Adam's Peak
Interesting facts
- Its Tamil name, Sivanolipatha Malai, means roughly 'Mountain of Shiva's Light', while the Sinhala Samanalakanda honours the god Saman — or, some say, the butterflies that migrate there.
- The Mahayana Lankavatara Sutra places the Buddha's preaching of that scripture on the summit, calling the mountain Mount Malaya.
- According to legend, the peak is Trikuta, the mountain stronghold from which the demon king Ravana ruled Lanka in the Ramayana.
- King Vijayabahu I, who reigned in the 11th century, recorded in a rock inscription at Ambagamuwa that he climbed the mountain himself to worship the footprint.
- The first recorded ascent by an Englishman was made by Lieutenant William Malcolm of the Ceylon Regiment on 26 April 1815, from the Ratnapura side.
- Visiting in 1817, John Davy, brother of the chemist Humphry Davy, described the footprint as framed by a brass border set with gems.
- Six trails lead up the mountain; the Hatton route is the steepest but about five kilometres shorter than any of the others.
- Pilgrims at the summit traditionally ring a bell once for every time they have completed the climb.
- A white Peace Pagoda built in 1978 by the Japanese Buddhist order Nipponzan Myohoji stands about halfway up the main trail.
- The gem-bearing districts south and east of the peak, rich in sapphires and rubies, helped earn the island its ancient name Ratnadvipa, 'island of gems'.
Why it is worth it
Adam's Peak, or Sri Pada, rises to 2,243 metres from the forested hills of central Sri Lanka in a cone so regular that it is visible from far across the country. On the summit lies a hollow in the rock about 1.8 metres long that four faiths claim as their own: Buddhists revere it as the left footprint of the Buddha, Hindu tradition as the mark of Shiva or Hanuman, and Muslim and Christian traditions associate it with Adam — or, in some Christian accounts, with the apostle Thomas. Few mountains anywhere carry so many layers of devotion.
The climb itself is the experience. During the pilgrimage season, from December to May, crowds of pilgrims walk up thousands of steps to reach the top before dawn. The most popular route, from Nallathanni (Dalhousie) near Hatton, is about 7 kilometres long and climbs on a staircase of concrete and stone; longer, quieter paths come up from the Ratnapura side. At sunrise, if the sky is clear, the peak casts a sharp triangular shadow across the surrounding plain, a sight that has made the dawn on Sri Pada famous.
The pilgrimage is centuries old. Marco Polo mentioned the mountain at the end of the thirteenth century, and in 1344 the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta described the chains fixed to the rock to help climbers on the steepest parts. The mountain is also a watershed: three of the island's major rivers, the Kelani, the Kalu Ganga and the Walawe, rise on its slopes.
Getting there
The usual starting point is Hatton, about 14 km from the peak in a straight line, on the main railway line from Colombo through the hill country; the train journey from Colombo takes around five to six hours. From Hatton buses and tuk-tuks run to Nallathanni (Dalhousie) at the foot of the trail in about an hour. The nearest airport by distance is Colombo Ratmalana International Airport (RML), about 68 km away, but most international travellers arrive at Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) north of Colombo. The climb is usually made overnight in the pilgrimage season, from December to May.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Adam's Peak is a 2,243-metre-tall (7,359-foot) conical sacred mountain and place of pilgrimage in central Sri Lanka, famous for the Sri Pada, a 1.8 m hollow, footprint-like rock formation near the summit whose name is also used for the mountain itself. The formation is identified differently by adherents of several religious traditions: in Buddhist tradition as the footprint of the Buddha; in Sri Lankan Hindu tradition as that of Hanuman or Shiva ; and in some Islamic and Christian traditions as that of Adam or St. Thomas the Apostle.
Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
6.80944, 80.49972per Wikidata