Mount Sinai was considered sacred at a much earlier date, Mt. Fuji surpasses it in beauty and height, and Mt. Kilash evokes a far greater sense of mystery. Nevertheless, no other mountain has been revered by so many people, from such a variety of religions, for so many centuries as Sri Pada has. In Sanskrit literature Sri Pada is called variously Mount Lanka, Ratnagiri (Mountain of Gems), Malayagiri or Mount Rohana. This last name, like its Arab and Persian equivalent, Al Rohoun, is derived from the name of the south western district of Sri Lanka where Sri Pada is situated. In several Tamil works it is known as Svargarohanam ( The Assent to Heaven) while the Portuguese called it Pico de Adam and the English Adam's Peak. In the Mahavamsa, the great chronicle of Sri Lanka written in the 5th century CE, it is called Samantakuta ( Samanta's Abode) while in modern Sinhalese it is often called Samanelakhanda (Saman's Mountain). Long before Buddhism came to Sri Lanka in about 246 BCE Sri Pada was revered as the abode the god called Samanta, or sometimes Saman or Sumana. This local mountain god was destined to go on to great things. The Theravada Buddhists of Sri Lanka later made Samanta the guardian of their land and their religion. With the rise of Mahayana Buddhism, a movement that began in south India from where it soon spread to the island, Samanta developed into Samantabhadra, one of the four principle bodhisattvas of Mahayana. Like his later manifestation, Samanta is usually depicted crowned and bejewelled, holding a lotus in his right hand and accompanied by a white elephant. At Weligama, an ancient port on Sri Lanka's south coast, there is a 12 ft high statue of Samantabhadra carved out of a huge moss-covered bolder. Pilgrims from India and northern Sri Lanka disembarking at Weligama were greeted by this bodhisattva's serene countenance as they set out on the long trek to Sri Pada. Today there is still a shrine to Samanta on the top of the mountain and another larger one near Ratnapura, some 19 kilometres from its foot. The name Sri Pada, while correctly referring only to the sacred (sri) footprint (pada) on its summit, is the most commonly used name for the mountain today.
Sri Pada soars upwards to a height of 7360 feet from the very edge of the central highlands and viewed from the southwest looks like a pinnacle on a verdant castle wall. For about half the year it is oftenhidden in cloud and the torrential rains that rush down its steep sides during this time makes visiting the summit almost impossible. This abundant precipitation feeds Sri Lanka's four main rivers which all have their sources on the mountain's lower slopes. Over the aeons these rains have also washed nearly a thousand feet of rock and soil off Sri Pada and its surrounding peaks and the alluvial deposits that extend from its foot towards the south and east are one of the world's richest gem mining areas. Here are found rubies, topaz, garnets, cats eye, aquamarine, Alexanderite and sapphires ranging in colour from yellow to blue. Like the mountain itself many legends are told about these gems. The Arabs believed they were the crystallised tears Adam and Eve shed when they were expelled from Paradise. The story the Chinese told about them was even more beautiful. They said that when the Buddha visited Sri Lanka he found the people poor and given to theft. So out of compassion and to turn them to virtue he sprinkled the island with sweet dew which crystallised into gems thus freeing the people from poverty by giving them a commodity to trade with.
.jpg)
.jpg)
