 1852. |