ASCENT OF ADAM’S PEAK
Adam’s Peak—The Sri Pada, or Holy Foot—Footprints in Britain—In Sicily—
Of Vishnu—Of St. Thomas—Of Hercules—Of Montezuma—Of Buddha and Siva—
Adam and Moses—Ascent of Allegalla, Kurunegalla, and Adam’s Peak.
The first impressions of the traveller approaching Ceylon must in a
great measure depend on the state of the atmosphere. In some seasons he
will see only the monotonous levels of the low country; at other times
the mountain ranges of the interior are clearly visible, the whole
crowned by one sharp pinnacle, about fifty miles inland from Colombo.
That pinnacle is pointed out to him as Adam’s Peak; but if he knows
aught of the story of the Isle, he will know that is only the name given
to it by foreigners, and founded on the legend as taught them by some
Mahommedan; but though called by many names, each denoting sanctity, it
is emphatically known to all inhabitants of Ceylon, of whatever creed,
as THE SRI PADA—THE HOLY FOOT, so named on account of a natural mark on
the extreme summit, which, to the eye of faith, was in remote ages in
some degree suggestive of a huge footprint, and was accordingly revered
as a miraculous token of the place having once been visited by some
supernatural being (it must have been in the days when giants walked the
earth).
As various creeds developed, the adherents of each claimed THE FOOTPRINT
as that of their own ideal, and so this particular mark has attained a
celebrity far above those on any of the numerous rocks similarly
reverenced in other lands.
And very curious it is to note in how many parts of the world certain
rocks have from time immemorial been places of sacred pilgrimage on
account of some natural indentation bearing some resemblance to a
gigantic human footprint.
These have generally been somewhat elaborated by pious hands, which
define the toes and perfect the outline, and the footprint then becomes
an object of the most devout homage to thousands of human beings, who
believe it to be the true spot of earth, hallowed for evermore by the
fact that it was the first or the last touched either by the founders of
their religion (whatever that may happen to be) or by some venerated
hero.
We need not go far for one example, for in our own little isle our
favourite British hero is thus commemorated. At Tintagel, in Cornwall,
where the ruins of King Arthur’s castle stand, on the summit of a
projecting crag rising from the sea, and connected with the mainland
only by a narrow neck of land (a spot once well-nigh inaccessible, and
only to be reached by steep steps cut in the rock), a large unshapely
mark, deeply impressed on a big boulder, is said to be the footprint of
the great pure king.
Not far off a modern footprint is shown, which, as years roll on, will
doubtless be revered as that of the great good queen, for on the pier at
St. Michael’s Mount an inlaid brass marks the first footprint of Queen
Victoria on the occasion of her visit with the Prince Consort in 1846.
As the idea of this commemoration was not mooted till after Her Most
Gracious Majesty’s departure, it was unfortunately impossible to secure
the outline of her own foot, but a boot supposed to have belonged to one
of her attendants was honoured by becoming its representative! So says
the head boatman of the castle at St. Michael’s Mount.
Students of Hindoo mythology, or travellers who have ventured to invade
the temples of Vishnu, will doubtless remember the reverence accorded to
many footprints ascribed to that god, whose votaries are distinguished
by curved lines daily painted on their forehead in white, red, or yellow
lines, as the symbol of his sacred foot or feet, as the case may be, as
different sects dispute as to the propriety of thus indicating one foot
or two. So the sect which is in favour of only one foot indicates it by
one curved line of white between the eyes, crossed by a red mark in
honour of his wife. Another sect indicates both feet resting on two
lotus blossoms; and so bitter are the disputes concerning these frontal
emblems, that as the same images are worshipped by both sects in the
same temples, ruinous lawsuits sometimes arise between the two factions
as to which mark shall be impressed on the images![207]
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Footnote 207:
See ‘In the Himalayas,’ pp. 23, 24. Chatto & Windus.
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Thus painted or engraved representations of Vishnu’s feet enter largely
into his worship. At the great annual festival held in his honour in the
month of May at Conjeveram (forty miles to the south of Madras)—a
festival which is attended by an incalculable multitude of worshippers—
one of the priests in immediate attendance on the image of Vishnu
carries a golden cup within which is engraven the likeness of Vishnu’s
feet; and the chief craving of each individual in that vast surging
throng is to struggle for a place so close to the procession that the
priest who bears the cup may let it rest for one moment on his head—a
touch ensuring blessing in this and in all future lives. ‘Wilt thou not
come and place thy flowery feet upon my head?’ is the fervent prayer of
each longing soul.[208]
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Footnote 208:
I scarcely like to compare words from Holy Scripture in this
connection, but there is a curious example of Oriental phraseology in
Isaiah lx. 14, 15, where it is written, ‘All they that despised thee
shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet.... I will make the
place of MY Feet glorious.’
-----
Knowing the policy which has led the Church of Rome in all heathen
countries as far as possible to adapt Christian legends to all objects
specially venerated by the people (thus sanctioning their continuance of
a homage which could not be at once uprooted), we need not wonder to
find Portuguese writers attributing these revered rock-marks to
Christian saints; and De Couta records how, in his time, a stone at
Colombo bore the deep impress of the knees of St. Thomas, who had
previously worn a similar hollow on a rock at Meliapore, near Madras.
How his poor knees must have ached![209]
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Footnote 209:
At Anuradhapura two marks on the granite pavement of the Ruanwelli
Dagoba are pointed out as having been worn by the knees of the devout
king Bátiya-tissa, who reigned from 19 B.C. to A.D. 9.
-----
Even at the present day, the Roman Catholic Christians of Ceylon make
pilgrimage to the footprint on Adam’s Peak, as to that of St. Thomas,
though some Portuguese writers attribute it to the eunuch of Candace. In
Valenteyn’s account he says the mountain was esteemed most sacred by the
Catholics of India, while Percival related that ‘the Roman Catholics
have taken advantage of the current superstition 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.’
Of an early Christian saint of the Western Church it is recorded by
Willebad (an Anglo-Saxon, who in the year A.D. 761 journeyed in Sicily)
that he was shown ‘her shoe-prints’ in the prison at Catania.[210]
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Footnote 210:
In a very startling list of venerated objects which the Hon. J. W.
Percy saw in Rome about the year 1850, he mentions a drawing or
tracing representing THE SOLE OF THE SHOE OF THE VIRGIN MARY, edged at
the margin with a glory, and with a star at the upper end. Within the
tracing the following notice of an indulgence is printed:
‘Hail Mary,
Most Holy,
Virgin Mother
Of God.
‘The true measure of the foot of the Most Blessed Mother of God,
_taken from her real shoe, which, with the highest devotion, is
preserved in a monastery in Spain_. The Pontiff John XXII. conceded
three hundred years of Indulgence unto whomsoever shall three times
kiss this measure and at the same time recite three Ave Marias; the
which also was confirmed by Pope Clement VIII., the year of our
Redemption, 1603.
‘This Indulgence not being limited in respect to number, may be
acquired as many times as shall be desired by the devotees of the Most
Holy Virgin Mary. It may be applied to the souls in Purgatory. And it
is to be permitted, to the greater glory of the Queen of Heaven, to
take from this measure other similar measures, the which shall have
the same Indulgence.
“Mary, Mother of Grace,
Pray for us.”’
—‘Romanism as it Exists at Rome,’ Hon. J. W. Percy, pp. 127, 128.
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In the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives a rock is shown
within the chapel having a natural cavity, described as the footprint of
our Lord. The earliest record of this mark is that by Arculf, who
mentions the impression of two footprints. Now there is only one, with
no resemblance to any foot.
In days of old, Herodotus told of a gigantic footprint on a rock near
Syras in Scythia, and which was believed to be that of Hercules; and in
the New World we find the Mexicans revering a mark on a huge block of
porphyry which they suppose to have been imprinted by the imperial foot
of Montezuma.
Few who have entered the British Museum can have failed to note the
casts of sculptures from the ancient Tope of Amravati in Southern India
which adorn the walls of the grand stairs, and the attention of many
has, doubtless, been arrested by two slabs on each of which are
sculptured only two footprints. To the devout Buddhists these double
footmarks are said to have symbolised the invisible presence of Buddha—a
tenet, however, wholly unwarranted by his own teaching.
Passing up these stairs to that corner of the new gallery which is
devoted to Buddhist mythology, we note a great stone slab on which is
sculptured one huge footprint nearly five feet in length. The whole is
covered with elaborate symbolic carving, and each toe is adorned with a
curious object like a large spiral shell. The outline of this foot is
defined by a raised border, originally carved in a pattern like
scale-armour, but at a later period this has been coated with plaster
and encrusted with bits of looking-glass and coloured glass representing
gems. All that is known of the history of this once-venerated object is
that it was brought from Burmah by Captain Marryat; but by what means he
obtained it, or to what mountain or temple it formerly attracted devout
worshippers, there is unfortunately no record.
Happily for the archæologist, the most celebrated of these great
footprints are on immovable rock-boulders.
It seems probable that there are, or have been, a considerable number of
rocks thus sanctified wherever the religion of Buddha has held sway, for
Hiouen-Thsiang, the celebrated Chinese pilgrim, who devoted the years
between A.D. 629 and 645 to visiting all the most noted shrines of
India, makes continual allusion to having seen among their sacred
objects the footprints left by Tathagata (by which name he describes
Buddha), where he walked to and fro preaching the law.
Such preaching was described as ‘turning the wheel of the law;’ hence a
simple wheel, sometimes overshadowed by the honorific umbrella, is a
frequent symbol in Buddhism;[211] and among the very ancient sculptures
at the Sanchi Tope and elsewhere we find representations of Buddha’s
feet, on which are depicted the symbolic wheel and the _swastica_ (the
latter is a peculiar mark, something between a cross and a Greek fret).
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Footnote 211:
‘In the Himalayas,’ ‘The Sacred Wheel,’ pp. 430-434. Chatto & Windus.
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Hiouen-Thsiang also relates strange legends concerning the actual feet,
telling how, when the body of Buddha was about to be burnt at
Kusinagara, after it had been swathed in a thousand napkins and enclosed
in a heavy coffin, which rested on a funeral pyre of scented wood, lo!
at that moment Tathagata revealed his feet, causing them to project from
the coffin, and his favourite disciple, Kasyapa, saw that they bore the
sign of the wheel and other marks of various colours; and as he
marvelled what these could be, the dead spoke, and told him that these
were the marks of tears, which gods and men, moved by pity, had wept
because of his death. (I may observe that two lotus blossoms bearing the
marks of Buddha’s feet are among the subjects which are most frequently
represented in the sacred pictures of Japan.)
At the present day, in the province of Behar in India, and also in Siam,
at Prabat, near Bangkok, several temples glory in the possession of
rocks exhibiting these revered traces of Gautama Buddha—doubtless the
very rocks of which Hiouen-Thsiang wrote.
A still more ancient Chinese traveller, Fa Hian, who visited Ceylon A.D.
413, tells of two sacred footprints of Fo (_i.e._, Buddha), one of which
lay quite in the north of the island. More recent Chinese writers
attribute the mark on Adam’s Peak to Pwan-koo, the first man.
Fourteen hundred and sixty years later I, too, followed the pilgrim path
to visit several such footprints. The one mentioned by Fa Hian in the
far north is now forgotten, but I found one on the summit of Allegalla
Peak, another on a mountainous mass of red rock at Kurunegalla, and a
third (which is emphatically THE FOOTPRINT) on the summit of Adam’s
Peak.
I was also shown marks—confessedly artificial—in the Buddhist temples at
Cotta and at the Alu Vihara, where they are simply revered as models of
the True Footprint on the summit of the Peak. Another at the temple of
Kelany, near Colombo, has the credit of being genuine, and is declared
by the sacred Buddhist books to be so, having been imprinted by Gautama
Buddha when he appeared on his third visit to Ceylon to preach to the
Nagas, or snake-worshippers. But this mark is imprinted on a rock in the
middle of the river, and the cool rushing waters circling around it in
ceaseless homage overflow and conceal it from the eyes of men. This is
the legend told of a deep eddy in the Kelani-Ganga.
Yet another, confessedly of recent manufacture, is shown on the summit
of the great rock of Isuru-muniya, a very ancient rock-temple at
Anuradhapura. It is reached by a flight of rock-cut steps.
A peculiarity of all these footprints is their gigantic size, the
smallest which I have seen being that on the western summit of
Allegalla, which is _only_ 4 feet 6 inches by 2 feet! Those on
Kurunegalla, and on Adam’s Peak are each 6 feet in length, as I proved
by lying down full length on them in absence of the guardian priests!
But to the eye of faith this is no hindrance, for according to
Mahommedan tradition, Adam was the height of a tall palm-tree (the tomb
at Yeddah, near Mecca, which is reverenced as that of Eve, is 70 feet in
length). Buddha likewise is said to have been 27 feet in height, and
this is about the proportion which he bears to other saints in Japanese
pictures. But in every country where he is worshipped, especially in
China and Japan, there are cyclopean images of him far taller than
that.[212]
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Footnote 212:
See page 395.
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As regards Siva and Saman, who also receive credit for the big
footprint, they, being gods, could of course assume any size they
pleased.
Most of the world’s revered footprints have been appropriated by the
Buddhists, who have not scrupled to manufacture a considerable number. I
visited one of the latter class in China, on a rock within the Temple of
the Five Genii, in the heart of the city of Canton—a temple where the
homage bestowed on the footprint is quite secondary to that accorded to
five rough-hewn stones, which represent five celestial rams, on which
the five good genii descended to Canton.[213]
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Footnote 213:
‘Wanderings in China.’ C. F. Gordon Cumming. Vol. i. p. 49.
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Even the grave Mahommedans, with all their theoretic abhorrence of
everything savouring of superstition or idolatry, reverence various
rock-marks which they affirm to have been the footprints of prophets or
great saints. Of course the most venerated relic of this class is that
at Mecca, where, within the sacred enclosure of the Kaaba (that little
temple which to all Mahommedans is the holy of holies), there is a small
building erected over a sacred stone, which they believe to have been
brought thither by Abraham, and on which he stood while building the
Kaaba. It bears the impress of his two feet, the big toes being deeply
indented. Into these, devout pilgrims pour water, and drink thereof, and
also wash their faces as a symbolic purification. This stone is always
kept covered with a veil of pure silk; it must on no account be mixed
with cotton. Three different veils are kept for use in different years,
one green, one black, and one red; all are embroidered in gold.
Another greatly revered Mahommedan relic is the footprint of Moses at
Damascus. Over this sacred rock has been built a mosque, which more than
five hundred years ago bore the name of ‘The Mosque of the Foot.’ It was
visited about the year A.D. 1324 by the celebrated Moorish pilgrim, Ibn
Batuta, who, fired with a desire to visit every place deemed sacred by
Mahommedans, started from his native city of Tangiers, and for
twenty-eight years (when travel was a very different matter to our easy
journeys now-a-days) wandered in ceaseless pilgrimage from shrine to
shrine.
At Shiraz he visited the tomb of the saintly Abu Abd Allah, who, he
says, first ‘made known the way from India to the Mountain of Serendib,’
_i.e._, Adam’s Peak in Ceylon. As this saint died early in the tenth
century, it is evident that Mahommedans had ere then accepted the
footprint on the summit of the Peak as that of Adam—an idea which,
strangely enough, they seem to have adopted from the corrupt
semi-Christian Gnostics, who borrowed a little from every creed, not
even omitting snake-worship, and who gave special pre-eminence to Adam,
as the original man.
In a Coptic manuscript of the fourth century, which is attributed to
Valentinus the Gnostic, there occurs a most curious passage, in which
our Saviour is represented as telling the Blessed Virgin that he has
appointed an angel to be the special guardian of the footstep impressed
by the foot of Ieû (_i.e._, Adam). It is understood that this passage
has reference to Adam’s Peak, and it is the oldest record we possess of
its sanctity.
The legend thus attached to it by the Gnostics was adopted by the Arabs,
and so it came to be accepted by Mahommedans in general, all of whom
reverence Adam as the purest creation of Allah, and so rank him above
all patriarchs and prophets—the first of God’s vicegerents upon earth.
As a matter of course, this Gnostic legend of the footprint was rejected
by the early Christians of purer creed, and so Moses of Chorene,
Patriarch of Alexandria, writing in the fourth or fifth century, affirms
it to be undoubtedly the mark of Satan, who alighted here when he fell
from heaven!
According to the orthodox teaching of the Koran, Paradise was not on
this earth, but in the seventh heaven; and when Adam was ejected thence,
it was he, and not Satan, who alighted on the Peak, and here he remained
standing on one foot for about two centuries, striving by penance to
expiate his crime; hence the mark worn on the rock. Poor Eve tumbled
into Arabia, and landed at Yeddah, near Mecca, whither, when these
centuries were ended, the Archangel guided Adam, who brought her back to
live in Ceylon, as the best substitute for Paradise that earth could
give. Both, however, are said to have been carried back to Mecca for
burial.
Whatever the varieties of creed that exist in this fair Isle, all alike
agree in their reverence for this one high pinnacle, and, most
marvellous to relate, all meet to worship side by side on the sacred
summit in peace and amity.
While the Mahommedans crowd here to do homage to the memory of Adam, the
Tamils[214] believe that the footprint is that of one of their gods, the
worshippers of Siva claim it as his mark, while the votaries of Vishnu
ascribe it to Saman, who, in India, is worshipped under the name of
Lakshmana. He was the brother of Rama, one of the incarnations of
Vishnu, whose invasion of Ceylon to rescue his beautiful wife, Sita,
from the demon-king, Ravana, is celebrated in the Ramayana, a nice
little epic poem of 96,000 lines! Being a descendant of the sun, Saman’s
image is always painted yellow, and to him are consecrated the scarlet
rhododendron blossoms which glorify the mountain summit.
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Footnote 214:
Some of these are the descendants of the old Malabar conquerors of
Ceylon; others are constantly being imported from the mainland by the
planters as labourers. Most of these are of the Hindoo religion.
-----
It is in his honour that the butterflies—true children of the sun—bear
the name of Samanaliya. They are supposed to be especially dear to him
because of the vast flights which sometimes stream from all parts of the
Isle, all tending in the direction of the Peak; hence it is supposed
that they, too, are on pilgrimage to do homage to the holy footprint.
(If it seems strange that the Singhalese should call their exquisite
butterflies by the name of a Hindoo god, we must remember that Buddhism
is so very accommodating and all-absorbing that many Hindoo idols are
worshipped in Buddhist temples.)
Very various are the names bestowed by all these religious bodies on the
shapely cone, which has been so well described as the sacred citadel of
ancient religions. To the Hindoos of all sects it is the Mount
Swangarrhanam, ‘The ascent to heaven;’ but the Sivites distinguish it as
Siva-noli-padam, while to the Vishnuvites it is Samanala or
Saman-takuta. To the Mahommedan Moormen it is Baba-Adamalei, which is
the equivalent of the European name Adam’s Peak, while to the Buddhist
the term SRI PADA, ‘THE FOOTPRINT,’ is all expressive.
Thus, as clouds ever float around the loftiest mountain summit, so have
the legends of many races gathered round this high pinnacle, which
consequently possesses for Oriental minds a concentrated essence of
sanctity altogether indescribable.
To the most careless traveller its natural beauty offers an irresistible
attraction, and never shall I forget my first glimpse of it as seen from
the sea, when we were still some miles distant from the coast, the
mountain apparently (though not really) far overtopping all others.
There, in the early dawn, it stood revealed—a deep-blue peak cutting
clear against a golden sky. To reach this high point became the desire
of my heart, but many months elapsed ere I accomplished it.
Meanwhile, I found welcome in a lovely home nestling high on the face of
a mountain scarcely less beautiful than Adam’s Peak, though its name is
comparatively unknown to the world in general. This is Allegalla Peak,
which towers majestically above the low wooded hills and the rice-fields
of the lowlands, its own slopes being clothed with the richest
vegetation and the lovely foliage of many varieties of palm.
On a glorious day, when not a cloud veiled the tranquil blue heaven, we
reached the summit of this Peak, which we found to be really a double
summit, connected by a rock-saddle. The eastern peak is crowned with
palms, as beseems so brave a mountain, but our steps were attracted to
the western peak, for there, on a rounded slab of rough red rock, is
imprinted the footmark to which the inhabitants of this district do
homage. I do not believe that it has any pretension to be a genuine
article, but it is a convenient representative of the true footprint on
the summit of Adam’s Peak, which, though about forty miles distant, we
saw clearly on the horizon, towering above a sea of low-lying white
mist.
[Illustration: ADAM’S PEAK, FROM MASKELYA.]
This is a perfect footmark, four feet six inches in length by two feet
in width. Before it is a rude stone altar, on which some worshippers had
laid their offering of flowers and fruit, and the clear water, which lay
in a hollow of the scorching rock, suggested that it had been carried
thither and poured out on the footprint as an act of worship. As we
looked across the sea of white mist enfolding the base of the distant
Sri Pada, a long line of swiftly-advancing light rounding the face of
the precipice far below us marked the express train rushing down from
Kandy to Colombo, suggesting a strange contrast between the pilgrims who
through so many centuries have toiled up that hill of difficulty, and
the luxurious travellers of these later days rushing on in their
ceaseless race against time.
About twenty miles to the north of Allegalla[215] is Kurunegalla, which
foreigners used to call Kornegalle, and which is said to derive its name
from a gigantic rounded mass of red rock shaped like a beetle.
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Footnote 215:
_Galla_ means rock. I had occasion to refer to these two crags in the
last chapter, but I trust my readers will excuse my recalling them in
this connection.
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Here, in the court of an ancient temple, the object of special
veneration, is a ‘Holy Foot’ cut in the rock. It is the right foot; it
is six feet in length, and points north-east. It is avowedly only a
model of the true footprint, but it has the advantage of being several
hundred years old, having been cut to assist the devotions of the
ancient kings of Kandy and the ladies of that royal house, when, in the
first half of the fourteenth century, Kurunegalla was the capital of the
kingdom, and the royal residence was situated at the base of the crag,
where, beneath the shadow of noble old trees, carved stones and broken
columns still mark the spot.
From this rock Adam’s Peak is visible in a direct line to the south, and
one of my most delightful reminiscences of Ceylon is of a moonlight
night spent on its summit. I think part of its charm lay in the
knowledge that probably not half-a-dozen white women had accomplished
the ascent, for though it really is not very difficult to a good
scrambler, it is the fashion to consider it a very great feat, and
almost all the gentlemen, who had themselves been to the summit, jeered
at the idea of my accomplishing it. It occurred to me, however, that I
could probably climb quite as well as the Singhalese and Tamil women of
all ages, who, year after year, toil up here for the good of their
souls.
In China I heard how, among the crowds of pilgrims who annually travel
from most distant districts to worship on the summit of the sacred Mount
Tai-Shan, in the province of Shantung, and who end their toilsome
journey by five miles of steep climbing, a spectator observed a company
of old women, of whom the youngest was seventy-eight and the oldest
ninety years of age. With infinite pain and toil these earnest pilgrims
had accomplished a journey of 300 miles from south of Honan, their
special object being to plead the merit of their life-long fast from
fish and flesh, and to crave a happy transmigration for their souls.
Naturally, I thought that if poor old women of fourscore and ten could
accomplish such feats as these, I need not be discouraged; so I kept
this aim ever in view during the most pleasant of pilgrimages,
travelling by easy stages from one coffee estate to another, halting at
bungalows which bear such names as Blair Athol, Glen Tilt, Moray, and
Forres, strangely homelike sounds to my ears, and suggestive of the
colony of genial Scotchmen whom I found settled in every corner.
I prefer, however, to speak of ‘Britons,’ for my kind entertainers
included men and women from England, Scotland, and Ireland. One of these
I had last known in London as a smart ‘man-about-town,’ whose special
vanity lay in his ‘gardenia button-holes.’ Here the gardenias formed a
fragrant and luxuriant hedge, but the busy planter cared more for the
snow-white flowers and scarlet cherries of the bright-green
coffee-bushes which he and his regiment of coolies had planted with so
much toil among the charred stumps of the burnt forest—tiny green bushes
in a blackened waste.
In every direction save one, we looked out on an endless expanse of
undulating mountain-ranges, all clothed with the same monotonous little
bushes, replacing the beautiful primeval forest, which, however, happily
still remained almost intact on the ranges close to the Peak, which
seemed to tower from these lower ranges right up to heaven, while in the
foreground beautiful groups of trees, spared as yet by ruthless axe and
flame, lay mirrored in the clear waters of the Mahavelli Ganga.
One comfortable home in which I was hospitably entertained has been
aptly named ‘Bunyan,’ in irresistible allusion to the ‘Pilgrim’s
Progress,’ being right on the pilgrims’ path.
When my friends found I was really bent on making the ascent, a little
band of stalwart planters soon arranged all details for a pilgrimage,
and a very pleasant one it proved. It was in the month of January, and
we were favoured with ideal weather and a faultlessly clear atmosphere.
Starting from Glen Tilt, in the Maskeliya district, we walked or rode as
far as ‘Forres,’[216] where we slept, in order to be fresh for a very
early start next morning. It lies at the very foot of the Peak, or
rather of a long shoulder, along which we toiled for four hours, till we
reached an ambulam, or pilgrims’ rest-house, at the foot of the actual
cone.
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Footnote 216:
To me a very familiar name, the town of Forres, in Morayshire, being
only three miles from Altyre, my birthplace.
-----
I had hoped that I could have been carried thus far in a dandy, which is
a strip of canvas hung on a bamboo—a mode of travelling the advantages
of which I had often proved in my Himalayan wanderings,—but as the track
lay up and down frightfully steep ravines, or else through forest so
thick that the long bamboo pole could not make its way, I had soon to
give up this attempt, and join the walkers, consoling myself for the
extra fatigue by the beauty of the undergrowth of ferns, and the
wonderful variety of lovely tints, rich madder, sienna, crimson,
delicate pink, and pale green, all due to the young foliage, which here
is ever developing all the year round.
Gay caladium leaves mingled with a profusion of delicate maidenhair
fern, while here and there wild bignonias or brilliant balsams claimed
admiration, as did also a luxuriant sort of stag’s-horn moss, and an
occasional tuft of violets or forget-me-nots.
Having started at daybreak, we were all very glad of a halt for
breakfast beneath the rough shelter of the said rest-house, which is
merely an open shed. Happily, we had brought mats of talipat-palm leaf,
which we spread on the floor and thereon rested. Only for our eyes there
was no rest, as we gazed upwards at the majestic cone shaped like a
gigantic bell, and towering right above us, cutting sharp against the
deep-blue sky. The other side of the ravine presented a front of mighty
precipices.
At this halting place there are a few tiny shops, chiefly for the sale
of curry stuffs for the pilgrims, and much we marvelled to see the
multitudes of bottles of eau-de-cologne—genuine Jean Marie Farina—at one
shilling a bottle. Of course I invested, thinking it would at least do
to burn in my Etna, but little did I guess what a villainous compound it
was, which the very irreligious merchant pawned off on devout pilgrims
as a meet offering wherewith to anoint the holy footprint.
The pilgrims are a never-failing crop. All the year round they come and
go, but their special season is at the spring festival in April and May,
just when the rains are at their height, and mountain torrents are
liable to rise suddenly and detain them for days, subject to all manner
of hardships; but these, I suppose, only add to the merits of the
pilgrimage, for the sanctity of the season prevails, and the pilgrims
press on in a continuous stream, amounting to thousands annually. The
feebleness of old age is no drawback—grey-bearded grandfathers and
wrinkled, toothless old hags are escorted by all their family, and
sometimes a tottering old granny is borne on the back of a stalwart son—
a true deed of filial devotion—while mothers help their toddling little
ones up the steep ascent which is to secure for them such special
blessing.
Some have travelled from the mainland of India, others from the farthest
districts of the Isle, long and toilsome journeys; and when they reach
the base of the holy mount, they are so near the accomplishment of their
heart’s desire, that all weariness is well-nigh forgotten, and ever and
anon the stillness of the dense forest is broken by the echo of the
shout of praise, ‘Saädu! Saädu!’ which is the equivalent of ‘Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!’
The great mass of pilgrims approach the mountain from the south _via_
Ratnapura, ‘the city of rubies,’ which, unless the accounts which have
been published are very highly-coloured, must involve far more difficult
climbing and scrambling than anything we had to do. When they have
ascended about 150 very ancient rock-hewn steps, attributed to good King
Prakrama Bahu I., himself a pilgrim, they come to a most romantic
bathing-place overshadowed by large trees. This is just above a granite
precipice, over which the Sita Ganga[217] hurls itself on to the
boulders far below.
-----
Footnote 217:
_Ganga_ means river.
-----
In these chill waters the pilgrims must bathe, and so purify themselves
ere completing the ascent of the Holy Mount along precipitous faces of
rock, where their only safety lies in gripping the iron chains which
adventurous climbers have placed here for the benefit of weaker heads.
As a matter of course, traditions, legends, and myths attach to each
rock and turn on the pilgrim path; each over-hanging cliff, each gushing
spring, each rippling rivulet that rushes down the water-worn ravines
has its own story, in many cases vague and dreamy as the mists which
float around the towering pinnacle. But as regards practical details, it
is well to consult a trustworthy pilgrim; and as Laurence Oliphant
ascended the Peak from the Ratnapura side, I may as well quote what he
says on the subject, for the benefit of anyone who may be undecided as
to which route to select. He says:—
‘We passed the night at a native house in one of the higher villages,
and leaving our horses there, on the following morning pursued our way
on foot, amid scenery which at every step became more grand and rugged,
the path in places skirting the edge of dizzy precipices, at the base of
which foamed brawling torrents.
‘The way was often rendered dangerous by the roots of large trees,
which, having become slippery by the morning mist, stretched across the
narrow path, and one of these nearly cost me my life. The path at the
spot was scarped on the precipitous hillside; at least 300 feet below
roared a torrent of boiling water, when my foot slipped on a root, and I
pitched over the sheer cliff. I heard the cry of my companion as I
disappeared, and had quite time to realise that all was over, when I was
brought up suddenly by the spreading branches of a bush which was
growing upon a projecting rock. There was no standing ground anywhere,
except the rock the bush grew upon.
‘Looking up, I saw my companion and the natives who were with us peering
over the edge above, and to their intense relief shouted that so far I
was all right, but dared not move for fear the bush would give way.
They, however, strongly urged my scrambling on to the rock; and this,
with a heart thumping so loudly that I seemed to hear its palpitations,
and a dizzy brain, I succeeded in doing.
‘The natives, of whom there were five or six, then undid their long
waistcloths, and tying them to each other, and to a piece of cord,
consisting of the united contributions of all the string of the party
and the packages they were carrying, made a rope just long enough to
reach me. Fastening this under my armpits, and holding on to it with the
energy of despair, or perhaps I should rather say of hope, I was safely
hauled to the top.
‘This adventure was not a very good preparation for what was in store
for us, when not very far from the top we reached the _mauvais pas_ of
the whole ascent. Here again, we had a precipice with a torrent at the
bottom of it on one side, and on the other an overhanging cliff—not
metaphorically overhanging, but literally its upper edge projected some
distance beyond the ledge on which we stood; it was not above forty feet
high, and was scaled by an iron ladder.
‘The agonising moment came when we had mounted this ladder to the
projecting edge, and had nothing between our backs and the torrent some
hundred of feet below, and then had to turn over the edge and take hold
of a chain which lay over an expanse of bare sloping rock, to the links
of which it was necessary to cling firmly, while one hauled one’s self
on one’s knees for twenty or thirty yards over the by no means smooth
surface.
‘My companion was so utterly demoralised that he roundly declared that
nothing would induce him to make the descent of the same place.’
I am happy to say that no such difficulties attended our ascent from the
Maskeliya, Dickoya, and Dimbula side.
Our ascent of the actual cone commenced immediately after leaving the
aforesaid rest-house. We crossed a clear crystal stream rushing downward
from the summit (such as when swollen by sudden storm might well prove a
serious hindrance to returning pilgrims). Then, entering a deep
fern-clad ravine, we struggled steadily upward, and a very stiff climb
it proved, like that of the very steepest stair up an old cathedral
tower a thousand feet high. This continued for two and a half miles,
sometimes in dark cool forest, sometimes along a face of bare
precipitous rock exposed to the scorching sun. The path is like the bed
of a watercourse, coming straight down from the summit, with thick
jungle on either side. The ravine is so narrow that it is necessary to
go single file, and it really is a serious difficulty to meet pilgrims
on their downward way. At intervals on either side of the road there are
cairns of small stones, heaped up by pilgrims, just like those on the
summit of Fuji-yama, and in the Himalayas, and in Scotland.
I got some help by passing a rope round my waist and sending two coolies
ahead with the ends of it, which gave some support and a gentle upward
impetus. Happily some royal pilgrims of old had flights of steps cut on
the almost vertical slabs of slippery rock. Some of the steps certainly
are very high, but the difficulty is greatly overrated, and in fair
weather there is no danger whatever, though the iron chains which hang
along the face of a precipice at the summit, are said to be really
necessary for the pilgrims to hold on by on stormy days; indeed, the
great iron chains by which the roof of the little shrine is affixed to
the rocks all round, tell the same story of the wild sweeping of
tempestuous winds and storms which often rage around the summit and
invest the peak with dread.
These chains are said to have been originally placed here by Alexander
the Great, whom the Mahommedans affirm to have climbed the pinnacle
about B.C. 330, to do homage to the footprint of Adam. Ibn Batuta,
describing his ascent of the Peak in the fourteenth century, tells how a
ridge at the base of the cone bears the name of the Conqueror, as does
also a water-spring, at which all pilgrims slake their thirst; and
Ashref, a Persian poet of the following century, tells how, in order to
facilitate the difficult and dangerous ascent, Alexander caused
stanchions to be fixed in the face of the cliff to sustain iron chains,
by holding on to which they were able to scale the precipitous rock
without danger. Whoever has the merit of first placing the chains, there
they remain to the present day.
We accounted ourselves rarely fortunate in being favoured with a day of
calmest sunshine, for most evenings, both before and after our
expedition, closed with terrific thunderstorms, and for hours together
the Peak was veiled in dark clouds, so we had fully reckoned on the
possibility of such a night of awe. Instead of this, on reaching the
summit, our eyes were gladdened with a magnificent view of the whole
island, outstretched on every side. All around lay a vast expanse of
forest-clad mountain-ranges—the wholesale destruction of the forests to
prepare the way for cultivation being less conspicuous from this point
than from many others; and far away, beyond wide sweeps of parklike
country, traversed by silvery lines which mark the course of rivers, and
vanishing in a soft blue haze, a line of glittering light revealed the
presence of the encircling ocean.
All this we beheld at a glance, when, after a final steep climb up the
huge naked rock, about forty feet high, which forms the mountain crown,
we reached a morsel of level ground which lies about ten feet below the
summit, from which point a level pathway has been constructed, forming
an oval of about 65 by 45 feet, passing round the Peak, so as to enable
pilgrims to perform the three orthodox turns, following the course of
the sun, by keeping the right hand next to the rock all the time. The
outer edge of this path is, happily, protected by a low stone wall.
Sorely, indeed, must the sunwise turns have tried dizzy heads ere this
was built by some pious pilgrims.[218]
-----
Footnote 218:
I have noted numerous instances of ‘sunwise turns’ round all manner of
sacred objects, in ‘In the Himalayas,’ pp. 4, 250, 359, 430, 529, 551,
584, 590. Also ‘In the Hebrides,’ pp. 241-245. Published by Chatto &
Windus.
-----
So steep are the precipitous sides of this mighty cone, that one marvels
how the gnarled old rhododendron trees have contrived to gain, and
continue to retain, their hold on the rock, or how they find sustenance.
There they are, however, with their glossy leaves and crimson blossoms,
as gay as though rooted in the richest peat soil, instead of being fed
chiefly by the dews of heaven.
A final ascent of about ten steps brings us to the extreme summit of the
Peak, 7,352 feet above the sea. It is crowned by a picturesque little
wooden temple, consisting merely of a light overhanging roof, supported
on slender columns, and open to every wind of heaven—such winds as would
carry it to the sea were it not for the strong iron chains passing over
it. Beneath this canopy lies THE FOOTPRINT, revered not only by about
four hundred million Buddhists, but also, as I have just stated, by
Hindoos and Mahommedans without number, and even by Roman Catholic
Christians.
Happily for us, ascending at the end of January, we arrived before the
annual stream of pilgrims, so we found only a handful—a very varied
selection, however, beginning with our own party, which included divers
European nationalities, while the Oriental creeds were represented by an
old Hindoo Yogi in saffron-coloured robes, and wearing a large rosary of
black beads; he had come from the Punjab to worship Siva, while his
neighbour, a Mahommedan priest, had travelled all the way from Lahore,
in Northern India, to do homage to Adam on this sacred spot. He found
the mountain air exceedingly cold, and crouched over his fire, wrapped
in a gorgeous patchwork quilt, smoking his hubble-bubble. Several
Christians from the Malabar Coast were intent on the worship of St.
Thomas.
Strange to say, the only representative of Buddhism present was a small
boy of the Amarapoora sect, who slept apart beneath an overhanging rock
near our hut, where we heard him singing his midnight prayers most
devoutly. He was a pretty little fellow, and the yellow robes of Buddha
harmonised well with his clear brown skin and dark eyes. A wretched
little hut, on the level just below the summit, is reserved for the use
of the senior priests, who, however, have more comfortable quarters at
the foot of the mountain when not on duty here. We were told that the
venerable high-priest of the Peak lives up here a good deal during the
pilgrim season.
While I made a careful drawing of the scene, my companions were hard at
work preparing our night quarters. Happily there still remained the
walls of a hut which was built on the occasion of Lady Robinson’s
ascent; so this was quickly cleaned out, thickly carpeted with bamboo
grass, and roofed with the large mats of talipat-palm leaf which we had
so fortunately brought with us; so in the course of a couple of hours we
had a capital two-roomed house ready. This had the merit of standing a
little apart from the pilgrims, and was perched upon rocks fringed with
ferns and sweet pink orchids, and overshadowed by rhododendron trees.
Suddenly, about twenty minutes before sunset, to our intense delight,
the far-famed shadow of the Peak fell eastward athwart the plain, like a
blue spirit-pyramid resting, not on the ground, but on the atmosphere;
for instead of assuming the forms of the mountains, it lay in a
faultless triangle (‘an isosceles triangle,’ observed one of the party,
last from Oxford), the lines as straight as if they had been ruled,
although the object casting the so-called shadow is a ragged cone.
I suppose it is due to the fact of the sun being so much larger than the
earth that its level rays, divided by the base of the mountain, seem to
meet again on the opposite horizon. But such prosaic speculation as to
its cause, found no place in our thoughts while gazing spell-bound on
this wondrous apparition, which each moment grew wider at the base,
while lengthening till it touched the ocean on the eastern horizon, and
the sun sank beyond the western waves.
When the last glories of the afterglow had faded away, we had a most
cheery dinner by a moonlight so clear that we could distinguish the
whole island outspread far below us right away to the sea. Our
thinly-clad coolies suffered much from cold, and so tried to warm
themselves by dancing round their fires—a curious wild scene. The
gentlemen encouraged the dancers, and strove to warm them by
administering small drams of brandy, which they received in the palm of
the hand, crouching at the feet of the _dorre_—_i.e._, ‘master.’
While this was going on, I crept up to the now deserted shrine, and
stood there alone beside the rock-mark, which in all ages has inspired
such amazing reverence in millions of my fellow-creatures. During the
regular pilgrim season the shrine is all hung with white cloths, and the
sacred footprint is covered by a model of itself made of brass, inlaid
with pieces of coloured glass. This model is the modern substitute for
the original, which was of pure gold, inlaid with precious gems, and was
seen here by Dutch travellers who ascended the Peak in 1654.
In Valentyn’s account of the Sri Pada in March 1654 he says: ‘The
priests showed our people a gold plate representing the length and
breadth of the foot, on which were various figures, which they said were
formerly to be seen on the footprint itself; but that, after the priests
allowed them to be engraved on the gold, _they disappeared from the
stone_. These figures were sixty-eight in number, and may be seen
figured by Baldæus in his description of Coromandel, fol. 154, with
other matters relating thereto.’
Perhaps the very elaborate symbols sculptured on the Burmese footprint
in the British Museum may afford some clue to these vanished figures.
Strange to say, among the offerings presented at the shrine fifty years
ago was an embossed silver covering for the great footmark, the gift of
Sir R. W. Horton, who held office as British Governor from 1831 to 1837,
and who thus emphasised the proclamation made in the name of His Majesty
King William IV., that protection would be continued to all rites and
usages of the Buddhist religion.
When Hoffmeister made the ascent in 1844, he found the footprint
enclosed within a golden frame studded with gems of considerable size,
of which, however, he pronounced that only a few were genuine.
I had the better fortune to see the rock unadorned, and, if the truth
must be confessed, being anxious to measure it accurately for myself, I
lay down full length on it, and found it to be 4-1/2 inches longer than
myself, whereby I proved it to be just 6 feet in length. I was told that
the breadth at the toes is 32 inches; that at the heel is 26 inches. The
natural mark is merely a slight indentation, 8 inches deeper at the toes
than at the heel, but the imaginary outline of the foot has been
emphasised by a rim of plaster, coloured to match the rock. The toes
have also been defined. The footprint points north-west.
According to a tradition quoted in Chinese records of the sixteenth
century, the hollow of the footprint should contain a never-failing
supply of fresh water, supplied from heaven, and which cures all
diseases. I am told that many sick folk make this toilsome pilgrimage on
purpose to drink of this water of life. I can only hope that they do not
often find the rock as dry as it was on this occasion! There is,
however, a well at the foot of the mountain, which, although its waters
are less sacred, is nevertheless credited with miraculous cures, and
this also has been duly recorded by observant Chinese travellers of the
fourteenth century. So you see, the farther you travel, the more surely
you will prove that there is nothing really new under the sun!
After a while chilling mists began to arise from the deep valleys and to
creep up the mountain-side, and I was glad enough to join the merry
party beside the blazing fire, and then to seek rest in the little hut,
truly thankful for the kind forethought which had supplied so goodly a
store of warm blankets.
Ere the first glimmer of dawn I stole forth to look down upon the
wondrous sea of white mist, which seemed to cover the whole Isle with
one fleecy shroud, a strangely eerie scene, all bathed in the pale
spiritual moonlight. Ever and anon the faint breeze stirred the billowy
surface, and a veil of transparent vapour floated upward to play round
the dark summits of the surrounding hills, which seemed like innumerable
islands on a glistening lake. One of these, bearing the name of Uno Dhia
Parawatia—a grand square-shaped rock-mass—towers high above the
surrounding ridges of densely-wooded hills.
The stars were still shining brilliantly, while eastward the pale
primrose light was changing to a golden glow. Sometimes the up-rolling
clouds floated as if enfolding us, drifting beneath our feet as though
the solid earth were passing away from under us.
Wonderful and most impressive was the stillness. Just before daybreak my
ear caught the ascending murmur of voices, and peering down the
mountain-side, I discerned the glimmering torches which told of the
approach of a pilgrim band toiling up the steep ravine, bent on reaching
the summit ere sunrise.
Judging from my own experience, I should have thought they could have
little breath to spare. Nevertheless, they contrived to cheer the way
with sacred chants, and very wild and pathetic these sounded as they
floated up through the gloom of night.
At last the topmost stair was reached, and as each pilgrim set foot on
the level just below the shrine, he extinguished his torch of blazing
palm-leaves, and with bowed head and outstretched arms stood wrapped in
fervent adoration. Some knelt so lowlily that their foreheads rested on
the rock. Then facing the east—now streaked with bars of orange betwixt
purple clouds—they waited with earnest faces, eagerly longing for the
appearing of the sun, suggesting to my mind a striking Oriental
illustration of the words of the poet-king, ‘My soul waiteth for the
Lord _more than they that watch for the morning_.’[219]
-----
Footnote 219:
Bible version of Psalm cxxx. 6.
-----
Gradually the orange glow broadened, and the welling light grew clearer
and clearer, until, with a sudden bound, up rose the glorious sun, and,
as if with one voice, each watcher greeted its appearing with the
deep-toned ‘Saädu! Saädu!’ which embodies such indescribable intensity
of devotion.
Beautiful in truth was that radiant light which, while the world below
still lay shrouded in gloom, kissed this high summit and the glowing
blossoms of the crimson rhododendron trees, and lent its own brightness
to the travel-stained white garments of the pilgrims.
But while these gazed spell-bound, absorbed in worship, we quickly
turned westward, and there, to our exceeding joy, once more beheld the
mighty shadow falling right across the island, and standing out clear
and distinct—a wondrous pyramid whose summit touched the western
horizon. The world below us still lay veiled in white mist, now tinged
with a delicate pink, as were also the mountain-tops which rose so like
islands from that vaporous sea. But right across it all, the great
spectral triangle, changing from delicate violet to clear blue, lay
outspread, its edge prismatic, like a faint rainbow.
We watched it for three hours, during which it gradually grew shorter
and more sombre, so that it was actually darker than the forest-clad
hills which lay in shadow before us, and across which it fell. As the
sun rose higher and higher, the blue pyramid gradually grew narrower at
the base, till finally it vanished, leaving us impressed with the
conviction that to this phenomenon must, in some measure, be attributed
the sanctity with which, in early ages, a people always keenly addicted
to nature-worship invested this mountain-top. Their modern descendants
seemed to have no room for it in their full hearts.
I may mention that I have witnessed this identical phenomenon at sunrise
from the summit of Fuji-Yama, the holy mountain of Japan, and I have
heard it said that a similar effect is to be seen from Pike’s Peak in
Colorado, a mountain 14,157 feet in height, but not remarkable in form.
I have, however, seen a picture which merely shows the sunset shadow of
the mountain on the eastern sky—not at all a triangle. From the summit
of Mount Omei, the holy mountain of the Chinese Buddhists, a very
peculiar shadow is sometimes seen, capped by a marvellous prismatic
halo, which is known as the ‘Glory of Buddha.’ Occasionally, when the
shadow of Adam’s Peak falls on mist, the spectral shadow seems to stand
upright, taking the conical form of the mountain, and a rainbow-girt
halo rests on its summit.
One traveller only, so far as I am aware, has had the good fortune to
see this wonderful shadow as a moonlight phenomenon, which, of course,
could only occur when an almost full moon was very near the horizon,
either rising or setting. This fortunate observer was Laurence Oliphant,
whose description of the scene is so striking that again I cannot
refrain from quoting his words.
‘By the light of a moon a little past the full, in the early morning, I
looked down from this isolated summit upon a sea of mist, which
stretched to the horizon in all directions, completely concealing the
landscape beneath me. Its white, compact, smooth surface almost gave it
the appearance of a field of snow, _across which, in a deep black
shadow, extended the conical form of the mountain I was on, its apex
just touching the horizon_, and producing a scenic effect as unique as
it was imposing.
‘While I was watching it, the sharpness of its outline gradually began
to fade, the black shadow became by degrees less black, the white mist
more grey, and as the dawn slowly broke, the whole effect was changed as
by the wand of a magician. _Another conical shadow crept over the vast
expanse on the opposite side of the mountain, which, in its turn,
reached to the horizon_, as the sun rose over the tremulous mist; but
the sun-shadow seemed to lack the cold mystery of the moon-shadow it had
driven away, and scarcely gave one time to appreciate its own marvellous
effects before the mist itself began slowly to rise and to envelop us as
in a winding-sheet. For half-an-hour or more we were in the clouds and
could see nothing; then suddenly they rolled away and revealed the
magnificent panorama which had been the object of our pilgrimage.’
Intently as we watched each change in this wondrous vision, we did not
fail to note the proceedings of our fellow-pilgrims, who, previous to
paying their vows at the holy shrine, walk thrice sunwise round it,
following the well-worn level footpath, and carrying their simple
offerings of flowers, chiefly the scarlet blossoms of the rhododendron
and the fragrant white champac and plumeria, raised on high in their
joined hands. Then a second time they performed the three sunwise turns,
this time bearing on one shoulder a brass lota filled with clear icy
water from a spring which lies about twelve feet below the summit, and
in which leaves wafted from Paradise are sometimes found floating—so the
pilgrims believe. A second spring lies about forty feet lower down.[220]
(Two silver bells were the gift of certain Moormen to the honour of
Adam, as were also two large brass lamps.) The pilgrims then kneel in
lowliest adoration whilst the priest pours out their offering of water
upon the footprint, on which they also lay their gift of flowers, and a
few small coins for the use of the priests. Then, dipping their hands in
the water thus sanctified, they wash their faces in symbolic
purification.
-----
Footnote 220:
It always seems strange to find water springs in the hard rock at a
great altitude. I saw two similar springs on the extreme summit of
Fuji-Yama in Japan, which is simply a dormant crater, and others on
the summit and in the crater of Haleakala in the Sandwich Isles. See
‘Fire Fountains of Hawaii,’ vol. i. p. 264. Published by Blackwood.
-----
Afterwards it is customary for each pilgrim to tear a fragment from his
scanty raiment and knot it to one of the iron chains, to remind Heaven
of the petitions offered on this sacred spot. These rags, old and new,
form a fringe of many colours, enlivening the rusty chains which secure
the temple to the crag. Some of the links in these ancient and modern
chains are inscribed with the name of the donor, who has thus presented
a more enduring memorial than the rag of his poor brother. Strange, is
it not, how this identical custom of rag-offering prevails in all
regions of the earth, from Ireland’s holy wells to Himalayan mountains
and sacred bushes!
Some of the pilgrims had brought with them long strips of white calico,
wherewith the little priestling covered the mystic rock, and on each of
which he traced with saffron (sacred yellow) an exceedingly well-defined
footprint. These were hung up to the eaves of the temple, and thence
fluttered flag-like till thoroughly dried, when the devout pilgrims
would carry them to distant lands, for the edification of less fortunate
believers. These are deemed a charm against the evil-eye and sundry
diseases.
Various travellers have noted a graceful detail of family life at the
conclusion of the appointed worship, namely, that husbands and wives,
children and parents, salute one another most reverently and
affectionately with lowly salaams; the grey-haired wife, moved to tears,
almost embracing the feet of her venerable husband, and he raising her
lovingly—younger men simply exchanging salutations and betel-leaves.
Thus, year after year, from the earliest ages of human history, have
pilgrim bands climbed this lofty summit to worship on the pinnacle
which, though we believe it to be no nearer to heaven than the murkiest
street of our crowded cities, is certainly far uplifted above the levels
of earth.
To say that the aboriginal native worshippers of the Isle revered this
rock-pinnacle long before the days of Gautama Buddha, is nothing, for
though he is said to have appeared here more than five hundred years
before Christ, he was only the most recent of a series of Buddhas—holy
beings who are supposed to have honoured this earth with their presence
in divers ages. I believe the Singhalese legends tell of twenty-five
Buddhas who have visited Ceylon, of whom four are said to have revealed
themselves on this spot.
The first of these was Kukusanda, who appeared about B.C. 3000, and
found the Peak already known as Deiwakuta, ‘Peak of the God.’
The second Buddha who here revealed himself was Konagamma; he appeared
B.C. 2099, and even at that early date the mount (so they say) was
already known as Samantakuta, in honour of Saman, who, three hundred
years previously, had, as I have already observed, accompanied Rama when
he conquered Ceylon.
The third Buddha, known as Kasyapa, appeared about B.C. 1000, and then,
B.C. 577, came Gautama Buddha, the Prince of Lucknow.
Since then, successive kings and nobles have come here from far distant
lands on solemn pilgrimage, and many a picturesque company (some robed
in all the gorgeousness of Oriental splendour) has wended its way from
the coast through the dense beast-haunted forests which clothed these
wild mountain-ranges, to toil up these self-same rock-hewn steps since,
in the year A.D. 24, Meghavahana, king of Cashmere came all the way
hither to worship on this summit.
That the kings of Ceylon should be numbered amongst the pilgrims is only
natural, though doubtless it was a notable event that they should make
the journey on foot, as did the great Buddhist king, Prakrama Bahu I.,
who, about A.D. 1153, ‘caused a temple to be erected on the summit of
Samanala’ (so it is stated in the Rajavali).
Thus, through each successive age, has the ceaseless offering of prayer
and praise ascended from this majestic mountain-altar to the great
All-Father, whose tender mercy enfolds all His children, albeit so many
can but feel after Him through the blinding mists of heathenism. But we,
who KNOW His all-enfolding love, and grieve to see these weary ones
pleading with ‘unknown gods,’ can but echo the hope of him who wrote:
What if to THEE in THINE Infinity
These multiform and many-coloured creeds
Seem but the robe man wraps as masquer’s weeds
Round the one living truth THOU givest him—THEE?
What if these varied forms that worship prove
(Being heart-worship) reach THY perfect ear
But as a monotone, complete and clear,
Of which the music is (through CHRIST’S NAME) LOVE?
For ever rising in sublime increase
To ‘Glory in the Highest—on Earth peace.’