'( ' km'.' ' I > t I 'fill I ii ' iPl! il'if'ii'.i'i I' ' . > ! 1 1;"'*^"!. ' ' ' Mil lilfl' it', '!>! I ( ! 1*1 1! iHtiii" '' ''('1 ' i' |!'[ll^!;> I i 111 ; :':■!':-,:.. • i'l 1 1 'Ml i' ' ii'S' 11 1 1 !; . i '- _^ -,"/ >^' ^/it^'^.^- \ y )\ ■ 'i**.vv;. V>v •■- /\ . fr / -• , V , f-^c>»r-N\\,. ^,,;^!^::-. ■ 9c(llfatil«t,. BY SPECIAL PERMISSION 10 . His Royal Highness Alfred Ernest Albert, DUKE OP EDINDUEQH, EARL OF KENT, AND EARL OF ULSTER, DUKE OF SAXONY, AND PRINCE OF SAXB COBURQ QOTHA, j K. 0., K. T., G. C. M. Q., G. C. S. I. THE FIKST PRINCE OF THE BLOOD ROTAL OP ENGLAND WHO HAS VISITED THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. Br HIS ROTAL HICnNESS's 1 MOST OBEDIENT AND VERT nCUBLE SERVANT, XHE AUTHOR. \ 1 CONTENTS. FsxrACii ••• ••• t.. ••• ••! ' ••# " ChapteeL" Introductory Remarka.— On the Origin of Bnddhlat, Hindu, and Mohammadaii mgrimoges to Adam'i Peak ... .„ ' 9 Chapter II. Notices of the Peak and Foot- print by early Chrutiaa writers. .—Accounts by Marco Polo, Sir John Maundeville, Capttdn Bibeyro, Robert Knox, and the Dutch historian Valentyn ... Si Chafteb III. The Samanala Peak. — ^Ratnapura Royal Mail. — Panabakkery.— K?lani.— Buddhist Temples.— Ka4uwela.—HaBW§lla.— River scenery.— Awigs&'wela .. ... ... ... 81 Chaftee IV. Awiss&wela.— Sit&'s bath.— Sfttwaka.— The B^r^n^i-kdwila.— Bock temple. — Puswella.— Kuruvita Waterfall.— Ekn^ligoija DisSwa, — Katutiyambar&wa Yih&ra. — Weralupe. — Saman D£w&l£ ... ' ... ... ... ... ' ... 97 Cbaptee V. Ratnapura.— Mount Kar&ngo^a.— Qo(jiigamuwa.— GiUmal6.— ^llapita Tctupolo. — Guniluwan, Kalu, and Hatula-gaggas,— Bondfira Mahatmayi. — Tuntofa Ferry. — Maskeliya-gapga.— Bridge and Ford.— Alihtintenne.— "Estuary of Reeds".— Batnpola. — Rock cave. — Mapanan-fUa Waterfall. — Pal&- baddala ... ... ... ... ... ... 129 CONTENTS. Chafteb VI. Page. FaUbaddala.— Moimtain rnngea.— Kalu-gagga Bridge.— Uda Pawun-^IIa. — Kflihela. — Gftanetul-gala. — Diyabetma.— Idi- ksfiipina. — Dharma-r&ja-gala. — Eunudiya-parvatS. — B^na Samauala Telibilena. — Gangula-h£na. — Sfta-gangula H?rainitipfaia ... .. ,.. ... . . 161 Chafteb yiL ll^ramitip&na.— Ascent of the Peak. — Aandiya-mala-tenne.— Slenik lena. — Ehela-kanuwa. — Maha-g!ri-dan-kapalla.' — Slinne of Saman Ddwiyd. — The Sri-F&da. — Thu Bagliili- g*.— The Kudamita.— Scenery of .the Skies.— Sunrise. — The Shadow. — The View ... ... ... ... 191 Chafteb VIII. Descent from the Peak. — H^ramitip&na. — Alexander's Ridge.— Cave of Ehizr. — Sita-Gangula. — Dhanna-raj&- gala. — Uda Pawan-flla..— Accidents. — Pal&baddala to Rat- napura .,, ... ... ... ... ... 225 Cbafteh IX. The Kalu-gagga.— Ealutara.— P6nad ar£.— Morafuwa. — Rat- mal&na.u-College of Priests.^Galkissa, — Mount Lavinia. — Eollupitiya. — Galle Face. — Colombo ... ... ... 247 Chafteb X. Facsimile Foot-prints. — Anur&dhapura.— Kurun^gala..— Alu- - VihSra. — Nitha DewSld. — Gannoruwa. — Alagalla. — Eot- timbulwala VihAra. — Dewanagala. — Ehett&r&ma VihSra. — Ramboda. — Baddegama. — Sitakande. — Hot spring of Maha- palasse ... ... ... „, ... .„ 266 Affendix. A.— On the Origin of the Sri-p&da ... ... ... 277 B.— Ibn Batiita's Travels in Ceylon, and Ascent of Adam's Peak, 1347 281 CONTENTS. Appeiidtx :— Page. C— Sannas of King Kirtisari, conferring Adam's Peak upon Saranankara Unn&nse of Wfliwita ... ... 297 D.— Buddha'i Three Visits to Ceylon. The Impression of his Foot-print on the summit of the Peak ... .,• 301 K.'^Legend of the Princess Sudh&dfwi ... ... .,. ^26 F.— The Dalada-H&lig&wa; and the History of the Tooth ... 329 G.— Account of the Ascent of Adam's Peak by Lieut, Mal- colm, c. B. B., in 1815 ; and of a subsequent Ascent by another Officer ... ... ... .. 337 H.— Ruins of Sft&wnka ... ... ... ... 344 L— The Perahara . . ... ... ... ... 345 J. — Documents relating to the Election or Appointment to the Office of High Priest of Adam's Peak ... ... 356 E.^Description of the Attanagalu Forest ... ,., 363 L. — ^Vegetation about Adam's Peak ... ... ... 365 M. — Procession from Colombo, and Welcome at Moia^uwa of Joronis De Soys'u, Esq., after his appointment to the rank of Mudaliyar of the Governor's Gate, in 1853 ... 369 K.^Festivities at Bagatelle, KoUupitiya, in honor of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, 22nd April, 1870 378 Addendum: — "Philalethes." ... ... ... ... ... 391 Ind£x:— ... ... .. ... .,. 397—408 ERRATA. OwiHO to u unfortniwte mutake, the accompanying Map, engraved and printed in London, i» not m> accurate in ita delineation of tlie coun- try and route from Pal&baddala to Diyabetms at it tliould have been, Nortli o{ Fal&baddala, trending to the ea«t, riacs tlie mountain Kunu- diya-parrat^, the western face of which iji a tremendous precipice.' South , of and forming an angle with this mountain runs a range consisting of the mountains Kondagala, Ndiliela, and Kfkillagala. The route from Fol&baddala is first between Kondagala and Niliheta, then up and over the latter, on to a range that culminates at Diyabetma, the watershed of the district ; the streams to the east of Diyabetma, between it and Dhar- ma-r&ja-gala, Sit^-gangula-hcna, and H(rami(ip&oa, flowing in a north- erly direction, -The source of the Kalu-gagga is west of Diyabetma, whence it runs south, finding its way down among the mountains and passing north of Pol&baddala, between it and the lower southern slopes of Kunudiya-parvate. The following sketch will shew the position of the mountains. P. Palabaddala. 1. Kunudiya-parrat^. 2. Kondagala. 3.Nflihela. . 4. Diyabetma. 5. Idikafuptina. 6. Dharma-nlja-ggla 7. Ganguln-hona, 8. Hframitipdna. 9. Adam's Peak. 10. U^na Samanala The rangea of mountains where KondagalU and Nfliilagalla an marked on the map, are wrongly placed, and the valley between Kondagala and Diabetna should be high mountainous ridges. The following errors and corrections are also here noticed :— page 16, lino sixth from bottom, for " west" read " east." „ C5, line eighth ft'om top, for " south westerly" read " south-easterly." „ 88, line thirteenth from bottom, for " C." read " G." „ 104, and 107, for "Captain" Forbes, read "Major." » 117, the Inscription on the stone is in memory of Eknfligo^a Dis&wa, the son of the builder of the viti&ra. „ 184, after " rice conjee" in first line, add " — rice," „ 218, line fifth from bottom, for "least," read "last." The names of persons and places are so variously spelt by difierent writers, that itihas not been possible to preserve uniformity of orthography throughout the work. In the Index, however, all names have been carefully revised, and are correct as they appear there. PREFACE, Thbbe is perhaps no mountaia in the world of which bo wide-spread a knowledge exists, as Adam's Peak. Almost every traveller to, or writer on, India and the East, has alluded to, noticed, or more or leas described it. But, con- sidering the sanctity in which it is held by Buddhists, Hindus, and Mohammadans ; the . numerous legends and traditions connected with it; and the immense number of pilgrims who annually visit the alleged Foot-print upon its summit; it is surprising how little has been recorded by any one author, and what wide and glaring discrepancies appear in the diiTerent accounts respecting it which have from time to time been given to the world. An excursion to the summit of the Peak, in the early part of 1869, having led to considerable research upon the subject, as well as to two subsequent excursions, the results of the observations and inquiries made on each journey, and in the intervals between, are set forth in the following pages. PREFACE. Mjr principal endeavour has been, to bring into one common focus all attainable information; and to describe more fully than has hitherto been done, the Pilgrims' route from Colombo to the Sri-Pdda, or Holy Foot-print, that crowns the summit of the Samanala. In the prosecution of this taslc I have received from many quarters much valuable assistance. And for aid most freely rendered my thanks are specially due to the Hon'ble H. T. Irving, the Colonial Secretary; to Messrs. Russell, Saundeks, Macreadt, and Steele, of the Civil Service; to Captain Fyers, the Surveyor General, and officers of his Department; to Mr. Tiiwaites, the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, P^rMeniya; to the learned Advo- cates of the Supreme Court, Messrs. Lorenz, Ferdinands, Alwis, and Brito; to the Reverends Bailey.Ondaatje, and Nicholas; to Hikkaduwa Sumangala Na'yaka Unna'nse', High-priest of the Peak, and Subhuti Tehun- na'nse' of Waskaduwa vih&ra; to Mudaliyar Louia Db Sotza, the Chief Translator to Government, and L. WiJATASlNHA, Mudaliyar of the Ratnapura Kachcheri; to Ekneligoda Ratemahatmayd of the Kuruwite K6rale ; as well as to the learned pandit C. Alwis, and others, whose names are mentioned in the body of the book. PREFACE. As a contribution to the literature of the Island, I trust that the work now published may be deemed worthy of a place alongside those of others whose pens in times past have illustrated the history and antiquities of Ceylon. Much as they did, they yet left much to bo done ; and fields rich in historic and legendary lore still await investigation at the hands of diligent explorers. To those whose tastes incline them to such pursuits, investigations of the nature indicated are most attractive. Hardly less interesting is the • Avork of detailing the results of such investigations. Wliat may be interesting to an individual may not, however, interest the public at large; although to excite that interest should be the aim of every writer. Indulging in the hope that I may to some extent succeed in that aim, I will only add, that I have been scrupulously regardful of accuracy in every statement of a matter of fact; that the opinions I have advanced have been adopted only after much consideration and care; and that no pains have been spared to do justice to the subject upon which I have written. W. S. Colombo, April 22nd, 1870. 3i(lam*s ^ijalt. Turn eastward now thine eyes, and in the sun-ligbt bold The Somanala peak, that sacred rock, beiiold, Where with his goddess train, great Scmama ador'd Th' illiutriouB lotus Foot-print of BuDiiii', Omniscient Lord ; ■ Bow'd reverently before, and oQerings made the sign • Of Farasat' and Mandar, fluwers of hues divine. Sella Lihini Sandssi, CHAPTER I. Introductobt Remarks. — On the Origin op Buddhist, HlSOn, AND MOHAUSIADAN PILGRIMAGES TO AdAH'S PeAK. Adam's Pe^k, — known amongst the Sinhalese as the Samanta-ktlta, or peak of the Samanala mountain; by Hindus* as the Sivan-oli-padam, and by Mohammadans as the Baba- Aadamalei, — is one of the most noted mountains in the world, celebrated alike for its singularly prominent * Or, more correctly, Sivaites; Sivi being esteemed the supremo divinity in the Hindu Mythology. The worshippers of Siv& are divided into the following sects : — ^Vairavas, V&mas, KU&muk'has, Mah&vratas, F&supatas, and Saivas. The Saivas are the predominant sect among the Tamils of Ceylon. 10 ADAM'S PEAK. and striking appearance, and for the interesting religious associations connected witti it. On its summit is a shrine wliicli covers the renowned Foot-print, claimed by the re- spective votaries of India's old beliefs, as that of Sivd, or of Gautama Buddha; but by the followers of the Prophet of Mecca, as that of the first created man, — the great pro- genitor of the human race.* To that alleged foot-print, held sacred and reverenced by far the largest portion of mankind, annual pilgrimages are made, alike by Hindus, Buddhists and Jloslems; and from times remote to the present day it has been visited by devotees, the representatives of those forms of faith, from every region where they maintain their sway. As to the cause why and the time when this particular mountain peak first became an object of worship, and its summit a favorite spot for pilgrims to resort to, the following remarks which recently appeared in the published sketch of a journey thithcr,t may not be considered irrelevant. The writer says: — " Without attempting to discuss the history, or the mytho- logical legends conhected with this place, I cannot help speculating regarding the origin of its sanctity in the first place. Here is a place which tlie Buddhist considered to be sanctified by the impress of Buddha's foot, which the Hindu reverences as being marked by the foot of Siva, which the • For further information aa to tlie supposed origin of tlie Foot-print see Appendix A. t In die "Ceylon Observer," October 2nd, 1869. ''^ ADAM'S PEAK. " .11 Mohammadan oonsidera a holy place as bearing the foot-print of Adam, and which the Chriatians, or rather some of them, delight to believe is stamped with the foot of St. Thomas. Now I ask, whence this consensus? How came all of these to regard this place as holy, and to associate their traditions and legends with it? How is this to be accounted for? I at once dismiss from the inquiry this wretched imitation of a foot-print, since the very question is, how did the necessity arise to induce these various faiths to look on this shapeless mark as the representation of a foot at all ? Standing there, surrounded by that matchless prospect, there on that proud pinnacle and above that enchanting view, one may well refuse to accept that rock-mark as the answer to his question. I want a higher, nobler answer, and is it not afforded? Let each decide for himself, but I like to believe tliat these legends are all after-thoughts; that the place was already sacred to the primal religion of humanity — the worship of nature, — as the enduring, all originating, all absorbing uni- versal whole : — that to this faith, man's first, and perhaps his last, this spot was already consecrated as its most fitting temple. In a question of this kind I care little for historic evidences or their absence. There are many things of which history knows nothing, many more of which it has not chosen to tell." Whether the "primal religion of humanity — the worship of nature," was man's first and will perhaps be his last faith, may be doubted, nay denied, while at the same time the fact is admitted, that the worship of false gods upon the h>gh places 12 ADAM'S PEAK. of the earth is a practice that has prevailed from times of a very remote antiquity. And although history may not know, or may have failed to furnish, an answer to the questions when and how Buddhists, Hindus, and Moslems, came to attribute the special sanctity they do to this hollow in the rock, which all alike bow down before, and to which with one consent they render reverential homage, the subject is of too much interest to be dismissed without an attempt at investigation in these pages. Keferring to the Bdmayana,* the oldest known work which gives undoubted historic notices of Ceylon, it does not appear in the descriptions that are there given of events which liappened 3000 or 4000 years ago, that any particular sanctity was at that ancient date accorded to the mountain; or that the worship of any special deity was connected with • "The Adventures of Rfima," by the poet Valmiki, is an Indian epic poem of great antiquity, ai^d unsurpassed interest and beauty. It refers to events considered by some chronologers to have happened upwards of 4000 years ago. In a note to Professor M. William's Indian Epic Poetry, p. 68, the following passage occjurs. "How many centuries have passed 'since the two brothers (R&ma and Lakshmana) began their memorable journey, and yet every step of it is known, and traversed annually by thousands of pilgrims! Strong indeed are the ties of religion,when entwined with the legends of a country ! Those who have followed the path of Rama from the Gogra to Ceylon stand out as marked men among their countrymen. It is this that gives the R&mayana a strange interest; the story still lives; whereas no one now, in any part of the world, puts faith in the legends of Uomcr." it ; but there can be no question that at a period not long subsequent, the district of which it forms the most conBpi-> cuous feature, was identified, under the name of Sanian, with Lakshmana, the brother of the principal hero of the poem, by whose aid and with that of Yibhishana, B&wana, the king of the island was overthrown. Both Lakshmana and Vibishana* were deified, and became the tutelary divinities of portions of the island; but the worship of the former, as an incarnation of Vishnu, the deliverer and restorer, now alone maintains its hold upon the native mind, especially in connection with the great Saman dawdle near Katnapura, and the Samanala mountain, of which he is still believed by both Buddhists and Hindus to be the potent guardian god. During Buddha's lifetime, and for oges previous, this mountain was the central seat of Samanite worship in Ceylon, and the Buddhist legends impute to Saman's special entreaty the fact that Buddha stamped his foot-print upon the summit of its peak. This was of course an afterthought on the part of some one in the Buddhist hierarchy, in order * Vibhfslmna is stated in the R&jawaliys to have succeeded to the throne of Lanka on the death of his brother, which event occurred 1844 years before Buddha, or b. c. 2387; and to have fixed his Capital at Kflaniya, his sovereignty extending over a large extent oi country long since submerged by the ocean, To Lakshmana was assigned the sovereignty of the Western and Southern parts of the island, the laws of which he much improved. The groves of scarlet rhododendron tiees which clothe the eastern slopes of the Samanala from base to summit are dedicated to him. 14 . ADAM'S PEAK. to add weight to the claim open the belief of the worshippers of Saman that Buddha was the Lord supreme, whom even Gods adored, just as the early Buddhist missionaries taught the serpent worshippers, that the king of the Nagas (cobras) recognised and protected Gautama when he attained the Buddhahood — a legend thus commemorated by Sri Bahula of Totdgamuwd in his poem " Sela Lihini Sandese,"* written A. T>. 1444. Thence to the Serpent chamber, where good it is and meet The image there beheld, thy worship to repeat; For there to eye depicted is seen how by the lake — The lake of Muuhalinda, — when fierce on Buddha brake In his sixth week the riiins, from ten directions falling. The N&ga-king himself through all that storm appalling Housed him in circling coils, and o'er the Omniscient's head His hood expanding wide a roof-like shelter spread. The earliest approach to an authentic record of the moun- tain having been dedicated to Buddha, as well as to Saman, or Sumana, is that contained in the 32nd chapter of the Maha- wanso.f It is there recorded that the king Dutthag4mini, being at the point of death at Anurddhapura, [b. c. 140,] • "The Bella's Message." The Text, and a literal Translation, with Notes and a Glossary foi* the use of Students, was published in 1867, by W. C. Macready, Esq., of the Ceylon Civil Service. ■f The Mahawanto, which literally means " Genealogy of the Great" is considered by competent scholars, "an authentic and unrivalled record" of the national history of Ceylon. It is written in P&li verse, and was compiled from annals in the vernacular languages existing in Anurjkdha" ADAM'S FfiAK. , 15 wished for the presence of the thero Th^raputtdbhayo, one of his old military chiefs who had entered the priesthood, and that the said thero, " who was resident at the Panjali mountain at the source of the river Karindo, cognizant of his meditation, attended by a retinue of 500 sanctified disciples and by their supernatural power travelling through the air,* descended, - and arranged themselves round the monarch." The king lamenting his approaching end, was consoled by the thero. Eecounting all his pious deeds, the dying king nt last said, that of them all two only " administered comfort to his mind." The thero, referring to one of these — a donation of a mess of kangu seed to five eminent theros in a time of great famine — said " the chief thero, Maliyaddwo, one of the five priests who had accepted the kangu mess, dividing the same among 500 of the fraternity resident at the mountain Sumano, pura. The record uf events up to A. d. 301, -was written by Mah&n&mo, uncle of the reigning king Ch&tu Sena, between the years 4S9 and 477. The subsequent portions were composed from time to time, by order of the kings, from the national records. The first thirty-eight chapters were translated into English, and printed by the Hon'ble George Tumour in the year 1837. * The distance in a direct line from Anur&dhapura cannot be less than 110 miles; the Panjali mountain being one of a range about 40 miles west of Adam's Peak. The river Karindo is that now known as the Kirindi oya. More than twenty-eight centuries ago the wisest of kings declared that there was nothing new under the sun. May not Gautama Buddha and his principal followers have been acquainted with what in modern days is termed Mesmerism, and a state of clairvoyance be under- stood to mean tlieir supernatural power of travelling through the air? 16 ADAM'S PEAK. himself also partook of it." This passage certainly intimates that the mountain Sumano (the same as the Samanala) was believed to be a place of residence for priests at that time; but it does not settle the point as to whether the mountain peak was then a place of pilgrimage, and the alleged foot-print an object of worship. A tradition of a later period, current in the locality, with much of probability in its favor, attributes to king Walagam- bdhu the discovery of the Sri-p^da* on the mountain top. This king ascended the throne b. c. 104, and after a reign of five months was driven from it by Malabar invaders. For 14 years and 7 months following, he wandered a fugitive amongst the hills and fastnesses of the mountain districts, dwelling in caves and supporting himself by means of the chase. During this period, while living on the Samanala mountain at Bha- gaw&lcna (Buddha's cave), he saw a deer in the distance which he resolved to kill : to his surprise however, he could not approach near enough to secure it, the deer keeping just beyond his reach, slackening or increasing its pace or stopping altogether, in exact accord with its pursuer's movements. In this way the king was led to the top of the mountain, and when there the deer suddenly vanished. On reaching the spot Walagambdhu discovered the Sri-pada; and it was then revealed to him that in this manner the god Sekrayd, to whom Buddha had entrusted the care of Ceylon and Buddhism, had chosen to make known to him the spot on ' ^ODSliJ "Sri- pida"— Sacred Foot-print. ADAM'S PEAK. 17 which he had left the impresa of his sacred foot/ After his restoration the king caused the rock that bore the foot-mark to be surrounded with large iron spikes, which formed the first foundation for the terracied platform from the centre of which the Samanta-kfita now seems to spring. Thus far the local tradition. History then records that the king, having recovered his throne, B. c. 88, "brought together 600 of the principal and most learned priests at a cave at M&tale called Alulena, and, for the first time, had the tenets of Buddhism reduced to writing; which occurred in the 217th year, 10th month, and 10th day after thoy wore promulgated orally by Mahindo."* It is curious that a 'somewhat similar story of the deer is also made use of to introduce Mahindo the princely Buddhist propagandist, to the notice of king D^wdnanpiyatissa, B. 0. 307,t in whose reign and through whom the Buddhist religion was first established as the national faith of Ceylon. • Tumour's Epitome of the History of Ceylon, p, 280, vol. ii. of Forbes's Eleven Years in Ceylon, t " The king Ddw&nanpiyatissa departed for an elk hunt, taking with him a retinue; and in the course of the pursuit of the game on foot he came ' to the Missa mountain. A certain devo assuming the form of an elk stationed himself there, grazing ; the sovereign descried him, and saying, it is not fair to shoot him standing, sounded his bowstring, on which tho elk fled to the mountain. The king gave chase to tho flying animal, and on reaching the spot where the priests were, the thcro Mahindo came vdthin "sight of the monarch, but the metamorphosed deer vanished,"— Mahawansd, c. xiv, ' 18 ADAM'S PEAK. Divested of the romance with which the local tradition is clothed, there is no reason to doubt that it contains certain germs of truth; for what more likely than that the king who thus caused the whole of Buddha's tenets to be reduced to writing, and whose subsequent reign was zealously devoted to the restoration of Buddhism, the building of immense d^gobas, and the founding of rock temples throughout his dominions, should resolve upon connecting so remarkable a mountain, — already sacred to the renowned god Saman, and the place which holy theros selected as their abode, — by indissoluble ties to the religion to which he was himself so enthusiastic an adherent. A vivid imagination pondering upon the discovery of the hollow, or the interpretation given to a dream, would be all-sufficient in an age of superstition to account for a supernatural revelation ; and aided by the eiforts of a powerful and restored priesthood, the account of such a revelation industriously circulated amongst the people, and followed by the more elaborate legends which the priests concocted in their pansalas, would speedily es- tablish the fame of the Samanta-kdta, and draw pilgrims to the Sri-pada from every quarter of India and the East where Buddhism had established itself. So far therefore as the Buddhists of Ceylon are concerned, it would seeni that the belief in the existence of the foot- print is not of an older date than a century and a half before the Christian era, if even it is as old, for although the legendary , visits of Buddha to the island — (in the third of which occurred the stamping upon the top of the Samanala ADAM'S PEAK. 19 p«ak die impress of his left foot) — are duly recorded in the Mahawans6, it must be remembered that the early chapters of that work were not written until the latter half of the fifth century; more than a thousand years later than the date when the impression is said to have been made'; and it is moreover noteworthy, that "except in the historical \rorks of Ceylon, there is no account of this supposed impression of Buddha's foot in any of the earliest records of Buddhism :"* — a faith which was not accepted as national until nearly two and a half centuries subsequent to the death of its author ; and the doctrines of which were not reduced t6 writing until * J. D'Alwia's Attanagaluvnnaa, note 15, p. 0. — The evident object of ' the historians, (themselves Buddkiat priests,) wn9 to connect in a miraculous manner the invasion of Wijaya, the first king of Ceylon, with tho propagation of the Buddhist faith; and for that purpose the seventh chapter of tho Mahawanso opetis with a revelation' or command of Buddha to that eflecf — Wijaya's invasion, according to the record of the historian, taking place on the day of Buddha's death. But the logic of facts, n« established by chronology, fixes the invasion at a, period 60 years subsequent. As to Buddha's visits to Ceylon, the following is the deliverance of the late Rev. Spcnce Hardy, an authority on Buddliism of the highest rank. He says, in a paper pubh'shed in the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Buciety fur 1846, "I have littlo doubt that it will one day be proved, even from the most sacred books of the Buddhists themselves, that tho accounts we have of his visits to Ceylon are a pure fiction. In all the SLghalese books that I have read, the narration appeai-s out of the regular order of events, like an after- thought, and it is entirely at variance with the traditions of Kcpal and Thibet." 20 ADAM'S PEAK. a further period of 218 years' had passed from the time of their oral propagation by Mahindo. The statement concerning Mdliyad^wo* and 500 of the fraternity of priests living on Sumano, quoted at page 16, will hardly be accepted as other than apocryphal by those who consider that the special object of the dying scene of the aged monarch, as depicted by the historian, was to elevate the order of the priesthood, and to shew that the smallest alms to them outweighed in merit the greatest of all other kingly deeds. That the mountain was a place of abode at a later epoch is evident from the fact, that Mihindo III. [a. d. 997 — 1013] repaired the edifices which in a previous reign had been destroyed by the Solians; and he is praised as a patron of the religious institutions of the country. It is not however clear whether these edifices were actually on the peak or only at the base of the mountain, nor is the foot-print at all mentioned in the record of their repair. The first notice of the Sri-pdda, after the legend of its formation in the opening pages of the Mahawans6,is contained * Maliyaddwo thero wns a kinsman of king Walagamb&hu, and ia stated in the Mnhawansd to have been the lost of Buddha's inspired diBcipIes. It is significantly recorded, tliat on the reduction to writinj; of the doctrines of Buddha in the reign of Walngambihu, the age of inspiration passed away. The inspiration then was connected with the capacity for acquiring and orally delivering the traditions and doctrines of Buddhism ; and one may readily conceive how constantly additions and marvellous legends and tales of miracles would be made to these from age to age ; the tendency to which would at once be checked, if not entirely stopped, by an authorised promulgation of the written word. in the 64th chapter of th6 work, which treats of the accesBion of Prdkramabdhu the First, A. D. 1153; and the first rojal pilgrimage to Samanala is recorded in the Bdjawaliya.* This was performed on foot by the just named king, a. zealous Buddhist revivalist, who on reaching the mountain peak worshipped the priest of the foot-print, and caused a shrine to be built on the rock for Saman Ddwiyo, — an act, considering the hold that the Samanite worship had on the minds of the natives of the mountain districts, and the recent subjugation of the central and southern provinces to his rule, as much of policy as piety on the part of the monarch. His example was followed by Kirti Nissanga [a. d. 1192— 1201], and this king's is the first that is mentioned in the Mahawans^ as that of a pilgrimage to the foot-print itself. A period of from 1200 to 1300 years is thus passed over without reference in any way to the spot either in regard to its sanctity as a place of pilgrimage or an object of worship to the followers of Gautama; f and it is difficult to account fortius silence in a history where the praise of Buddha is a dominant strain * The K&jawaliya was compiled by different persons, at various periods, and has both furnished the materials to, and borrowed from the Maha. wans<> ; but it is not considered so authentic a work. t In the R&ja-Tarlngini, the historical chronicle of Kashmir, it is stated that the king Meghavahana, who according to the chronology of Troyer, reigned a. d. 24, made an expedition to Ceylon for the purpose of extend- ing Buddhism, and visited Adam's Peak, where he had an internew with the native sovereign. Other authorities (Thomas, J. A. S., vol. xiii.), fix the date of Meghavahana's reign at a. d. 144, which would make his expe- dition take place during the reign of B&tiyatissa II. [a. d. 137—161], from the opening of the firet to the close of the kst chapter.' Two causes may however be assigned, with some shew of reason, for this want of information: — (1) the destruction of Siijhalese records at various times by Malabar invaders and apostate Buddhist kings;* and (2) the fact that the capital of the island was, up to A. d. 1319, in the Northern kingdom, the Pihiti Rata (called also the Rdja Rata or country of the kings); the Mountain zone forming the central kingdom or Mdyfi Rata; and the Southern portion of the Island the Ruhuna Rata. Up to about a. d. 1050 the Mdyd and Ruhuna Ratas were under the dominion of independent princes or petty kings, and were only at intervals subjected to the sway of the northern potentate. Among those kings who were acknowledged sole sovereigns of the island was Dutthagdmeni. To the mountain fastnesses of the May£ Rata kings and priests naturally fled for refuge when the irho like liunself was a zealous CuddliiBt But no mention of such a visit at cither date is to be found in the Mahawnnaij, the R/iJa Ratnakari, or the R&jawaliya. * Of Malabar invasions 17 are recorded betvrcen b. c. 204 and A. x>. 1391, The invaders were in almost every instance animated by the same spirit of deadly hostility to Buddhism which led to the ultimate extirpa* tion of that faith in Central India towards the end of the seventh century. Of apostate or impious soTcrcigus, the principal were Chora N&ga, b. o, 63; Konijonitisaa, a.d.SS; Maha Sen, a.d.275; M&gha,A. v. 1210; and R&ja Singba I., a. d. 1S81. This last king gave over the custody of tlio Samanala to a body pf, Aaudiyas, or Hindu Fakecrs ; who are described by S. C. Chitty, as a sort of begging friars belonging to the Saiva sect. ADAM'S PEAK, 23 Malabar invaders drove them from their throne and temples at Anurddhapura or Polonnarnwa; although at times they established themselves in the Southern division; ultimately indeed [a. d. 1059*] the Md,y& was annexed to the Buhuna Rata, and the Island partitioned into two provinces, the Northern being occupied by the Solians, and the Southern being retained by the native . princes. Throughout the Southern kingdom the Samanala was ever present to view, while- in the Northern the high Nuwara Eliya range would exclude it from sight. Closed in on all sides by chains of mountains whose sides and valleys were overgrown with dense and all but impenetrable jungle, visits or pilgrimages to the Samanta-kdta must ne- cessarily have been few and far between, and were probably only attempted at times when the influence and power of a paramount sovereign could make itself felt through every portion of his dominions. Such being the case, the wide- spread knowledge in the north of the existence, and the visibility in the west and south of the isolated cloud-capi)ed peak that reared itself so loftily above all surrounding heights, would well keep alive in the minds of -Buddhists tlio tradition, and foster the belief, that the founder of their faith had there indelibly impressed the foot-mark that was alleged to have sealed the isle of Lanka as his own ; a tradition that was ultimately destined to become an article of faith where- ever Buddhism was professed. A belief in the existence of such a foot-print was held, we know, amongst the Chinese, as early as the third century of the Christian era, since tlierc 24 ADAM'S PEAK. are records in their literature of pilgrimages to India at that date. All the pilgrims were struck by the altitude of the hills of Ccjlon, and above all by the lofty crest of Adam's Peak, which served as the laud-mark for ships approaching the island. They speak reverentially of the sacred foot-mark impressed by the first created man, who in their mythology, bears ithe name of Pawn-koo ; and the gems which were found upon the mountain, they believed to be his "crystallized tears, which accounts for their singular lustre and marvellous tints." The Chinese books repeat the popular belief, that the hollow of the sacred footstep contains water, " which does not dry up all the year round," and that invalids re- cover health by drinking from the well at the foot of the mountain, into which "the sea-water enters free from salt."* At a later period, the belief of the Chinese as to the origin of the foot-print seems to have undergone a change, for Fa Hian, • Sir J. E. Tennent's Ceylon, vol. i. p. 586-7. This early belief of the Chinese that the mark on the top of Adam's Peak, was an impression of the foot of the first created man, is so very remarkable, that one is inclined to suspect there must be some error on the part of the translators of the books in which it is recorded, unless indeed it be the record of some an- cient tradition which was afterwards grafted on to Buddhism. Ibn Batutu, in his account of the foot.mark, visited by him about a, d. 1340, says " The Chinese came here at some former time, and cut out from this stone the place of the great toe, together with the stone about it, and placed it in a temple in the city of Zaitun: and pilgrimages are made to it from the most distant parts of China." The rock does not however bear any evi- dences of such an outrage ; and the story probably owes its origin to the \\ ADAM'S PEAK. 2« the Chinese pilgrim, who in the course of his travels visited Ceylon, a. d. 413, says in the 38th chapter of his interesting narrative, "By the strength of his divine foot, h6 [Foe, i. e. Buddha] left the print of one of his feet to the north of the royal city, and the print of the other on the summit of a mountain." This visit took place in the reign of Maha N^ma, and the royal city alluded to was Anurd,dhapura, where Fa Hian took up his abode. He did not however visit.the Sri-pdda, and only thus incidentally alludes to it ; 80 that it does not appear to have then been a place of pil- grimage; nor does he mention tliat any of the priesthood resided on the mountain, a fact which he would scarcely have failed to note, had such really been the case. From the time of Kirti Nissanga, pilgrimages to the foot- print seem to have become a settled practice. The Rdja Batnakari,* an authority only second to that of the Maha- wanso, states, that Wijayabdhu, who established himself [a. d. 1240—1267] in the Mdyfi, Rata, and fixed his craft of some of the Chinese mercenaries employed in the army of Prik- rama III. a. p. 1266. One can imagine tlic inward chuckle with which, after his return to "the flowery land," one of these mercenaries practised the " old soldier" over his countrymen, in palming off a lump of stone with a chiseled toe-mark, as° a relic from the original impression of the foot- print of "c'oe from the top of the sacred mountain of "Sze-tseu-kwo.*" * The exact date of the composition of the Il6ja Ratrtakari is not known ; but it would seem to have been written in, or immediately after, the reign of Wikrcmab&hu of Kandy, whose life and acts occupy a considerable space at the end of the work, and whose career the author, Abhayarija of Walgump&ye wihare, eulogises in glowing terms. 26 ADAM'S PEAK. capital at Dambndeniya in the Seven K6ral^8, repaired the route to the peak, viH Gampola, and with much pomp, visited and worshipped the Srf-pdda. Ilia Bucccssor Pandita Prdkramdbdhu) improved the communications, and formed a road from the Samanala to Bcntota in the Southern Province, bridging the ravines and rivers in the way, and among others, throwing a bridge of timber 193 ft. 6 in. long across the Kaluganga. Two hundred and seventy years, later, Wikremabdhu, whose capital was at Kanda Nuwara, the modern Kandy, "caused bridges to be laid over the rivers, repaired the road, and caused 780 steps to be cut in the rock, in order that travellers might the more easily ascend; and also caused resthouses to be made for the convenience of travellers on the road. And after expending a large sum of money> he caused a great flambeau to be made which was capable of containing 100 pots of oil, and this he lighted as a beacon on the top of the peak, in order to make his works visible to this world ; and thus this king accumulated an infinite amount of merit." * This route, there is reason to believe, is the same that is now followed in ascending to the peak, vid Ratnapura. The practice of lighting up the summit of the mountain at sunset, during the pilgrim season, is con- tinued to the present day, and the effect produced by the multitude of flaming lamps in front of Saman's shrine, and the Kayhili-gey, or temple of the foot-print, as seen either from Diyabetme or Heramittipane is exceedingly fine. ADAM'S PEAK. 27 The belief amongst the Hindus in regard to the origin and sanctity of the hollow on the summit of Adam's Peak varies. It is hy no means universal; and among those who hold it the Vishnaivites maintain it is the foot-print of Yiehnu, while the Siv&ites insist upon it that the impresBion was made hj Si\k, the chief of the supreme triad of Hindu divinities, after whom it bears the name of Siv&n-oli-p&dam. They base their belief on the legend, that 8iv& in one of his manifestations retired to this mountain for the performance of certain devotional austerities, and that on their conclusion, in commemoration of his abode there, he left the impress of his foot upon the mountain-top. This legend does not appear in any of the eighteen Puranas; but is gathered from hints contained in several; and it was probably concocted at some bye-gone period more from political than any other motives. That there were occasions when such motives would be likely to sway the minds of both kings and priests, will be evident to all who have studied the history of the Tamils in Ceylon. The religion of the aborigines of the island was N&ga or Serpent worship, subsequently superseded by or incorporated with the worship of Lakshmana and Rdma after their deifi- cation as incarnations of Vishnu. The head quarters of this combination of religions were, Batnapura, in Sabara- gamuwa, and Dewi Newaraor Dondra, the extreme southern point of Lanka, and boundary of Bdma's conquests in that direction. This was before the Buddhist historic period. After the Wijayan invasion, successive monarchs built and 28 ADAM'S PEAK. endowed Hindu temples, introducing therein the worship of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siv&, with that of other inferior deities. This worship the people clave to, while still professing to be Buddhists; and as it was tolerated by the Buddhist priests, it gradually led to the anomalous sight now almost every where to be seen, of Hindu ddwdles in close proximity to Buddhist vihfiras, and a people addicted alike to the adoration of Buddha and the worship of Serpents and Demons. Traditions of a remote age assert that a colony of ^lalabars founded the city of Trincomalec 1589 years B. c, and the earliest authentic notices of the place record the existence there of a very ancient and sacred Sivaite temple. Other traditions traceable to a period long anterior to historic times, make mention of a Tamil kingdom in the North-west of the island, ruled over by an Amazon princess named Alliarasamy, whose capital was Kudremale, where granite ruins and rock inscriptions bear evidence to the truth of the tradition ; while a Tamil drama, founded on the story of the queen, declares the people to have been Sivaites in their religious faith.* But " Hardly the plncc of such antiquity Or note of these great monarchies we find ; Only a fading verbal memory And empty name in writ is left behind." FhINEAS FliETCBBR. i * The places considered specially holy by the educated Tamils and Hindus of Ceylon, in consequence of the presence of Sivi, are Trinco- malee on the east, and: Mardodde on the north>west coast. ADAM'S PEAK. 29 Respecting the original peopling of the northern peninsula, the following account is given by Tamil writers.* A cen- tury and a half before the Christian era there lived in the Chola or Soli country, a certain minstrel named Ydlp&na N&yan&r, otherwise Virardgaven. Being blind he depended for his subsistence entirely on the earnings of his wife. One day, however, she having delayed serving him with his meals at the accustomed hour, he quarrelled with her, and quitted the house, saying, that he was going to Ceylon ; upon which she sneeringly observed, — " Ah I you are going to Ceylon to get a tusked elephant and a fertile field." On reaching Ceylon he made his way to Anur&dhapura, where ho obtained an audience of the king, and sang the monarch's praises to the accompaniment of his lute, in so agreeable a manner, that the well -pleased potentate did in fact present him with a tusked elephant, and moreover bestowed upon him in perpetuity the land on the northern extremity of the island ; thus realizing the words with which his wife had ironically taunted him. The land was then covered with jungle and wholly uninhabited, but Ydlpcina induced a colony of Tamils from Southern India to settle upon and cultivate it ; and in the course of years it became a populous, fertile and wealthy • Extracted from the Tamil Plutarch, by the late Simon Casie Chitty, , the talented District Judge of Puttalam, and author of the Ceylon Gtaxut- teer. Several valuable papers were also contributed by him to the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, and other local Magazines and Journals, principally upon Tamil literature, and the history and customs of the Tamils, Moors and Mookwas of Ceylon. 30 ADAM'S PEAK. district, which he named after himself Y&lpdna nadu, or the minBtrel's country— a name the origin of which is still pre- served in the modem Jaffna and Jaffnapatam. He did not however assume a personal sovereignty, but invited over a prince of the Solian race, and crowned him king under the title of Singariya Chakravarti, in the Kali year 3000, or B. c. 101.» The preceding tale is by no means an improbable one, for the early kings of Ceylon were of Indian origin, and always more or less connected with that continent by matrimonial alliances; and an Indian minstrel in the olden days would count it no uncommon reward to receive gifts such as those awarded to Y&lpdna by the king. The colonists he imported were worshippers of Siva, and that worship was known else- where in Ceylon as early as B. c. 426. It is recorded in the Mahawanso that in the reign of Pandukdbhaya [b. c. 437 — 367] that monarch, who seems to have been most tolerant in all matters of religion, built places of worship in his capital, Anurddhapura, for all deno- minations. The historian writes, chap. x. " He the king who knew how to accord his protection with discrimination," established the yakkos in the royal palace itself and annually provided demon-offerings. " He provided a nigr6dha tree * The descendants of this king continued to reign in Jafiha, under the title of ' Ariya iChakravarti,' until near the close of the sixteenth century. They were frequently at war with the Sinhalese; and although at times conquered and] deposed, recovered and maintained their power until finally subjugated by the Portuguese. ADAM'S PEAK. 31 for the (d^vatd) Wessawano, and A temple for the Wiy&dho- ddvo." "He also constructed a dwelling for the varioua classes of devotees," "The king built a temple for the Nighantho Eumbhundo, which was called by his bame. . To the westward of that temple he provided a residence for 500 persons of various foreign religious faiths. Above the dwelling of Jotiyo [a Brahman — his chief engineer] and below the Gamini tank, he built a residence for the Paribdjika devotees. In the same quarter, but on separate sites, he constructed a residence for the Ajiwako, a hall for the worshippers of Brahma, (another for those) of Sivd, as well as a hospital." Th^se Brahmans seem to have continued to reside peace* ably in Ceylon, until b. c. 246, when two Malabar adven- turers, military chiefs in the pay of the monarch Suratisaa, murdered the king and usurped the throne. Eldla, of Soli (Tanjore) on the Coromandel coast soon after their dethrone- ment by As^Ja, invaded the island, and defeating that king possessed himself of the entire country, with the exception of Buhuna. He retained his power till b, c. 164, when in his turn he was overthrown and slain in battle by Dutthdga- mine, and his followers driven out of the island. An army of Malabars again invaded Ceylon in the reign of Walagam- bdhu, and held possession until B. c. 88. They seem to have remained quiet after their expulsion by Walagambdhu until A. D. 106, when the prince of the Solians once more ravaged the country with an army, and after plundering and devastating it returned to his own land with immense booty 32 ADAM*S PEAK. and 12,000 captives. Six years later, this invasion was' avenged by Gajabdhu, the captives recovered, and n similar number of Solians led prisoners to Ceylon. Bespecting these transactions however, the Malabar and Siyhaloso annalists give dissimilar accounts, the ibrracr asserting that the SoHans voluntarily migrated to Ceylon at the request of Gajabdhu, who made them large grants of land for the support of a temple to Sivd, by way of expiation for a sin of intention, ' he having at one time purposed to pull the said temple down. It is at any rate certain that at the time alluded to a Solian colony was established in Trincomalee, and that the colonists were Sivaites. Another Malabar invasion took place a. d. 433, and the invaders again held possession of the land for six-and-twenty years. Anarchy and internal discord more or less prevailed from this time to the seventh century, in which the Malabars every now and again took part. In A. D. 838 these inveterate invaders once more overran the country. Driven back after awhile, they remained quiet until A. D. 954, when war broke out afresh. A short peace ensued, and again the Solians ravaged the country ; and the number of Malabars increased so much in successive reigns that A. d. 1023, they menaced the throne, and an army of Solians coming to their aid, the king Mihindu IV. was captured, and with his queen died a prisoner in the country of his foes. The Solians after this held the northern and mountain districts for upwards of fifty years,! when they were reduced by Wejaya- bdhu, who died A. d1 1126; and during this period the Dhamilos [Tamils] siicceeded in driving almost all the ADAM'S PEAK. - 88 Buddhist priests out of the island. Seventy yean of p^aoe followed, when a fresh period of internal discord tempted the Solians to a fresh invasion, and the whole island became the proy of confusion, irroligion and anarchy, in which state it continued a third of a century. In other words, Hindu- ism prevailed, and Buddhism was all but extirpated under the strong hand of M&gha Bdjd, the Malabar king.* He reigned for twenty-one years, when a. d, 1240 Wijaya succeeded in expelling the Malabars from the Mdy& and Ruhuna divisions of the island; but they were too numerous and too firmly rooted in the Pihiti or northern kingdom to be driven thence; and their descendants remain there to the present day.f The readiness with which the Sinhalese associated the worship of Hindu divinities with that of their national faith is easily to be accounted for. Buddha, while neither * The term "Malabar" ia the common but improper name applied by Europeanii to the Tamils of Ceylon, whether they come from Malabar proper, in the southwest of the Dekkan, from Tanjore, or from parts as far north as Cuttack and Orissa. The word never occurs in Sinhalese writings.' The term used in the MahawanstS and other P&li works is QWq3 Dhamil&, and in Sinhalese works S'^Sg Demalu, corresponding to the Sanskrit word Dravida, Tamils. The king M&gha Rfij&, was a native of K&linga or Telegu, in the Northern Circars, f The District of Nuwarakal&viys, however, which formed a large portion of the Kingdom of Fihi^i, and in which was included Anur&dha« pura, the ancient capital, is still, as it always has been, occupied by the Siyhalcse, but with a large admixture of the Tamil race. 34 ' ADAM'S PEAK. denying noir disputing the claims -of these divinities to god« ship, assorted his own immeasurable superiority over each and all in every godlike attribute they were supposed to be invested with : his followers therefore could worship whom they pleased, so long as they acknowledged and took refuge in him as the All-Supreme. But this assumption of superiority was , intolerable to those who rejected his doctrines, and in their eyes his system was abominably ob- noxious — in short, it was a most pestilent heresy. It nevertheless made its way, for its originator was a king's son, and kings and princes were its nursing fathers; and ere long it became the idominant religion in the land of its birth. In process of time, however, there came a reaction. JBrahmanism again prevailed, and proselytes were made with facility; for when argument failed to convince, the sword ' was brought to bear, and in the hands of its warlike wielders, it wrought such effectual conversions, that ultimately Bud- dhism was either expelled from or extirpated throughout the whole of Central India. But, while the Hindus rejected Buddhism as heretical, and extirpated it wherever they could, they have all along manifested °as ready a tendency as the most tolerant of Buddhists to add to the number of their gods, though their name already be legion. The ancient Tamil Poet Pudat- tazhvdr, a native of M&vilipuram near Sadras, has thus been deified by the Vaishnavas, worshippers of- Vishnu; in like manner the two pocWsscs Uppei and Uruvei, who lived in the ninth century of the Christian era, have been numbered ADAM'S PEAK. 35 with the goddesses, and obtained elevated niched 'in the Hindu Pantheon; while in more recent times the founder of a temple at Nellore, in the north of the island, has become the divinity worshipped within it walls. Such a tendency, it is but reasonable to suppose, would develope itself in connection with the Samanala peak, when the country in which it is situated became subjected to Hindu rule. "The conquerors found the mountain dedicated to Saman, and its summit reverenced by Buddhists. Sivaite fakeers or ascetics discovered upon it medicinal trees and plants well known to them on the Himalayan ranges, the peaks of which are supposed to be Siv&'s favorite abodes. They sought upon its slopes and surrounding valleys, — as their successors still continue the search for, — the plant " Sansdvi," the tree of life and immortality, whereof whoao eateth he shall live for ever. Amongst them the mountain came to be called " Swargarrhanam," the ascent to heaven ; and as all those whom Siv& destines to celestial bliss are said to receive upon their heads the impress of his sacred foot, by an easy process of transition the belief would become prevalent among the uneducated mass of his worshippers, that the foot-print upon the mountain top, alleged by the Sinhalese to be that of Buddha, was none other than Sivd's own. When once such a belief obtained a hold upon the Hindu mind, the legend to account for it would speedily be framed. As already stated, however, many of the most orthodox of the Hindus repudiate the legend and decline to accept the 36 ADAM'S PEAK. rock-mark as a tangible memento of the presence of Sivd on the spot. In the Tiruvathavar Purana, generally supposed to have been written about the eighth century a. d.,* there is a chapter entitled "the vanquishing of the Buddhists in disputation," in which an account is given of a certain ascetic visiting Ceylon, (then called "the Spotless kingdom of IM"),t and vexing the righteous souls of the " beautiful-shouldered" king, and the Buddhist hierarch, by proclaiming Siv&'s supe- riority to Buddha. The king and the thero decided to go over to India and bold a public disputation upon the subject ; but were there defeated and converted by the convincing arguments of the Sage Vathavuren. As this account appears in one of the works the Hindus esteem divinely inspired, and there is in it no mention whatever of the sacred foot-print or the Sivdn-oli-padam, it may be concluded that so late as the eighth century, both legend and belief were non-existent, so far at least as 'the Hindus are concerned. The oldest probable period from which to date the legend, is that immediately following the invasion of the Solians, A. D. 1023. The Sinhalese king was then captured, and for fifty years after, the Hindu race held possession of the Mdyfi, or mountain, as well as the northern province of the • A translation of this chapter, by S. C. Chitty, Esq., was published in the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1846. t At that date, and previously, the old form of Sighalese, known as the "EIu," would 4ouhtless be the language commonly spoken by educated natives. ADAM'S PEAK. 87 island. Two years after this Solian invasion, A. D. 1025, a large body of Sivaites who fled in terror from Somnaut in India, where Mahmoud of Ghuzneo had overthrown their temple, found a refuge in Ceylon ; and this access of numbers no doubt largely contributed to strengthen the power of the Hindus in the land. The circumstances of the country however, in both the next and the succeeding century, were equally as bad, from a Buddhist point of view; and quite sufficient to account for the origination and confirmation of any belief that connected the Samanala peak with the worship of Sivd. There is no doubt about the fact, that the Sivan- oli-padam was resorted to by Hindu pilgrims in the early part of the fourteenth century, and as the pilgrimage was then an established custom, it may have been in vogue for a century or two earlier, for all that is known to the contrary. That observing old traveller Ibn Batutu,* after his arrival at Futtalam, on the North-west coast, thus describes his re- ception by " Ayari Shakarti," the principal chief or sub-king of the district. " He said. Do not be shy ; ask for what you wish. I answered. My only desire in coming to the island vfaa to visit the blessed foot of our forefather Adam ; whom these people call Bdba, while they style Eve'Mdmd. This, replied he, is easy enough. We will send some one with you who will conduct you thither He then gave mo a palanquin which his servants carried upon their shoulders. * The chapter of Ibn Bntutu's trnvels relating to Ceylon, and con- taining the account of hia ascent to the top of Adam's Peak will bo found in Appendix B. He also sent with me four Jogees, who were in the habit of visiting the foot-mark eVcry year; with these went four Brahmans, and ten of the king's companions, with fifteen men carrying provisions." From the fourteenth century .to the present the custom has been kept up amongst the Hindu worshippers of Sivd, Hindus ofother branches of Brahmanical faith seem to have frequented the mountain peak at the same period, but they either did not know Or entirely ignored the legend that con- nected it with Sivd. They, in fact, held to the more ancient worship of Saman, a worship by no means repugnant to the feelings of the Siyhalcse. This is ascertained from the following dialogue between two Brahmans contained in the Sinhalese poem entitled "Pcrakumbdsirita," the life of Perakumbd, or Frdkramabdhu VI., supposed by some to have been written by Sri Kdhula of Totagamuwa, a loyal panegyrist of that monarch, at whose Court at Jayaward- hana, the modern Cotta, he resided:* — kiyaga mnglyo enu koyi sitii, Dnda, Sumanuin gOBinti tSgiJ S«a, Sgas, gSai gSg SQtsij cpurn amutu kimcka Bainuna Sumatia, surinclu wisiiiil * For the extract in the text I am indebted to the Rev. C. Alwls, whose intimate acquaintance with tlie classic literature of his native land, and extensive knowledge of its legendary lore are surpassed by but few of his contemporaries. He -has most obligingly assisted me in my researches, and furnished Vne with much valuable and interesting matter connected ■with the subject of this work. The extract was accompanied by the ^^®rf otsi 6a ds>tf«! dToS ^xtai gija kala dcdahus pan siya rajek eteyi Diyand .« ■ kiyaliya tanwfsi 4nani P9rakum raja modind. O tell me, traveller, from whence you wend your way ? Prom Samanalo, Braliman, have I arrived this day.— What news from God Sumana, who holds thoreo'er chief away f When thousands twain, and hundreds five, of years have passed away, The world to rule, a king shall come, so folk who dwell there say,— ' King Pf rakum, then citizen, that is, whom all obey, \ _ ■ ■ At, a later date the Sivaites became the actual custodians of the mountain, Rdja Sinha the Apostate from Buddhism having delivered it over to a body of Aandiyds, Fakeers of the Saiva sect, after putting to death the orthodox Bhikkhus,* and burning all the sacred and historical books that he could find of the faith which he had abandoned. These Aandiyds retained possession of the mountain for a period of 160 years, when the pious king Kirti Sri, restored it to the Buddhists, bestowing the custody of the peak, with the royal village Kuttdpitiy a, upon the priest Weliwita;t at the same time following literal translation. "Tell (me) O traveller I where do you come from? — O Brahman (I am returning) from having gofie to Samanala.— What news is there in that country, O Brahman I fron\ the chief god Sumana? — When two thousand five hundred years shall have elapsed, they say that there would come a king, the chief of the world. — Then it can be said, O citizen 1 that it is the king Ffrakum of this day." * Bhikkhu, a person who lives on fragments; a Buddhist priest. I A translation of the sannas or royal grqnt, is given in Appendix C. 40 • ADAM'S PEAK. conferring upon him, for his eminent services in restoring tlie religion* of Buddha, and procuring from Siam the Upasampad& ordination, the title of Sangha B^jah, or king of priests. The Aandiy&s tried to regain possession, and in an appeal to the king for that purpose, made him a present of a splendid pair of elephant's tusks. The king accepted the present, but did not grant the petition ; remarking, that the mountain belonged to Buddha and was not his to dispose of; at the same time he sent the tusks as an offering to the Sri- pdda. The high-priests of the temple retained possession of these tusks until the British troops first entered the country, when they were removed to Kandy, and from thence to the Gadalddeni vihdra in Udunuwara, where, in 1827, it was said they were still to be seen. . There is nothing recorded in the life of Mohammad, nor is there anything in the Kurin to shew that that enthusiastic Arabian iconoclast, the founder of the faith of Islam, was a believer in the tradition that connected Adam, the divinely created progenitor of the human race, and " greatest of all the patriarchs and prophets," with the holy mount of Serandib ; yet the tradition was current amongst the Copts in the fourth and fifth centuries; and in a paper by Mr. Duncan, in the Asiatic Researches, containing historical remarks on the coast of Malabar, mention is made of a native chronicle, in which, it is stated that a king of that country who was contemporary " with Mohammad, was converted to Islam by a party of ADAM'S PEAK. 41 dervishes on tbeir pilgrimage to Adam's Peak.* But, as the standard of the Crescent rose, and the prowess of its turbaned followers, with almost incredible celerity, spread far and wide the doctrines of him who called himself the Apostle of God, and, after Adam, " the last and greatest of the prophets," so, with like speed, did the wondrous tales of the old Arab voyagers and traders of Ceylon t spread * Asiatic Researches, vol. v. p. 9. This conversion " was effected by a company of dervishes from Arabia who touched at Crungloor, or Cranganore (then the seat of Government in Iklalabar) on their voyage to visit the Footstep of Adam, on that mountain in Ceylon which mariners distinguish by the name of Adam's Peak." In a note, Mr. Duncan adds: " This Footstep of Adam is, under the name of Sre-pud or the 'holy foot,' equally reverenced and resorted to by the Hindus." ', f Arab traders were known in Ceylon centuries before Mohammad was born, " and such was their passion for enterprisp, that at one and the game moment they were pursuing commerce in the Indian ocean, and manning the galleys of Marc Antony in the fatal sea-fight at Actium. The author of the Periplut found them in Ceylon after the first Christian century, Cosmos Indico-pleustes in the sixth ; and they had become so numerous in China in the eighth, as to cause a tumult in Canton. From the tenth till the fifteenth century, the Arabs, as merchants, were the un- disputed masters of the East ; they formed commercial establishments in . every country that had productions to export, and their vessels sailed between every sea-port from Sofala to Bab-el- Mandeb, and from Aden ' to Sumatra. The ' Moors ' who at the present day inhabit the coasts of Ceylon, are the descendants of these active adventurers ; they are not purely Arabs 4n blood, but descendants from Arabian ancestors by intermarriage with the native races who embraced the religion of the prophet." — Sir J. E. Tensent's Ceylon, vol. i. p. 607. 42 ADAM'S PEAK. amongst their countrymen and co-religionists reports of the beauty, the fertility, and the riches of India's utmost isle. Not least in interest amongst the marvels told would be those respecting the mysterious relic on the summit of Al-rohoun,* the mighty mount they saw above the horizon for days before they moored their ships beneath the shadow of the palms that marged the coast. From what was recorded of Adam in the Kurdn, and the Coptic traditions, with which the Arab traders would be well acquainted, connecting his name with the mountain and the foot-print, the whole combined failed not to invest the island with all the charms of an earthly elysium, and fixed in the minds of Moslems the idea that the mountain of Serandib, "than which the whole world does not contain a mountain of greater height," f sprang from the site of Eden's garden, and was most pro- bably that sacred spot, •' The Mount oi Paradise, in clouds reposed," whence Adam was permitted to take his last long lingering look at the abodes of bliss from which he was for ever expelled, for * So called from the Ruhuna division of the Island, in which Galle is situated, and fromtrhich Adam's Peak is seen. t The description given by Tababi, "the Livy of tho Arabians," bom A. D. 838, -whose writings contain, it is believed, the earliest allusiuni to Ceylon to be foimd in any of the Arabian or Persian authors. ADAM'S PEAK. 43 "that myBterious Clime, : ' Whose dire contagion througli elapsing time ' DifTused the curse of death heyond control)" • or tbe pinnacle upon which he alighted, when, according to other traditions, he was 'cast out from the Paradise of the seventh heaven, and there " remained standing on one foot, until years of penitence and suffering had expiated his offence, and formed the footstep" that now marks the place upon which he stood.f The traditions vary in their details; but all true Islamites hold to the,belief that Ceylon was rendered for ever famous by the presence upon it, and the residence thereinj of the Father of Mankind.^ Sale, in the note already quoted from, * James ModtgoMebt's "World before the Flood." ■ " It is from the summit of this mountain, a tradition reports, that Adam took his last view of Paradise, before he quitted it never to return. The spot at which his foot stood at the moment, is still supposed to be found in an impression on the summit of the mountain, resembling the print of a man's foot, but more than double the ordinary size. After taking this farewell view, the father of mankind is said to have gone over to the continent of India; which was at that time joined to the island ; but no sooner had he passed Adam's Bridge than the sea closed behind him, and cut ofi* all hopes of return." — Febcival's Account of Ceylon, p. 206-7. •f Note to chap. ii. of Sale's Al-koran. X "There is another tradition related in the Caherman-nameh, namely, that Adam was banished to Serandib after his expulsion from Paradise, and that Caherman-Catel, wishing to bequeath to posterity a monument to record the birth of his son Sam-Neriman, caused a town to be built 44 ADAM'S PEAK, mentions the further belief of the followers of the Prophet of Mecca, that Eve, who had fallen from Paradise near Jed- dah, or Mecca, in Arabia, was, after a separation of two hundred years, reunited to Adam, who was conducted to her by the angel Gabriel, and that they afterwards both retired to Ceylon, where they continued to propagate their species. Percival, in his notice of the mountain named after him to whom " tlie evening breeze Had borne tlie voice of God amonj; the trees; wliose lutirning eye Outshone the star that told the sun was nigh," J. MuNTOOMEBT. states that one of the chains near the top is said to have been made by Adam himself I but he gives no authority for the statement. Sir W. Ousely, in his Travels, quoting from the Bcrhan Kattca, a manuscript Persian dictionary, writes "Serandib(or Serandiljis the name of a celebrated mountain, whereon the venerable Adam, (to whom be the blessing of God!) descended from Paradise and resided.... it is likewise reported, that here is interred the father of mankind." Ashref, a Persian poet of the fifteenth century, holding this belief, describes in the " Zaffer Nainah Skendari," a voyage in the great plain at the foot of the mountnin where Adam was interred, and that he called the same Khorrcm, place of joys and pleasures, such as the Greeks and Latins believed the Elysian fields to have been."— . Biljliothcque Orientcilc of D'Herhei-OT, vol. iii. p. 308. ADAM'S PEAK. 4« inade to Ceylon by Alexander the Great, where, after land- ing and indulging himself and companions in feasts and revels, he next explores the wonders of the island, and " with the philosopher Bolinas [celebrated for the composition of magical talismans] devises means whereby they may ascend the mountain of Serandib, fixing thereto chains with rings, and nails or rivets, made of iron and brass, the remains of which exist even at this day ; so that travellers, by the assist- ance of these chains, are enabled to climb the mountain and obtain glory by finding the sepulchre of Adam, on whom be theblessingof God!"* Unfortunately for Ashref's credibility, his statements are not supported by any reliable authority, and history is utterly silent in regard to this alleged voyage of Alexander and his cpmpanlons.t His own countrymen too, are at issue with him as to the plaoe of sepulture of the ' father of mankind, for Ilamdallah Kuzwini, the Persian geographer, says that Adam left Ceylon for the continent of India, and " crossed the sea on foot, thougli ships now sail over the place of his passage, during the space of two or three days' voyage. "J * Sir W. Ocbely's Travels, vol. i. p. fi8. t This belief amongst Easterns pf the visit of Alexander the Groat to Ceylon existed long before the time of Asbref. Ibn Batiita, a century earlier, mentions "the ridge of Alexander," at the entrance to the mountain Serandib, " in which is a cave and a well of water," and a minaret there "named after Alexander." J Sir W. Ouski-y's Travels, vol. i. p. 37. 46 ADAM'S PEAK. The earliest account of the Mussulman tradition that connects the story of Adam with the Peak is that contained in the narrative of Solcyman, an Arab merchant who visited Ceylon in the beginning of the ninth century. His attention was particularly dirootod to the mountain called by his countrymen "Al-rohoun," "to the top of which" ho says, " it is thought Adam ascended, and there left tlie print of his foot, in a rock which is seventy cubits in length; and they say, that Adam at the same time stood with his other foot in the sea. About this mountain are mines of rubies, of opals, and amethysts."* Ibn Wahab, another trader who visited Ceylon about the same period, speaks of its pearls and precious stones; and the narratives of both travellers are related in a work entitled " Voyages of the two Moham- ' madans," written between the years A. D. 851 — 911, and first printed in France in 1 7 rS.f Sindbad the Sailor in his charming tales, written probably about the same period as those of the two Mohammadans, says in the account of his sixth voyage " The capital of Serahdib stands at the end of a fine valley, in the middle of the island, encompassed by high mountains. They are seen * History of Ceylon, by Fhilalethes, 1817, p. 7. Tlie opals referred to by Soleyman must have been either cat'a-eyes or moonstones; the real opal not being found in Ceylon. t By Renaudot ; it was reprinted at Paris by Rkinavd in 1845. An English translation was included in both Harbis's and Pikkebton's collections of early travels. ADAM'S PEAK. 4T three days' Bail oiF at eea. Rubies and several sorts of minerals abound. All kinds of rare plants and trees grow there, especially cedars and cocoa-nut. There is also a pearl-fishery in the mouth of its principal river; and in some of its valleys are found diamonds.* I made, by way of devotion, a pilgrimage to the place whore Adam was ooufinod after his banishment from Paradise, and had the curiosity to go to the top of the mountain." f The Arabian author Edrisi, in his Geography compiled at the desire of the Sicilian king, Koger the Normau, a. d. 1154, repeats details of the height of the holy mountain of Ceylon, its gems and odoriferous woods; and in the next century Kazwini of Bagdad, the Pliny of the East, gives ^mrtloulars of Ceylon as then known to the travellers and voyagers of his day. Ibn Batilta, a Moor of Tangiers, the record of whose thirty years' pilgrimage [a. d. 1324—1354] entitles him to I rank amongst the most remarkable travellers of any age or I country, whilst journeying through Persia, visited at Shirfiz "the tomb of the Imdm El Kotb El Wali Abti Abd Allah * Diamonds are not found in Ceylon, but white sapphires may have been passed off for such gems. A species of zircon is found in Matura, which goes by the name of the Matura diamond; these stones ore exceedingly hard, and some of them possess great lustre ; but they are seldom found of any size, and are of little commercial value. f Arabian I7ights' Entertainments, by Townseno ; Chaudos Classics Edit., p. 428. 48 ADAM'S PEAK. Ibn Khafif, who is the great exemplar of all the region of F4r8." Of him he eaya " This Abd Abd Allah is the person, who made known the way from India to the mountain of Serandib, and who wandered about the mountains in the Island of Ceylon. Of his miracles, his entering Ceylon, and wandering over its mountains in company with about thirty fakeers is one : for when these persons were all suffering from extreme hunger, and had consulted the Sheikh on the necessity of slaughtering and eating an elephant, he positively refused and forbade the act. They, nevertheless, impelled as they were by hunger, transgressed his commands, and killed a small elephant, which they ate. The Sheikh, however, refused to partake. When they had all gone to sleep, the elephants came in a body, and smelling one of them, put him to death. They then came to the Sheikh, and smelled him, but did him no injury. One of them, however, wrapt his trunk about him, and lifting him on his back, carried him off to some houses. When the people saw him, they were much astonished. The elephant then put him down and walked off. The infidels were much delighted with the Sheikh, treated him very kindly, and took him to their king. The king gave credit to his story, and treated him with the greatest kindness and respect. When I entered Ceylon I found them still infidels, although they had given great credit to the Sheikh. They also very much honour the Mohammadan fakeers, taking them to their houses and feeding them, contrary to the practice of the infidels of India; for they neither eat with a Mohammadan, nor suffer ADAM'S PEAK. 49 him to come near them."* Sir James Emereon Tennent observes upon this account: — "As this saint died in the year of the Hejira 331, his story serves to fix the origin of the Mohammadan pilgrimages to Adam's Peak in the early part of the tenth century."t Ibn Batfita's visit to Ceylon was the result of stress of weather, he being at the time on a voyage from one of tlie Maldive islands, — where bis long residence and popularity had excited the hatred of the Vizier, — to the " Maabar Districts " on the coast of Coromandel, His narrative will be found in the Appendix, accompanied with notes identi- fying many of the places mentioned in his route from Puttalam to Gampola, thence to Adam's Peak, to Dondra- head, Galle, Colombo, and back to Puttalam. * The Travels of Ibn Batilta, translated ttom the Arabic by the Bev. S Lee, Professor of Arabic in the University of Cambridge, 1829, p. 42-43 Robert Knox, writing three hundred and forty years later, fiilly corroborates the statement of Ibn BatiSta. t Sir J, E. Tehneht's CeyloDf vol. i. p. 619, 50 ADAM'S PEAK. NOTE. tt la stated in page 19, on the authority of a uote in Mr. James D'Alwis's " Attanagalu-vansa," that except in the historical works of Ceylon, there is no account of this supposed impression of Buddha's foot in any of the earliest records of Budhism." Since the printing of the sheet con- taining that page, I have been favoured with the following communication from Mudaliyar Louis Do Zoyaa, the learned Chief Translator to the Ceylon Government, whose merits as a Pali and Sanscrit scholar are patent to all who have occasion to consult him, but whose reluctance to publish the fruits of his studious labours has hitherto prevented him from taking that place amongst generally known Orientalists to which his abilities entitle him. " I have much pleasure in sending you an extract and its translation from Buddhaghosa's Atthakatha on the Winaya- pitaka, entitled 'Samanta Pisddika,' respecting the im- pression of Buddha's foot on the mountain of Samantakdta. Buddhaghosa is the great commentator on the canonical Scriptures of Buddhism. Atthakatha is a Comment, or Glossary. Winayapitaka is that division of the sacred text which treats of the Laws of the Buddhist Priesthood. "Tiiiikli6pana Bhagavato padaclidtiydai. Lagk&dipfi ekag. .Tambudipd Y6nakaratth6 dwdtl. Tattha bddhitd attham^ wass£ Kalyuniya^ Maniakkhi niigarajdna nimantit6 Bhagav&'paychahi bhikkhuBatehi parivutd Lapkudipam&gamma Katydni ch(Sti)ratthand katd ratana-mandapd nisinnd bhattukichcbaQ kHtw& Samantakute paJa^ dassotwd agamasi." — Samamta IVsa'dika'. " There are three foot-impreasiona of the Deity of felicity: one in the Island of Lankd., and two in the Yonaka* country in Jambudipo. In the eighth year after hia attainment of Buddhahood, the Deity of felicity, at the invitation of the Nd^ra king Maniakkhi, arrived at Lankd attended by five hundred priesta, and having taken hia scat in the ratana- mandapa (gem-decorated-hall) on the aite of the Ddgoba at u Kelani, and having partaken of hia repast there, left the impreesion of hia foot on the Samantak&ta mountain and departed." The above extract, however, only provea that the notice of the foot-print occura for the first time in any other than an historical work, in the Atthakathd or commentary composed by Buddhagh6sa, which, although esteemed by many as of equal authority with the Tripitaka, was never- theless only, written at about the same period as the corresponding statement in the Mahawans6, or bnt a short while before. For Buddhaghosa arrived in Ceylon from Maghada, near Patna, the original seat of Buddhism, during the reign of Mahandmo, A. d. 410 — 432; and he and the there Mahaudma were both resident at the same time at Anarddhapura, where the latter completed the early chapters of the Mahawanso in the reign of his nephew Dhdtu-Sena [a. D. 459—478]. The statements in the commentary and in the history are identical, and both 52 ADAM'S PEAK. had, without doubt, a common origin.* The express object of-Buddhagh6sa's visit to Ceylon, was to translate from Sinhalese into Pali the Atthakathda 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 Rajd, or supreme ruler of the priesthood." t 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 Buddhaghdsa embodied in his commentary, as in a kind of common-place book, every- thing 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 Dipawania, or history of the iHland, written in Pali, perhaps a century and a half earlier than the Mahauiaiud, is the oldest known book in which the legend is stated. Both Buddhaghdsa and Mahan&ma seem to have been indebted to its pages for what they have written on this particular subject. f IIabdy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 512. j Hardi's Eastern Monachism, p. 171. %&m'% |it«Ii. " All the giant mountaini sleep High in heaven their monarch standi, Bright and beauteous from afar . Shining into distant lands Lilio a new-created star," J, MoilTaOMERT. CHAPTER II. Notices of the Peak and Foot-pkint bt early Christian Writers. — Accounts bt Marco Polo, Sir John Madn- DEViLLE, Captain Ribeyko, Robert Knox, and the Dutch Historian viiLENTrN. 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 leu, (the mystic name they gave to Adam) the protoplast; of the human race, seems, after their dispersion under persecution, to have been communicated 54 ADASI'S PEAK. by them to the Arabs, and it was probably under this influence that Mohammad recognized him in the Kurdn, 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 Chris- tians, 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 moun- tain, is yearly frequented by vast numbers of black Chris- tians of the Portuguese and Malabar races." But in this respect he seems to have fallen iato an error; there are no traces of such a chaptel 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 Koman Catholic church, which in the times of the Portuguese stood on the spot now occupied as the great Saman D^wale, about a couple' of miles from Batnapura, in which city there is ADAM'S PEAK. 55 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 ill. ch. xxiii.) to, the traditions that connect the mountain of Zcilan 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 voyage. In this island there is a very high 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 Sfikya-muni, chief sage of the S&kya race ; and Bhagawat, supreme spirit ; commonly used by Buddhists to designate Gautama Buddha. Missing Page Missing Page SB ADAM'S PEAK. king two large back-teeth, together with some of the hair, and a handsome vessel of porphyry. When the Grand Khan received intelligence of the approach of the messengers, on their return with such valuable curiosities, he ordered all the people of Kanbalu(Pekin) to march out of the city to meet them, and they were conducted to his presence with great pomp and solemnity." The first of the writers on Ceylon in the fourteenth century was the Minorite Friar Odoric of Postenau in Fruili.* "In it he saw the mountain on which Adam for the space of 300 years mourned the death of Abel, and on which his tears and these of Eve formed, as men believe, a fuuntain;" but this Odoric discovered to be a delusion, as he saw the spring gushing from the earth, and its waters "flowing over jewels, but abounding with leeches and bloodsuckers." In 1349 Giovanni de Marignola, a Florentine and Legate of Clement VI., landed in Ceylon, at a time when the legitimate king was driven away; his attention was chiefly directed to " the mountain opposite Paradise." Sir John Maundeville, a native of St. Albans, who died at Liege in the year 1371, in his Voyages and Travels,! says of Ceylon, " And there ben also many wylde Bestes, and namelyche of Olifauntes. In that yle is a gret Mountayne; * He set out on his travels from the Black Sea, in 1318, traversed the Asian Continent to China, and returned to Italy after a journey of twelve years. — Sr J. B. Teknent'b Ceylon, vol. L p. 612. t Chapter xviii. p. 238. Edit. 1727. und id mydd place of the Mount, u a gret kke in ft full fair Pleyne, and there is gret plentee of Watre. And thoi of the Contree seyn, that Adam and Eve wepten upon that Mount an 100 Zeer, whan thei weren dryven out of Paradya, And that Watre, thei seyn, is of here Teres: for so much Watre thei wepten, that made the forseyde Lake. And in the botme of that Lake, men fynden many precious Stonefl and grete Perles. In that Lake growen many Reedes and grete Cannes: and there with inne ben many Cocodrilles and Serpentes and grete watre Leches." Micolo di Conti, a Venetian of noble family, and merchant at Damascus, visited Ceylon in the early portion of the fifteenth century. His adventures were related to Poggio Bracciolini, apostolic Secretary to Pope Eugenius IV., by whom they have been- preserved in a dissertation on " The Vicissitudes of Fortune."* The notices of this work by Sir Emerson Tennent make no mention of either the Peak or the Foot-print; but Diego de Couto,t a painstaking Portuguese writer, referring to Di Conti, says his description of both are full of errors. De Couto rejects the idea that the print of the foot was made by Adam, but insists very * Di CoNTi's account was printed at Basil, in 1538. The work was translated into English for, and published by the Hakluyt Society, in 1857. ■f De Cooto was the continuator of a work written by Odoabdo Babdosa, a Portuguese captain who sailed in the Indian seas in the early part of the sixteenth century. This work was a summary of all that was then known concerning the countries of the East. 60 ADAM'S PEAK. strongly on the claim made on behalf of St. Thomas, who also, he says, deeply impressed the marks of his knees upon a stone in a quarry at Colombo. In 1506, Ludovico Barthema, or Varthema, a Bolognese, found it difficult to land in Ceylon " owing to the four kings, of the island being busily engaged in civil war," but he learned that "permission to search for jewels at the foot of Adam's Peak might be obtained by the payment of five ducats, and restoring as a royalty all gems over ten carats." The pearls of Mandr and the gems of Adam's Peak were ' considered, in the early part of the 16th century, the principal riches of Ceylon.* Captain Riboyro, who gallantly fought on the losing side, and who records the downfall in Ceylon of the power of ihc racc,t which more than two centuries ago had for the previous hundred and forty years " 'Neath flag of Portugal found place Till from each stronghold both were huri'd And Holland standard proud unfurl'd," and the whole of the maritime provinces of the island passed • Sir J. E. Tehnbnt's Ceylon, vol. i, p. 135. t History of Ceylon, presented by Captain John Ribetuo to the King of Portugal in 1685. Translated from the Portuguese by the Abbe Lb' Grand. Ke-translated from the French, by Geobqb Lee, Postmaster General of Ceylon, 1847. ADAM'S PEAK. 61 into the possession of the Dutch,* gives the following account of Adam's Peak : "We have already said that Adam's-peak separates the kingdoms of Uwa, Kandy, and the Two Corles, from each other. This mountain passes for one of the wonders of the world. It is twenty leagues from the sea, and senmen see it twenty leagues from the land; it is two miles high, and before reaching its summit, we arrive at a very agreeable and extensive plain.f where that rest can be had of which the person who ascends is so much in need, as the mountain has then become very steep and rugged. This plain is inter- sected by many streams which full from the mountain, and is entirely covered with trees; there are even very pleasant vallics in it. " The heathens resort to this Peak on a pilgrimage, and never miiis bathing in one of the rivulets, and wasliing their \ ' • The Portuguese effected llieir first settlement in Ceylon at Colombo,' A. D. 1518. The Dutch erected their first fort at Knttiar, near Trinco- malee, in 1609; obtained a permanent footing (by treaty with the Portuguese) in 1646, and by 1658 made themselves masters of the entire lea-borde of the Island. ■f Mr. Lee gives as a note here " Diabetmc. " But the plain of Diabetma is on a mountain top, and does not answer the description given by Ribeyro. The plain of Gilfmalu, 9 miles from Ratnapuro, is "inter- sected by many streams," is " covered with trees,'" and has moreover" " pleasnnt vallies in it." Palabaddala however, is most probably the place meant, that being an elevated plateau, by and through which run streams and water-courses. It is the second halting station on the route,- IS miles from Ratnapura. 62 -ADAM'S PEAK. lioen, their clothes, and all they have on them in it. ' They arc 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 bo 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 after- noont " 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 ^ii. of his history, Cnptain Ribej^ro says, that the Queen Donna Catharina, widow of king Wimola Dharma [a. d. 1592 — 1627], married Sen&ratana, 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 SenSratana, he was raised to the throne, and reigned for a period of seven years. He was succeeded by his son^R&ja Sigha II., during whose reign of fifly 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) ho then, by treaty with his allies, transferred to them the whole of the coast, with the exception of Batdcaloa and Puttalam. It was while at Batticaloa, that Robert Knox and his companions were captured by order of Rija Sigha II. t Thb is about the tune required, taking Fal&baddola as the storting point. ADAM'S PEAK. 68 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 rivera 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 tlicir homage, and to fulfil vows which they make regarding it. 6n 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 falls 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, t * The atatement respecting tlio Inke and the itreami U erroneous. There is however a small well near the top of the Peak. f Ribeyro seems not to have known that the Sinhalese attributed the foot-print to Buddha. He probably obtained his inrormation from a Mohammadan source. His account of the size of the foot-print differs ' ionsiderably from the reality. Its present length and breadth it about four times larger than the dimensions stated in the text. 64 ADAM'S PEAK. " 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 imprcsaion was made by a human foot, as the man who made it must have beenof the most gigantic size; it is evident that it is the work of some heathenish Iiypocrite, 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 ]!klalwana, 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 Battioaloa, 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 • Sip J. E. Tennent says, (vol. ii. p. 138,) "De Couto, in confir- nation of tbe pious conjecture that the footstep on the summit wus that of St. Thomas, assert s that all the trees |0f the Peak, and for half a league on nil sides around it, bend their crowns in the direction of the relic ; a bomagc which could only be oScred to the footstep of an Apostle." ADAM'S PEAK.- 68 pass in their course, receiving as the^ 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 B^na Samanaln, 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 foot- print, 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 Samanta- klita-wannand, a poem descriptive of the Peak, and the origin of the Foot-print; and from which De Couto and others seem to have d9rived much of their information. * This statement is not wholly correct. The first of the rivers nnmcd is the K^lani-gango, the second the Kalu-ganga. Both of these have their origin in the western slopes of the Samannla range of mountains, but not from Adam's Peak direct. The third is the Mahnw^lli- ganga, the source of which is in P^durutaliigala, the higliest mountain in Ceylon. One of its tributaries however flows from the eastern slopes of the Samanala range. 66 ADAM'S PEAK. The following stanza is a fair sample of the poemc— EoQ) Sooco esScBs cSd'^csj e8®Kfo53 Maid 'watansa samakd girayo samantti Ilutwd namanli api hanti sach^taniiwa Sttbbepi tattha tarawo chalatadayocha Kaclichanti dibba iia(aka wiya onatnggu.* Like cnnopics and garlands fair becamo tlic rocks around ; And graceful as the dancers, In heavenly mansions found, The trees and floral creepers that clothe the mountains round,- ■ : Their heads, like sentient beings, bent lowly to the ground. Robert Knox, in that most interesting account he hag given of Ceylon in the narrative of his twenty years' capti* vity in the interior, during the reign of Rdja Sigha II., makes * The author of Samantnkilta-wannanA is generally believed to have ■been one ■We'de'ha, the chief priest of a temple called Patiraja Piri- TTcno, who also wrote the Pali wi^rk Pad^a-niadhu, and to whom is generally attributed the authorship of the Sidat Sangar&wa, the oldest known Grammar of the Sinhalese language. He lived in the reign of kingPandita-Parakkramobi'ihuIV. a. d, 1320—1347. TheSamantakiita- wannnn& is a poem containing upwards of'fiOO stanzas, and describes, in flowing Pali verse, the legcn(]s which narrate the circumstances that led to the impression of Buddha's foqt-print upon the summit of the Samanta- kiita. Vide Introduction to the Sidat SangarAwa, by James D'Alwis. pp. clxxxii, clxxxiii, and eclxxxi. Colombo, 1852. a6am'S peak; 67 frequent mention of Adiicn's Peak.* He saya", "The land is full of hills, but exceedingly well watered, there being many pure and clear rivers running through them. ..The main river of all is called Mavelagonga; which proceeds out of the mountain, called Adam's Peak (of which more hereafter); it runs through the whole land northward, and falls into tlie sea at Trenkimalay....l.On the south side of Conde Uda is a hill, supposed to be the highest on this Island, called, in the Chingulay language, Hamalell ; f but by the Portuguese and the European nations, Adam's Peak. It is sharp, like a sugar loaf, and on the top a flat stone with the print of a foot like a man's on it, but far bigger, being about two feet long. The people of this land count it meritorious to go *"An Historical rclulion of the Inland of Ceylon in the East Indies; together with an account of the detaining in Captivity the Author, and divers other Englishmen now living there ; and of the Author's mira- culous escape. By Robebt Knox, a captive there near twenty years. [1659—1679]. Edit. 1817.'*| , This work was first printed in 1681. Captain Ribeyro's History Was not presented to the Icing of Portugal until 1685 ; and remained unpublished till 1701 ; but as he lived in Ceylon, and took part in the occurrences he describes, previous to Knox's captivity, his account of the Peak is given first in order of time in the text. f'The learned Bbtakt, in liis Analysis of Ancient Mythology, lays great weight upon this name ; he says 'The Pike of Adam is properly the summit sacred to Ad Ham, the king or deity Ham, the Amon of Egypt. This is ploin, to a demonstration, fi-om another name given to it by the native Singalese, who live near the mountain, and call it Ham> al-el: this, without any change, is Plam-eel-El, (Ham, the Sun,) and relates to the ancient religion of the Island. In short, every thing in 68 ADAM'S PEAK. and worship this impression; and generally, about their new year, which is in March, they, men, women and children, go up this vast and high mountain to worship: the manner of which I shall write hereafter, when I come to describe their religion. Out of this mountain arise many fine rivers, wliich run through the land, some to the westward,* some to the southward,! *"'<1 the main river, viz, Mavelagonga before mentioned to the northward.'-' " There is another great god, whom they call Buddou, unto whom the salvation of souls belongs. Him they believe once to have come upon the earth; and, when he was here, that he did usually sit under a large shady tree, called Bogahah, which trees ever since are accounted holy, and under which, with great solemnities, they do,' to this day, celebrate the ceremonies of his worship. He departed from the earth from the top of the highest mountain on the Island, called Pico Adam;| where there is an impression like a foot, which they say is his, as hath been mentioned before." these countries savours of Chnldaic and Egyptian institution.'" — Davy's Account of the Interior of Ceylon, p. 348. But Dr. Davy shews that Bryant')" explanation is entirely erroneous; that the sound of S and H being indiscriminiitely used by the Sinhalese, the mountain is called by them either Ilnmanala or Samanalii, i. e. the rock of Samnn; and that in I'all its name is Soinan£-kv!ta, and in Sanskrit Samanta-kiita-parwata, the' meaning, in each of the three languages, being exactly the same. • Forming the Kflani-ganga. t Forming the Knlu-ganga. } Kxox here followed the current native traditibn. Buddha's death took place near the city Kusin&ra, in the year 543 u. c. The exact site ADAM'S PEAK. 69 "Hia great festival is in the month of March, at their '. New Year's tide. The places where he is commemorated are two, not temples — but the one a mountain, and the other a tree;* either to the one or the other they at this time go with their wives and children, for dignity and merit — one being esteemed equal with the other. " The mountain is at the south end of the country, called Hammalella; but, by Christian people, Adam's Peak, the highest in the whole island; where, as has been said before, is the print of the Buddou's foot, which he left on the top of that mountain in a rock, from whence he ascended to heaven; upon tliis footstep they give worship, light up lamps, and offer sacrifices, laying them upon it as upon ah altar.f The benefit of the sacrifices that are offered hero do belong unto the Moors pilgrims, who come over from the other coast to beg, this having been given them heretofore of this city liaR not yet been fixed. Different authorities suppose it to have been in the Province of Assam, the kingdom of Nepal, or at Hurdwar near Delhi. | * The Bo-tree at Aniir&dhapura, the oldest historical tree in the world, planted B. c. 288. t " A beautiful pagoda formerly stood upon the top of this hill, respecting which many traditions are circulated, and many stories told. They say that it was the abode of Bliood, who was a disciple of the apostle Thomas. They add, that he stood with one foot upon this hill, and another upon a hill upon the coast of Madura, when such a flood of water burst forth, as to separate the island of Ceylon from the main land."— Philaletiiks, p. 210. 70 . ADAM'S PEAK. bj a former king; bo that, at that season, there are great numbers of them always waiting there to receive their accustomed fees."* • The Rev. Philip Baldseus, "Minister of the word of God in Ceylon," in his " True and exact Description of Malabar, Coromandal, and also of the Island of Ceylon, &c.," printed at Amsterdam in 1672, added but little to the stock of information already known respecting the sacred foot-print. In March, 1654, he states, that some Dutchmen, who had gone purposely to examine it, wore shewn by the Buddhist priests a representation of it in gold, and of similar di- mensions, on which different images were engraven, which had before been exhibited upon the impression of the foot in the rock. But, said they, when these images had been pourtrayed in gold, they vanished from the stone, f * Ekox has here, as in some other places, described the Hindus as Sloors. He refers in this instance to the Aandiy^, >rho from about 1590 to 1750, were the custodians of the Peak (sec ante, page 39), In their dress these fakeers somewhat resembled the Mohammadans, but smeared their foreheads with ashes. Elsewhere, Knox particularly distinguishes thft Moors "who are Mohammadans hj religion." t This, according to a Buddhist tradition, implicitly believed by many of the people, was not the first time impressions vanished from the surface of that sacred rock. Each of the three Buddhas who preceded Gautama BudUlia left the impression of his foot-print on the spot; and each time an impression was made, the former one sank through the rock to the bottom of the mountain, where it still remains, and would be clearly visible, if only the mountain could be turned npsidedown to exhibit it. ■':> ADAM'S PEAK. 71 • The historian Valentyn, in his great work on the Dutch East Indian possessions,* complains much of the want of information he found to exist among his countrymen, re- specting the interior of Ceylon; what they had being chiefly derived from the statements of fugitives and spies. Of Adam's Peak, he says: — " This mountain is the Peak. on the top of which Buddha, so say the Sinhalese (or Adam, as others amongst them say,) left the great and famous foot- print impressed on a certain stone, when he ascended to heaven. It is to this footstep that so many thousand pilgrims come from all lands to olfer sacrifices." Elsewhere he furnishes a notable instance of the inaccuracy of his own information, by minutely describing the temples and images • The following is the title of Valentyn's work : — " Keurlyke bcschryving van Ohoromandel, Pegu, Arrakan, Bengale, Mocha, van 't Nederlandscli comptoir in Persien ; en cenige fraaje zaaken van Persepolis overblyfzelen. Een nette beschryving van Malaka, 't Nederlands comptoir op 't Eiland Sumatra, mitsgaders een wydluftige landbeschryving van 't Eiland Ceylon, en een net verhaal van dea zclfa keizeren, en zaaken, van cuds hier voergevoUen ; also ook van 't Nederianda comptoir op de kiiat van Malabar, en van onzen handel in Japan, en eindelyk een beschryving van Kaap der Goede Hoope, en't Eiland Mauritius, met de zaaken tot alle de voornoemde ryken en landen behoorende. Met veele Frentverbeeldingcn en landkaarten opgebeldert. Door Fbakcois 'VAij;NTYir, Onlangs Bedie- naar des Goddelyken woorda in Amboina, Banda enz. Te Amaterdam, by Gerard Onder de Linden, 1726." This work ia in five very large volumes in folio, and containa many hundred copper plates. One of these, a whole page plate, represents " Adam's Berg." The mountain Is depicted as exceedingly high and steep, and is surmounted by two peaks like ragged 72 ADAM'S PEAK. of Mulkirigala,^— a precipitous rock near M&tara, called by the Dutch Adam's Berg, — as if they existed on the mountain of the Sri'pdda. Philalethes, accepting this statement as correct, endorses it in his history ;* and Upham and others, following him, perpetuate the error; although Cordiner,t tvho is constantly quoted by Philalethes, and who does not truncated cones, on the top of one of which the foot print is plainly shewn. Groves of cocoa-nut and forest trees are scattered here and there ; - and three rivers wind their way to the base of the mountain. One of these, at the foot of the picture, is meant for the Sitagangulla. A company of pilgrims arc bathing in the stream a short distance from a waterfall ; and another company just come up, are preparing to do so. The pilgrims' path is broad, and docs not present any apparent difficulty, beyond its steepness. Tremendous precipices however flank it on either side of the mountain. About sixty pilgrims arc seen on their way to the foot-print, varying in the perspective from three quarters of an inch in size at the bottom, to a mere speck at top. The whole forms a very curious picture, and is as unlike the reality as one can conceive an artist would make it, who, never having seen the Peak, was asked to design a represen- tation of it from such confused and conflicting accounts as are given by the historian. * " The History of Ceylon from the earliest period to the year mdcccxv ; with characteristic details of the lleligiou. Laws and Manners of the People^ and a Collection of their Moral Maxims, and Ancient Proverbs. By Philalethes, A.M., Oxon, 1817." ■f " A Description of Ceylon, containing an account of the Country, Inhabitants, and Natural Productions, with Narratives of a Tour round die Island in 1800, the Campaign of Candy in 1803, and a Journey to Ramisserain in 1804. By the Rev. Jamks Cobdineb, A.M., 2 vols. 1807." \l seem to have been acquainted with Valentyn's work, in that part of his tonr round the island which contains the route from M&tara to Tangalle, describes the same place, which was still called hj Dutch residents Adam's Brecht or Berg.* To compensate for his own lack of information in regard to particulars concerning Adam's Peak, Valentyn quotes, with approval, the following from De Couto: — " On that mountain in Ceylon called Adam's Peak is an impression of the foot, in regard to which authors hold different opinions; some, as for instance, M. P. Venetus, [Marco Polo,] Nicolaus Conti, and other Venetians, having published very many errors concerning it. " But we have the true story, as gathered from the old Sinhalese and their books, and it runs thus:-^ " This peak, called after Adam, is a mountain in the midst ■ ft • S. C. CHiTTr.in the Ceylon Gazetteer, epitomizes from Cordiner the following accouht' of this singular roak:—^ Adam's Berg, a hill of considerable size, situated at the distance of 6 miles north-east of Kaha> watte, in the district of Matura. It is known amongst the Singhalese hj the name of Mulgirigal, and is mentioned in their history as early as the time of king Saidaitissa, who reigned at Anooraadhapoora from the year 140 to 122 n. c. The hill is about 300 feet in height, and is ascended by a winding flight of stairs, formed of five hundred and forty- five steps of hewn stones. On the summit, which is circular and level, stands a D£goba, and about half way below it are two gloomy Wihares excavated out of the rock, close together, and in each of which there is (besides several figures of natural size standing in a row) a colossal image of Budha, in a recumbent posture, forty-five feet m length, and of a proportionable breadth, formed of stone." '4 ADAM'S PEAK. of certain lands called Dinavaca, and it* is so high that one, as he approaches this Island, can see it for more than twelve miles. It properly begins near Guilemale and Dinavaca, lying in a westerly direction from them. Guilemale lies twenty-four hours' journey from Colombo. " The Slijhalese name it Uammancllc Siripade, that is, the mountain of the foot-impression. It begins from below, gradually ascending, and divides itself on the summit into twelve tops,* on one of which is the foot impression. On" either side of it, there are rivulets flowing from fountains above and branching off into streams. At the foot of the mountain is a river which flows ne.irly all around it. "In this river, called Sitcgangcle,t the pilgrims, who come to the foot-impression to make offerings, wash them- Eelvcs, and this washing is their baptism, they believing that by it they are cleansed. " On the summit of one of these peaks is a plain,} and in . the midst of the plain, is a tank of water, called Wella- malIacandoere,§ suijrounded on the top with large stones; * De Couto 19 here coafounding the mountnin range with the mountaia of the foot impression. Thcr|9 is but one summit, and one top on the lliimmiincUc, and that is the Peak itsulC f This river dues not flow from Adam's Peak, but has ha source in the Bfna-Samanala mountain, and flows through the ravine which separates that mounlaiu fi'om Uangullahena, a mountain west of Adam's Peak. J This answers to the plain on the top of Diabctma. § This tank lies in a ravine on the southern side of Ilframitip&na, About two miles further south is the village Welligalle. The stream /' ADAM'S PEAK. 75 in the midst thereof ia the shape of a great footstep which they call Siripade, the foot much larger than a usual foot, and of such a form that it appears to be. impressed in the stone, the same as if a seal was impressed in white wax.* "Multitudes of pilgrims, as well Moors as Heathens, flocking together here even from Persia and China, come to this river for the puriioso of cleansing themselves, • and putting on new and fine clothing. After cleansing them* selves, they ascend a very high mountain. At a little distance before reaching the top, they come to some steps, on which are erected as it were two stone columns; over these another stone is laid, to which is suspended a large bell, made of the finest Chinese metal; to this hangs a great clapper, bored "through ; through this hole passes a rope made of leather, which each one must pull, the sound of the bell indicating whether he who pulls it is clean or not; for if he is still unclean, they believe that the bell will give no sound, in which case he must return to the river and cleanse himself with greater ceremony. The Devils seduce them thus, although there is no one to whom the bell gives no sound. which Bupplici this villugo w!lh water, ii believed to take Ita rise at Wellemalakandura; "kandura" signifying npring or head aouroo of water. • There is no foot-print here. De Couto is confused by fait twelve tops to the summit of lii» Hanimanclle. Ilframitip&na, the pifgrim station which gives its name to the place, is on the summit of a ridge which is divided from the Samanala by a narrow valley ; and the foot- print referred to is that on the top of Samanala— the Srf-p&da itself. ' 70 ADAM'S PKAK. " As many as four or five hundred go thither together in pilgrimage, and having arrived on the top, they can do no more than kiss the stone with great reverence, and return ; they are not permitted to ascend by the pool or tank of water, which pool is called in the Sinhalese, 'Darroe- pockoene'* that is, the tank of children. If women are barren, they drink of this water; but they may not themselves fetch it, it is brought to them by jogis. To ascend by this pool or tank would be an unpardonable sin. " The Moors also make offerings here, saying that it is the footstep of Adam ; that he ascended to heaven from thence, and that he left his last foot-print in that stone.t This story emanates from an old Eastern tradition, that Adam, when he was driven out of Paradise was sent to an Island in India called Serandive (that is, the Island of Ceylon). "Marc P. Venetus says, that the Moors believe that Adam was buried here. He says further, from the account of these heathens, that the son of a King Sogomon Barcaon, despising earthly dignities, resorted to this mountain for the purpose of leading a holy life; that from thence he went up to heaven; and that his father commanded that pagodas • 'Daru' children ; 'pokiina,' pond. This well is about 25 or 30 feet from the top of the Peak, on its northwest side. It is reached by a steep path from the northern angle of tlic platform which surrounds the Sr!- ])&da. -f "The fakirs of the Moharamadan religion take impressions of the footstep on a piece of white cloth that has been previously covered with pulverised sundur."— IIabuy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 212. ADAM'S PEAK. '. 11 should be built and images made in his memory, from ivhioli sprang the idolatry of India. But the Sinhalese, having been asked about this, laugh at it; and their old writings, and principally their ballads, wherein are preserved their antiquities, and which they sing daily, (in order not to forget them,) tell quite a different tale. " They say that there was a king who reigned over the whole East, who had been married many years and had no children; that in his old age, he obtained a son from God, who was the most beautiful creature that could be. " This king, having charged his astrologers to make the horoscope of his son, found that the child would be holy, and that he would despise the kingdoms of his father and become a pilgrim ; at which the father becoming grieved, resolved to confine his son in some court, and so prevent him from having a sight of anything; he accordingly confined him from his fifth year in walled gardens, and had him brought up in the comjjany of many noble youths of his age, who were kept always near him, in order that no one else might speak to him. " Ho was thus brought up till his sixteenth year, without having any knowledge of sickness, misery or death. Having arrived at the years of discretion, and understanding more things than were to be seen about him, he requested of his father that he might be permitted to see the towns and villages of his kingdom. This was granted, with directions that the guards in charge of him should bring him to the city and keep an eye upon him. On his way to the city he was 78 ADAM'S PEAK. met by a cripple, respecting whom he inquired as to the cause of his condition. • His companions said, that the maii]_watt born so, and that it was very common to see such sights, and that there were also men who were born blind, &c. At another time he saw an old man, hunchbacked, leaning on a stick, his body also trembling. The prince inquired the reason of this, and they told him that it came from old age. He also saw a corpse, which wns being taken for burial with much wecpiiig and lamentation, and inquired what it all meant, and whether he and they should also die? They said yes; at which the prince became very sorrowful; and while in this sorrowful state there appeared to him in a vision a pilgrim who advised him to forsake the world and lead a solitary life. "Being much disturbed by this vision, he determined to find means to effect his escape, in the guise of a pilgrim, into uninhabited places. Concerning his flight and wanderings the Sinhalese recount many fables, adding at last, that he came to Ceylon with a great concourse of followers, and resorted to this mountain, where he spent many years of a very holy life, so that the Sinhalese adored him as they would a God. When about to leave the Island for other lands, his followers implored him to leave them something* which might cause them to remember and think of him with * Thia seems to have reference to the legend which describes the impression of a foot-print made by Buddha in the bed of the Kf lani-ganga, at the time of his third visit to Ceylon, and before he departed for -n- ADAM'S PEAK. 79 reverence; he thereupon kept his foot in this water tank, and left the impression to them for a remembrance. Their historians give this prince many names, but his proper name was Drama Kaja;* and after he became a saint, that of •Budhu,' which signifies the 'Sage.'" f After referring to what is quoted in the note at page 64, De Couto continues: — " The mountain of Adam has towards its base a marsh from which the four principal rivers of the island have their source. The Portuguese give it the name of the Peak of Adam, but the Sinhalese name it * Dewa Gorata,' that is, God's country." The correct term for such an expression in Sinhalese is 'Deyyangfi rata,' and it is applicable not so much to the Samanala mountain, as to the whole country from beyond Gilimald, which is still called by the natives Saman's Country ; the shrine of that deity, Samanala to leave beliind him the venerated Sr(-p&da on the summit of that mountain. The two accounts are fused or confused together in almost all the accounts derived from the oral traditions of the natives. • There is here again a confusion, arising from the mixing up of traditions of Buddha with those of Dhurma-r^a. Dhurma-rfija-galla is the name given to a mountain about midway between Diabctma and SitaganguUa-hena. Its steepest part is ascended by the aid of 130 steps cut in the living rock; by these stepH, on the bare rock, is the outline of a human figure, with an inscription above it. The purport of the inscription is that the steps were cut by order of Dhui'ma-rfija, who died here while on a pilgrimage to the Sri-p&da. fFor the above translation from Valentyn'a work I am indebted to Mr. It. A. VANCvvLENnEBG, the .talented principal clerk in charge of the Kccord Office attached to the Colonial Secretariat at Colombo. 80 ADAM'S PEAK. almost on the top of the Peak, being fully as much reverenced by the Sinhalese as the foot-print that is just above it. During the reign of Wimaladharma Suriya II., A. D. 1684— 1706, that monarch, who is praised by the historians for his piety, made a state pilgrimage from Kandy " to pay his adoration on Adam's Mount, and to offer a salver (sombero) of massy silver with other presents." • He was accompanied by a train of nearly 300 tusker elephants, which were kept by him merely for the parade of the Court; most of thom being ordinarily distributed among the temples in the neighbourhood of Kandy, where, for purposes of devotion, he was a frequent attendant. ^-^JW^iwasSj^ Adah's PRAk from oalle face, Colombo. THE PEAK AKD TBS BAINA' gAMAKALA FROM THIS KALAODHOA. 1 ,<-,:■, #-^ iidam'8 Jiiafi. " Tbe mountains of tbis glorious land Are conscious beings to mine eye. When at the break of day they stand Like giants, looking through the sky To hail the sun's unrisen car While one by one, as star by star Their peaks in ether glow." --- ■ J. MohTOOHBSt. CHAPTER m. The Samanala. Peak. — Batnapuba Rotai Mail.— Panabak- KERT. — KeljIni. — Buddhist Temples. — Kaduwkla. — Hang- , wblla. — Riter Scenery. — Awissa'wela, ' The shrine-crowned Samanala is distant in a direct line from Colombo, the Maritime Capital of Ceylon, about 46 miles,* and rises to a height of 7352'8 feet above the level of the sea ; where, in clear weather, it has been seen at a distance of thirty leagues.f It forms the crowning point of • 45 "9 from the Clock -tower, Colombo. t It is stated in the R&jawalia, that Wijaya, the Indian invader and first king of Ceylon, made for the island [b. c. 543] in consequence of seeing from his ship the large rock called Samanta-kdta, whereupon he 82 ADAM'S PEAK. tlie south-western range of the mountain zone,* and was for a long time considered the highest, as it certainly is the most conspicuous mountain in the Island.f Although not often visible during the southwest monsoon, (May to November), it is generally, during the intervening months, more or less distinctly seen from Chilaw on the northwest to Dondra- head on the south coast, a distance of one hundred and fifty and his followers concluded amongst themselves that the country would be a good one to reside in, and accordingly thej bore up for it, and landed at Tammf nna Nuwara, on the northwest coast. Mofaomniad Ilin Bututa, in the narrative of his travels, mentions that being driven from die Maldives, he "arrived at last at the Island of Ceylon, a place well known, and in which is situated the mountain of Serendib, This appeared to us like a pillar of smoke, when we were at a distance of nine days from it." * " On carrying the eye onwards to the landward horizon, it is seen to be bounded by a noble mountain range, between thirty and forty miles distant, culminating, if the voyager has made the Island near Point-de» Galle, in a conical summit named the Haycock, which in general effect may be compared with the Schchallion in Scotland, as seen from the East; and if he make the coast nearer Colombo, in Adam's Peak,— a summit so eminent, that I do not remember to have seen anything that will bear comparison with it, except perhaps Monte Viso, in the Maritime Alps, as seen in the western horizon by the traveller when descending towards Xurin." Rev. Dr. Macvicab on the Geology, Scenery and Soil of Ceylon. Appendix to Ceylon Almanac, 1854, p. 26. t It is, in fact, the fourth in oltitude. Pfdurutaligala, the highest, springing from the Nuwara Eliya plains, being 8,295 feet above the sea level. The otliers are Kirigalpotta, 7,836-8, and To^apflla, 7,720 feet in height. , i ADAM'S PEAK. 83 miles. On the western coast, the low lying champaign region of which reaches from the sea almost to the mountain's base, the range from which it springs forms a magnificent purple- tinted back-ground. The Peak, thei-e lifted high in lonely grandeur, and shrouded at intervals from sight by the mists that rise from the surrounding valleys, or by the low clouds drifting in the monsoon wind, has been associated by the fervid imaginations of Oriental races with legends of the most romantic kind. With some of these, and with descriptions of the mountain, the writer was familiar in early life ; and when his lot was cast in Ceylon, he determined, if possible, to make the ascent to the " Sri-pdda," — the Sacred Foot- i print, — and thencefrom see what the intrepid blind traveller Holman, who visited it in 1830,* described in graphic terms * The first Englishman who ascended Adam's Peak was Lieut. Malcolm of the 1st Ceylon Rifle Regiment, who reached the summit on the 27th April, 1^7. The account of his ascent will be found in Appendix C, Lieut. HoLMAK, R. N. in the 3rd volmne of his Travels Round the World, p. 228, thus writes: — "We reached the summit just before the sun began to break, and a splendid scene opened upon us. The insulated mountain rising up intoo peaked cone of 7,420 ftet above the level of the sea, flanked on one side by lofty ranges, and on the other by a champaign country stretching to the shore that formed the margin of an immense expanse of ocean. I could not see this sight with the vtsua^ orbs, but I turned towards it with indescribable enthusiasm. I stood upon the summit of the Peak; and felt all its beauties rushing into my very heart of hearts." On bis return from the Peak Holman mentions that his servant purchased a fowl from a native for 3^'/. In 1870 the bazaar charge ot the same place for a very middling sized fowl was \i, 3(1, 84 ADAM'S PEAK. he felt. But time wore on, and many a wistful glance did he make towards that Alpine height, wondering when, if ever, he should be able, from the shrine a-top, to behold the beauties of the wide-spread scenery below; nor was it until twenty weary years had passed away that he was at length enabled to accomplish his long-cherished purpose. .This was done in the Easter-week of 1869 (March 24—31) in company of Messrs. Larkum, Giles, and Deslandes, gentlemen connected with the Public Works Department of the colony; a second excursion was made in the month of September following," when the writer was accompanied by his son, and Mr. Gullett, the talented correspondent at Galle of the leading Australian Journals; and a third was under- taken during the Christmas holidays, in company of Mr. E. Gower of Colombo. The narrative of these pilgrimages, as given in .the following pages, will, he trusts, prove not only interesting to the general reader, but also be useful as a guide to pilgrim-visitors hereafter. On the first excursion three of us started from Colombo at 6 P. M.,' in the Ratnapura Royal Mail, a vehicle constructed on the char-a-banc principle, and with the addition of another passenger, with baggage, mails, driver and horsekeeper to boot, we were somewhat too much of a load for the wretched * Notes of these journeys appeared in the " Ceylon Observer" at the time; those of the first by the present writer under the signature of " PiLGBiM Bbown," and of the second by one of his companions— an extr^t from which is given in chapter I. / ADAM'S PEAK. 85 finimals with which the coach was singly horsed. We did the distance from Colombo to Batnapura, fi6 miles, at the rate of exactly four miles the hour, inclusive of the half< hour we rested at AwissAweja. Starting from Awiss&wcja at past midnight, already considerably cramped by our six hours' journey, we arranged for sleeping the remainder of the way, if sleep we could, in the following manner: No. 1 coiled on the driver's seat ; No. 2 in the well of the coach on the top of the boxes and portmanteaux; and Nos. 3 and 4 on the side-seats parallel with him ; their three pairs of legs protruding over the back of the machine, and the whole party presenting a most extraordinary group to the eyes of any who in the bright moonlight might have seen them as they were dragged by each gaunt horse at a funeral pace from stage to stage. Not unfrequently we came to a dead stop on a soft piece of road, or where a length of hill proved an obstacle too much for the animal's strength to surmount:* and certainly had the road not been in very fair order, we should have had to have bivouacked by the way, instead of breakfasting at the bungalow of our excellent host andfellow- pilgrim, whose house was to be our head-quarters, and who was anxiously awaiting us a mile on the road before we * It is only fair to state, that since the time of the excursion referred to, there has been an improvement in both horses and coaches in the Hatna- pura Royal Mail. But a more uncomfortable night journey can still scarcely be made, as the writer and his companion found to their cost on their Christmas journeys to and fixi. 88 ADAM'S PEAK, drew up in front of the low hill on the brovr of wliich stands Ratnapura Fort. The morning, a couple of hours before sunrise, was raw, cold, and misty, but as it advanced, and the sun rose behind the mountains, they came out clear and sharp in the rosy golden-tinted sky; and when we saw three small looking py- ramidal peaks of apparently just the same level, filling the space formed by a gap in the nearest range through which the Kalu-ganga (black river) winds its way, it was hard to believe that one of them, about twelve miles off in a direct line, but distant nearly thirty by the road, was indeed Adam's Peak itself, the lofty sky-piercing cone seen in the distant mountain view from Colombo and its adjacent Cinnamon Gardens: yet so it was, and to reach the top of that Peak we purposed starting on the morrow's dawn. The peaks we saw, belonged, in fact, to two distinct mountains.* One, the Bdna Samanala, nearly faces the other, and has two summits, the highest of which is called the False Peak. These two being brought into line with the true Peak at the place where we caught sight of them, the intervening distances had the effect of reducing the apparent altitude of the two hindermost to the exact level of the foremost. This night journey by coach is anything but agreeable ; • ♦ "Ptolemy describes, in his "System of Geography," two chains of mountains, one of tliem surrounding Adam's Peak, which he designates as Maloea, the names by which the hills that environ it are known in the Mahawansu." — Sir J.' E. Tbhnbnt's Ceylon, vol. i. p. 535-C, ADAM'S PEAK. 87 and the traveller who has time at his command would do well to proceed leisurely from stage to stage and make himself acquainted with the places of interest that lie along his route. This — diverging from the Bridge of Boats that leads to the great, but since the opening of the Railway between Colombo and Kandy, now little used highway to the mountain capital, — runs partially along the left bank of tho Kclani-ganga, and forms, as far as Awissdwcla, a portion of what used to be known as the old Kandy road. The extended views and occasional glimpses of river scenery that greet the eye from the road, now skirting and now receding from the flowing stream, here narrow and rapid and there broadened into a placid lake-like bend, are exquisitely beau- tiful, and go far to justify the phrase that the Island of Ceylon is the " Eden of the Eastern wave." Distant about three miles from Grandpass (the road lead- ing from Colombo to the Bridge of Boats) the traveller passes by Panabakkery, once an extensive Government brick and tile manufactory, and also the training station for the elephant establishment belonging to the Public Works Department, where every now and again might be witnessed the operations by which the old tamed giants of the forest brought into subjection their newly caught companions, and intelligently, as well as literally by brute force, instructed them in the duties they were thenceforth to perform in the service of their lord and master, Man. A little beyond Panabakkery, is an ancient Buddhist temple, the Kitsirimcwan Kelaniya vihdra, probably 88 ADAM'S PEAK. origmolly built by king Kitairime wan, after whom it is named, and who reigned A. d. 302—330. To visit it the traveller has to branch off from the main up one of the minor roads. The resident priest, in lately making some excavations on the spot, dug up a stone, upon which was a Sinhalese inscrip- tion partly effaced, but which, as far as has hitherto been made out, indicates that the temple had been repaired by or under the directions of Prdkkrama B^hu I., in the latter half of the twelfth century. About two miles further from Colombo, on the north bank of the river, is the village Kelani, from which place, the river derives its name. Formerly the capital, and for ages the chief seat of the worship of the deified king Vibhishana, the friend of Kdma, and traitorous brother and successor to Rdwana on the throne of Lanka [b. d 2387] it still possesses as a memorial of its antiquity, a dagoba, which b. c. 280 was erected by the tributary king Yataldtissa over one asserted by Buddhists to have been built on the same spot by the Ndga king Alahodara, B. C. 580. Connected with, and contiguous to the ddgoba, are a vihdra and monastery, the Kaja-maha Kelaniya, so-called to distinguish it from the Kitsirimewan Kelaniya, on the opposite side of the river. The approach to this vihdra is up a noble flight of broad stone slabs, and through an ancient gateway ; but the steps, gateway and dfio'oba, are the only remains of antiquity; the rest of the buildings are of modern date, the older structures having been ruthlessly destroyed during the Malabar invasions, as well as in the wars Mfith the Portuguese, and the intestine ADAM'S PEAK. 89 struggles for power among the Sinhalese themselves. , There is also a recently built lofty tower or belfry of a curious composite order of architecture. What the place once was has been described in glowing terms in the "Stila-lihini Sandese," written when Ceylon had attained to perhaps its highest pitch of prosperity under native rule, during the reign of Prdkkrama Bdhu VI.* Who with the three-score four gemm'd ornaments robed rounds The state regalia — was, mighty monarch, crown'd ; Who 'neath one white umbrella's canopying shade Had brought the whole, of Lanka, one kingdom of her made : Who pride of haughty foes had humbled in the dust; AVho skill'd was in each science; in king-craft wise and just; In use of arms proficient, and perfect master in The poet's art and dancing ; who far had banish'd sin By knowledge of the Pi^akas, — the three- foW cord That binds the wondrous words of Buddha the adored ; Who to the people's eyes was like coUyrium laid When they beheld his form in majesty display 'd ; Who chief of Dambadiva's sovereigns stood confust And in his godlike splendour shone like S(kra blest. The sites of the spots then famous are still pointed out by priests and people, who every July swarm thither by tens of thousands; a national pilgrimage to the place made holy by the presence and relics of the founder of theij" faith. Externally the vihdra is a plain and unpretentious tiled • A. D. 14I0-14B2. ^ ADAM'S PEAK. building; it contains in its principal apartment a figure of Buddha in a recumbent posture, upwards of forty feef in length, and in the vestibule colossal figures of Hindu deities: the ceilings are painted over with Buddhist symbols, and the walls with scenes from Buddha's life and various mythic existences before his latest birth and attainment of the Buddhahood. A place of renown ages before the advent of Buddha, its sanctity in the eyes of his followers is thus specially accounted for. "At the time of Gautama'sappearance[n. c. 588] Kalany would seem to have been the capital of a division of the island called Ndga Diwayina, and that its inhabitants called Ndgas [serpent-worshippers] were easily converted, and afterwards zealously adhered to the Buddhistical doctrines, for which they were rewarded by various relics and a second visit of the Buddha. In his first visit to Ceylon Gautama converted the Mdgas and settled a dispute between two of their princes, Chulod^ra and Mahodara, who made an offering to him of the throne composed of gold, inlaid with precious stones, which had been the original cause of their quarrel; over this throne a dagoba was built, and is en- cased «in the one now standing. At the request of Mini- akka, uncle of the Ndga king Mahodara, Gautama made his third visit to Ceylon, and left the impression of his foot beneath the water of the river: a deep eddy in the stream is now pointed out as the spot ; it is near the temple, arid the natives say that the circling of the current here is the Kalani- gangadescendinginhomage to this sacred memorial. Having ADAM'S PEAK. " 91 arranged the disputes of the l^dgas and confirmed their faith, the prophet departed for Satnanala, Digg£nakhya, and thd other places which had been sanctified by the presence of former Buddhas."* The details of a romantic legend connected with (he de- struction of king Tissa at this place [b. c. 200 . will be found in Appendix E. It was here too, that Bhuwan<;ka Bahu VII., the first native king who allied himself with the Portuguese for the purpose of making war against his brother Mdya Dunnai, at Sitdwuka, met with his death, A. D. 1542. The occurrence is thus recorded in the Bdjawalia, " Buwanaika Bahu Bajah taking the Portuguese to his assist- ance, marched out with liis Sinhalese army to attack his brother, and on his route halted at Kclani, where there was a house built upon the river for his residence, and being in this house with the doors open and walking backward and forward, looking up and down the river, a Portuguese loaded his musket, and shot the king in the head of which he imme- diately died." The historian adds, "Hereupon it was said, that God only knew what was the reason of this treachery, — that having been so simple as to make a league with the Portuguese, and so foolish as to deliver his grandson to the protection of the king of the Portuguese, this judgment fell upon the said king; and on his account that calamity will be entailed on the people of Ceylon for generations to come." * FoRBBii's Eleven Years in Ceylon, vol. i, p. 152. In Appendix D will be found accounts of Buddlin's three visits to Ceylon, 92 • ADAM'S PEAK. Eleven miles from Colombo, at the village Kaduwela, is a rcsthouse, pleasantly situated on the banks of the river. A halt here for ^n hour will suffice for a visit to an ancient rock temple, supposed by some to be one of those founded by king Walagambdhu, after his reconquest of the kingdom from the ^Slalabars, b. c. 88, or perhaps, as others think, of even a still greater antiquity. The principal object of interest is an inscription on the rock, which has hitherto baffled every attempt made to decipher it, the letters being cut in the oldest type of Nagari, or rather Pali, character, the key to which was first discovered by the late Mr. James Prinsep. From Kaduwela, to Hagwclla, the road pasfses through several villages, the inhabitants of which are potters, who carry on a thriving business with Colombo in the manufacture of the common earthenware of the country. Between the villages lie tracts of paddy fields and topes of cocoa-nut palms. On the rising of the river during the rainy season, portions of the road between Ilagwella, Kaduwela, and the Bridge of Boats, are more or less flooded. The inconveniences arising from this state of affairs have led to the opening of a new road, which crossing higher ground shortens the route to Colombo by about two miles, and establishes an almost direct communicatioiji with the Railway terminus. A little to the left of the road, on the summit of a bluff projecting tongue ofJand that overlooks the Ilaijwella ferry, arc the grafcs-grown iemains of a small star fort, supposed to have been originally Constructed by the Dutch, in the centre ADAM'S PEAK. 93 of which is the present resthouse, the keeper whereof, a good humoured obliging old native, is jocularly termed the Commandant. Here good accommodation and very fair quarters can generally be prpcured. Bound the steep flanks of the fort the river flows towards its outlet at Mutwal, a few miles north of Colombo; while landwards a choked up ditch indicates what in bye-gone days formed its protection on that side. From its position, previous to the annexation of the Kandyan Kingdom, it was a point of some importance as commanding the routes both by land and water from the interior to Colombo. During the campaign of 1803, the Kandians succeeded in taking the fort and village on the 20th August, but their progress was checked by a detachment of troops under the command of Lieutenant Mercer of the 51st regiment, who on the 22nd stormed the battery they had made in a strong position at the bridge of Putchella, near ITa^wclIa, and drove them back with great slaughter; a success which led to the immediate recapture of the fort. In the operations which followed, the British were everywhere successful; although in defending the almost untenable fortress of Chilaw, which the Kandiaus attacked in immense numbers on the 27th August, the little garrison, consisting of only 23 sepoys and two young civilians, completely exhausted their ammunition,* and for twenty-four hours before they were * Cordin£r'8 Ceylon, vol. ii. pp. 226, 236. 94 ADAM'S PEAK, relieved kept the enemy at hay by firing copper coins intitead of grape shot. It was at Haywclla, after the abovementioned occur- rences, that Sri Wikrama Kdja Sigha, the last King of Kandy, directed an attack in person, on the 6th September, against the British forces; he having resolved, after the treacherous massacre of the troops at Kandy, on Major Davie's surrender on the 26th June, to. invade the Britisli territory and attack Colombo. After an engagement which lasted for two hours, the Kandians fled, headed by the king. During his retreat he ordered the heads of his two principal chiefs to be struck off, for their want of success, besides, in his rage at his defeat, indiscriminately slaughtering a multitude of his subjects, whose bodies were either cast into ravines or thrown into the river. A richly ornamented bungalow had been erected for^ his reception near Ha^wella, previous to the engagement, in front of which two stakes were placed, on which, in the event of the capture of the fort, the English prisoners were to have been impaled. From the ridge that formed tlie rainpurts of the fort the river view is one of the finest to be found in Ceylon. The stream sweeps grandly down in its course in a curve from southeast to northeast— Wlicrc grateful falls the shade upon the fair twin shores, Where plantains, honey mangoes, yield their luscious stores. Where the silk cotton tree, with flowering betel twined, And the tall arcka and cocoa pnhns you find -, ADAM'S PEAK. 95 Where asoka, p&tali, and domba graceful grow ( Where champac, kina, sal, and erehindi blow | Where rcranga, midell, and iron-wood appear, And the sweet sugar-canes their slender stems uprear j * and an endless variety of magnificent forest trees and palms and bamboo clumps reflect from either bank their images in' the lucent stream, while in the back-ground rise the purple hills, their summits veiled in clouds, or sharply, outlined in the clear blue sky. A break down in our carriage was the cause of a day'a detention here on our second journey. The village smith was however equal to the emergency, and while the repairs were being effected ' we strolled about the place, admiring the scenery, and listening to the somewhat monotonous if not doleful chants of the goyiydsf reaping their crops of kurakkan in the neighbouring fields and hill slopes. A most refreshing bath in a secluded nook in the river just below the fort, was not the least pleasauj of our enjoyments; and was moreover an excellent preparative for the capital dinner which "the Commandant" provided for us as the day drew to a close. Between Hay wella and Awiss&wela the scenery is bolder and more varied than that already passed. Noble trees overarch the road, and plantations of jack, bread- and other fruit trees, indicate the industry of the inhabitants as well as * Sfla-lihini Sandcse. f Peasant women. 96 ADAM'S PEAK. the fertility of the soil. In the early days of British enter- prise, the cultivation of the sugar-cane and the indigo plant was attempted on an extensive scale in the neighbourhood ; the results were not however so profitable as were anticipated, and the luckless speculators soon abandoned the scene of their operations. A pleasantly situated resthousc on the slope of n hill, at the foot of which lies the village of Awlssdwela, affords the traveller an opportunity for halting and devoting a day to the inspection of Sitdwaka, where some interesting ruins, together with a rock temple on a mountain opposite, well repay the trouble of a visit. In the clear atmosphere of the season of the northeast monsoon, a fine view of the Peak is seen from the road near the resthouse. Twenty- one miles distant in a straight line, it rises from behind a range of mountains, which, when the southwest winds pre- vail, bounds the prospect on the horizon to the southeast. The hills on either side the road converging to this point, there is an apparent gap on the sky-line, save when, as on the occasion of our catching a glimpse of the Peak during our September excursion (the only one we had except when on the Peak itself,) " a thousand cubits high The sloping pyramid aaccnde the sky," It then forms the central and most striking object in the scenery there beheld. ASaiBST BUILDIXO At THE SAMAM D^WALB, MEAB BAIKAPDIIA. ^Hipm BDIHfl OF BEIUIMDa UOWILA, AT 6IIIWAKA. gram's Jijafi. "Atlast a temple built in antient days Ere 2Eii was a town tbey came unto; Huge was it, but not fair unto the view Of one beholding from without, but round The antient place they bow a npot of ground Where laurels grew each side the temple door," I I MOBBII,* — . ( CHAPTER IV. AwisbaVela. — Si'ta's bath. — Si'ta'waka. — THE Berk'ndi- Ko'wiLA. — Rock temple.— Puswfxla. — Kuruwita water- fall. — Ekneligoda Disa'wa. — Katutiyambara'wa viha'ra. — Weralupe. — Saman dewa'le. The village of Awissdweja, "a field not to bo trusted,"— 80 named from the character of its adjoining paddy lands, which were liable to sudden inundations, — is situated at tho foot of bluff hills of black rock which rise almost perpendi- cularly from 900 to 1 000 feet in height. From the time of the Portuguese to the annexation of the Kandlan kingdom by the British, it was a post of importance; the territories ♦ "The Life and Death of Jason." 98 ADAM'S PEAK. of the European and Native powers there joining each other on the principal route that led direct to the interior from Colombo.* Qn the top of a low but steep hill, a picturesque cantonment was formed hy the British, of which the ram- parts and surrounding ditch yet remain.f This is now the site of the house occupied by the resident Magistrate.^ Being almost isolated, extensive panoramic views of the surround- ing mountain ranges are here obtained. The Court-house is at the foot of the hill near the Sitdwaka ferry. The jurltidiction of the Court extends over a considerable area of country ; and a few lawyers, the leader of whom is a Sin- halese gentleman, ever on hospitable thoughts intent, seem * " In his fifth Tolume, p. 352, Valentyn mentions the escape of two Englishmen, after a captivity of twenty- two years, from the capital of Eandy to the Dutch fortress of Sit&waca." — FHiLALSTHiis, p, 10. f In the Kandyan Campaign of 1803, the natives obtained possession of the place, and commenced building some rude fortifications; but they were speedily dislodged by a military party under command of Captain Hanlccy. X In the year 1851 the writer, while staying a few days at this house with the then resident Mugistrate, Mr. N. Robertson, was witness to what seemed to him and others at the time an extraordinary phenomenon. About 6 P.M., there commenced to issue out of the wall, near the ceiling, from a hole not more than a quarter of an inch in diameter, countless myriads of flying ants ; in a very short time ' they so completely filled tlie house that every one was compelled to ,leave it. A dozen large bonfires were lighted round the building; and attracted by the blaz^ the ants poured into these in dense clouds: tot the space of two houi-s. ADAM'S PEAK. 99 to have a fair amount of practice provided them by n people whose love of litigation is an all-absorbing passion. A walk of about 250 yards in the rear of the resthouse leads to a ro. mantic glen, down which runs and leaps a brawling rivulet. Here is what is called by the natives Sitd's bath, and an adjacent cave, her dressing room; the popular belief being, that while the disconsolate wife of the hero of the Edmayana was confined in a neighbouring grove by Kdwana, she was permitted, as often as she desired, to come here with her attendants to bathe. It is also, we were informed, called Blsowala, or the Queens' bath, the King's consorts using it as a bathing place when the Court resided at Sitdwaka. In the olden days Awissdwela formed a portion or suburb of the adjoining city, Sitdwaka, Sitd's city on the winding stream — so named after Sitd, and the river on the banks of which it stood; the spot being rendered famous, according to Hindu traditions, because it was there that Indrajit the son of Rdwana, caused a magic figure of Sitd to bo beheaded, in When the flight was over, the servants collected from the rooms banket after basket full of ants* wings, as well as bodies, (he former appearing to serve but the one purpose of aiding the insects to escape from the earth, since they drop from their bodies immediately after. It was not until nearly 8 o'clock, that the house was ngnin habitable. The birds from the adjacent forests left their roosting places, and came in flocks to feed upon the ants that thus made their appearance. Their incredible numbers made it evident that the hill was an immense breeding place, of which they had held undisturbed possession fur a length of lime. 100 ADAM'S PEAK. the bopc that Bdma, who was waging a destructive war with S&wana for the recovery of his consort, would in the belief of her death be induced to return to India. " Sitdvaca was the ancient residence of kings or rdjas. The kings of Sitdvaca were rulers of all the low lands, and were of such paramount importance, that the kings and chiefs of the hill and wood country were their tributaries.* The kings of Sitavaca boasted that they were of nobler blood and finer descent than those of the high lands. They asserted themselves to be genuine descendants from the legitimate stock of a Prince of Tanassery, and a daughter of the royal race of Madura, whilst the Kandians kings were only bastards and of less honourable extraction. But it is certain, that when the king of Sitavaca was conquered by the kings of Kandy and U'va, they found it requisite to pay 60 much deference to the people, in favour of the high claims of the extinguished dynasty, as to undergo the • "In more early periods, wben the island was under the dominalion of no less than sixteen kings, tlie one who reigned at Sit&waka was acknow- ledged as supreme, on account of his descent from the legitimate stock of a prince of Tanasyery, in token 'of which he was presented every year with a gold arm ring, on which were engraved sixteen heads ; and a meeting of the kings was also held at the capital to celebrate a great festival which lasted sixteen days corresponding with their numbers. In after times, however, this mark of homage on the part of the other kings fell by degrees, into disuse, and a spirit of independence began to prevail among them, tIiou>:h they made no objection to the king of Sit&waka bearing the nominal title of emperor." — S. C. Chitti's Ceylou Gazetteer. ADAM'S PEAK. 101 ceremony of inauguration in the ancient palace of Sit^vaca. This practice was still observed on the arrival of the Portuguese. Valentyn mentions, p. 229, that the palace at Sitdvaca had been repaired by the Dutch, and that the gates, walls and architectural embellishments attested its original magnificence; though he adds, it was not to be compared with the ruins of the buildings left by Malabar sovereigns,"* From its proximity to the outposts of the Portuguese and Dutch, the city underwent a variety of vicissitudes; it was made a royal residence by Maya Dunnai, about 1 534, and became the capital of the kingdom, under his warlike son, in 1581; but after its abandonment as the seat of government by "VVimala Dharma A. D. 1592, it rapidly fell into decay ; the inhabitnnts indeed seem to have forsaken it for the preferable situation of Avvissdwela. Its ruins are now overgrown with jungle, but can still be traced, as well as the foundation and walls of a Portuguese fort, on a projecting tongue of land formed by the confluence with the Sitdwaka-ganga of a small stream, in the bed of which rubies, sapphires, and other gems have been found. This fort was once a place of some strength, and is described by Dr. Davy, who explored the place in 1817, and visited it on two subse- quent occasions in 1819.t Situated on a commanding eminence on the right bank of the river, opposite the site of the Portuguese fort, are the • Fhilalethes, n. p. 146. t DAvr's Account of the Interior of Ceylon^ pngeg 312—354. 102 ADAM'S PEAK. very interesting ruins of the Ber^ndi-k6wila,* a temple built, or commenced to be built, hy the " lion-king," Bdja Si^ha I., so named by his father, the king M&ya Dunnai, but known and execrated in Buddhist annals as "the Apostate Eajah." This king, renowned as a Warrior from the time he was eleven years old, to the day of his death, when he had attained the age of 120 years, resolved upon the building of this temple, to be dedicated to the worship of Kdli, as an atonement for some atrocious acts of cruelty committed in the course of his life. The approach of death seems to have terrified him. "Oppressed by the recollection of his monstrous barbarities, he sent for some of the leading Buddhist priests to attend him, and when they had come into his presence, he interrogated them as to the hope of pardon for his sins. The priests, whether emboldened by the sight of the sunken form of their aged persecutor, or • B^rdndi is the Sinhalese fotfa of the Hindu term Brdndi. The derivation of the term is doubtful ; probably it is a corrupt fonn of one of the names of the goddess Kali, the consort of Siva ; and assuming, with FoKBES, the tradition to be correct irhich states that this kdwila or temple jraa erected by Kaja SiQha on the advice of the Aandiy&a, who were worshippers of Sivfi, the attributes of Br&n^i, or Kili, were such as would peculiarly attract and suit the constitutional temperament of the king. lie would believe that by her aid he could destroy his enemies, since in sacrificing to her "An enemy may be immolated by proxy, substituting a builalo or goat, and calling the victim by the name of the enemy through the whole ceremony, thereby ' infusing by holy texts, the soul of the enemy into the body of the victim: which will, when ' impelled by the workings of conscious rectitude, replied, 'that they could hold out no hope of forgiveness in a future state.' Sipha, in whose nature the stern will of absolutism had been too deeply implanted to depart but with the soul that enshrined it, raised his eyes lit up with a scarcely human fire, and in his rage at their presumption, and as he deemed it, disloyalty, ordered them all, with the exception of the chief priest, to be shut up in a house and burnt alive. After incurring in this manner the vengeance of heaven, he sent for the priests of another temple : these, warned by the fate of their brethren, responded in a more soothing tone to his question, declaring indeed that so great a sinner could not hope for absolution but by repentance, but that as his majesty felt contrition for his enormities, they would endeavour, by the force of their prayers, to procure a sojourn for him in some intermediate region between heaven and earth, instead of an abode where he would be tormented by immolated, deprive the foe of l!fe also.'" — Moob's Hindu Pantheon, p. 83. Edit. 1864. Kdwila is the term applied in Ceylon to a temple dedicated to an inferior Hindu god or goddess^ in contradistinction to Dew&la, which ia applied to a temple dedicated to a superior deity. The two word* however are similarly derived, and have the same signification. The one is Tamil, and the other Sanskrit ; the Sinhalese apply the Tamil term' to Hindu temples built by Tamils, and wie the Sanskrit word for the temples to Hindu deities built by themselves. The otiiciating priest ora Duw&la is generally cuUed a Kapur41a, while that of a Kuwila is called a Fattinehami, 104 ADAM'S PEAK. devils. This answer seemed to compose ilie inquietude of the dying king, and he not only saved their lives but loaded them with presents, which they refused to receive. He requested them also not to take to heart the massacre pf their brethren, which he had ordered in a paroxysm of rage. On receiving an assurance of forgiveness, he soon after gave up the ghost." • Some of the native traditions however aver, that the priests he sent for on the second occasion were the Aandiyds, to whom, for the consolatory answer he received from them, he gave the custody of Adam's Peak; that he recovered from his sickness, and under their advice set about the building of the Ber^ndi-kowila, which was left incom- plete at the time of his death. Whichever of the preceding statements as to the origin of the Ber6ndi-k6wila is correct, is perhaps a matter not now possible to determine, but the ruins themselves, although of no great antiquity, are unquestionably amongst the most interesting in Ceylon, 'and are moreover of easy access to the traveller. Dr. Davy and Captain Forbes both notice them, but at the times of their visits the overgrowing jungle had more, or less concealed them from view. In this respect we were more fortunate, for the owners of the property, the priests of the Dalada Mdligdwa, or Palace of the Toothf at ♦ Pridhah's Historical, Political and Statistical Account of Ceylon and its Dependencies, vol. i. p. 96. ^ For an account of this temple-palace, and its worshipped relic, see Appendix F. I ADAM'S PEAK. 105 Kandy,had leased the grounds for a term of 99 years to the in- cumbent of a Buddhist vihiraat Cotanchina, near Colombo; and the lessee was making the most of his bargain. The jungle was nearly all cleared, and the crops of grain we saw growing seemed to indicate considerable fertility of Boil. Our visit was greatly facilitated by the courtesy of Mr. J. W. Gibson, the Commissioner of Requests and Police Magistrate of the District, who obligingly accom- panied us, although the drenching showers which fell were the cause of no small discomfort at the time. We crossed the Sitawaka-ga^ga at the ferry, also used as a ford when the water is low, the track of which is paved with broad flagstones, said to have been brought from the k6vvila; and after pi'oceeding a short distance along the Yatiyantota road, turned to the right, the ground gradually rising, until we came to a ravine which forms a kind of base to the triangular knoll, on the summit of which the ruins are seen. Across this ravine a singular bridge permits access to tho precincts of the kowila. It consists of five huge stones, admirably dressed on their upper surface, each fifteen feet long, varying in widtli from two feet to three feet and a half, and in thickness from twelve to eighteen inches. One of these is broken through the middle, and a native legend by way of accounting for the fracture* states, that owing to a woman crossing it when affected with a natural infi.rraity, the goddess to whom the place was dedicated became so incensed, that she caused the stone to split in two, and thereby precipitated the offender to the bottom of the ravine. 106 ADAM'S PEAK. The surface of the hill, or slope of ground, at some distance beyond the bridge, is scarped and levelled into a series of terraces or platforms. The first and lowest is a parallelo- gram about 280 feet in breadth ; the second about 1 80 ; on and near the northern end of this is the third, a square of 80 feet, and on this again, perhaps twenty feet from its northern side, the fourth, a square of 20 feet. The sides of each face the cardinal points, those of the north overlooking what may be called the apex of the triangle, round which the river makes a sharp' curve. Betaining walls of massive carved and moulded granite stones surround the first, third and fourth platforms; and from the angles of the walls of the fourth, which is wholly paved with broad flags, rise the handsome clustered pillars which formed the temple. A narrow groove or channel is cut through one of the carved blocks at the southwest angle, the use of which is not very manifest, unless it was to carry off the blood of animals slaughtered in sacrifice to the goddess.* Flights of steps lead to the platform from the centre of each side, and corresponding steps are placed in each of the walls of the terraces below. Traces of such steps are also seen down the steep face of the hill to the brink of the river, from which, in its windings above and below, the Berendi-kowila must * All Hindu altars, I am informed, have a passage to let nut the ivatcr which the Hrahmans pour upon them for the purpose of purifying them from the defilement which they are supposed to contract when the gods feast upon the qlTerings which are there placed. ADAM'S PEAK. 107 have preBented a noble appearance. Captain Forbes is of opinion, that the temple was about 30 feet in height from the topmost platform; and that it consisted of pillars supporting a cornice, the plan appearing to be as if eight ornamented pilasters projected two on each side from a plain square pillar. Excepting as to the height, which, including the basement wall, now scarcely exceeds fifteen feet, the description he gives of the plan of the temple is correct. The carvings in the stones are deep, and tlie mouldings project out boldly. These are all covered with delicate floral tracery, which must have required great manipulative skill on the part of those who had to execute it. The walls of the two terraces below harmonlae with that on which the temple stands; the whole having evidently been designed by an architect of no mean ability. It is however questionable whether it was ever finally completed. Betvycen the two lower walled terraces an unwalled one intervenes, and from the number of blocks of stone lying about, some in a rough, and others in a half finished state, it seems probable that the work was stopped when near its completion, owing to the struggles with the Portu- guese and the domestic wars in which the king was engaged previous to his death,* and the determination of his successor * Tbe local tradition is, that the works were stopped at the time wh«n Kunappu Bundara raised an army, and advanced against the king with a view to his overthrow. This happened while R&ja Siyha was engaged in bcseiging the Portuguese in Colombo, he having (leturmined upon 108 ADAM'S PEAK. to remove the seat of Government to Kandy. . The new king, moreover, being a Buddhist, would not be disposed to promote the interests of an opposing and persecuting faith. The conjecture that the temple was destroyed by the Portu- guese, is not borne out by the general appearance of the place; but from the time of its abandonment up to within a very, recent period, the natives have made free with its stones for buildings of their own.* Higher up the river, on the opposite side, is the MdniyaQ^ gnma viliara, a rock temple, the route to which is through a their expulsion from Ceylun. Kunappu Bandnra was one of the royal family who escapRd destruction at tlic hands of Raja Sigha, when he resolved upon removing every obstacle to his claims to sole sovereignty throughout the island. IIo had made his way to Colombo, and adopted the Christian religion, and was subsequently baptized at Goa under the title of Don John. To aid the Portuguese, by whose means, if successful, he hoped to gain the Kandian throne, he now made his way from Ja0ha to Kandy, and inbreasirg his adherents at every step, ere long threatened Sitawaka itself. Raja Sigha was thus forced to raise the seigc of Colombo in order to relieve his capital. Don John, retiring to the south and oast, was pursued by the king, when the I'ortuguese, watching their opportunity, captured Awissiwcla. A desultory warfare followed, which lusted for some years. At length, in a final battle at Kaeration8 here, the prin- cipal of whom, owing to the excitement caused by a too sudden acquisition of wealth, had unfortunately lost his reason. Gold is also found in the beds of these streams, but not in sufficient quantities to pay Europeans for the expense — irrespective of the risk to health— of washing it from the soil; and washing or digging for gold is not so attractive to the native mind as the search for gems. A minor road branches off from the main one to the right near to an iron bridge about a mile from Ratnapura. This leads to the Malta Saman Dewale, distant about two miles from the city, and close to the right bank of the Kalu-gagga; To this place apilgrimage is made by large bodies of natives every July, when the festival of the Pcrahera, lasting 1/ ADAM'S PEAK. 121 fifteen days,* with proceesions of elephants, &o. is held. At this time a temporary town is erected for the accom- modation of the pilgrims. This consists principally of two streets, 260 yards long by 45 feet broad, on either side of which is a continuous row of huts made of bambus and jungle sticks roofed over with cadjans, or the plaited leaves of the cocoanut palm. These roads lead straight up to the eastern side of a quadrangular enclosure (80 ft. E. & W., by 200 ft. N. & S.), which forms the outer courtyard to the temple. An inner quadrangle (150 ft. by 200 ft.) is approached from this by a flight of 25 stone stepa.f Both quadrangles are enclosed by dwarf walls five feet high, above which are rows of palings alternating with pillars, the whole protected by a tiled roof to shoot off the rain. The gate- way to the first consists of two brick pillars, on the top of each of which a bo-tree is growing. On the top of the steps leading to the second is a narrow verandah, with four carved wooden pillars, two on each side the doorway. This is of stone, with rudely carved lintel and jambs. The inner * For an account of the great Perahfra festival at Kandy, to whicli that at Ratnapura is very similar, see Appendix I. t Captain Fbidham, in his work on Ceylon, describes these steps as well as those which lead up to the temple from the river, as made of marble. This is a mistake. The steps, which are very roughly dressed, are of the ordinary stone of the neighbourhood, gneiss or hornblende, with here and there a carved block apparently brought from some overthrown building, probably from the Portuguese church which once stood here. 122 ADAM'S PEAK. quadrangle seems originally to have been a low mound, the sides of which were artificially raised, so as to form the foundation platform for a fortification. There is reason to believe that this was the site of a Duwdlf Ceylon, says, that besides the camp at Manicavary, where, in times of peace, at least 4000 men were always stationed, "there was a second camp in the Saffragam country, near the kingdom ofU'wa; it comprised four companies of Portuguese infantry, amounting to 150 men, and from 4000 to 5000 lascorina ; these were under the command of the Dis&wa of the Province, who had with him an adjutant and a chaplain. In these two camps consisted the chief strength of the country, cnpecially in time uf pcttco." ADAM'S PEAK. 123 they built, their Church, a portion of which is probably included in the existing Ii6\vil6. Opposite the doorway, in the centre of the quadrangle, is a colonnade fifty-four feet in length, and twenty in breadth. This consists of two outer dwarf walls, five feet high, with openings near the west end, and five pillars rising at irregular distances five feet above the walls; inside these are corresponding rows of five brick or oabook pillars, with a passage ten feet wide between. On each side of the colonnade, at the west end, between the Inst two pillars and the walls, is a kind of raised dais, intended probably for the acconnnodation of priests or musicians. At the end of the colonnade, a doorway gives access to a hail, about sixty feet long, dimly lighted by two small windows, and having in its side walls two central doors facing each other. A row of seven wooden pillars, three feet distant from each wall, leaves an avenue in the midst of the hall of about fourteen feet width, which leads (o five semicircular steps at the foot of the door of the sanctum, a two-storied building, occupying an area of 20 by 30 feet, the top of which, viewed from the outside, has a very pagoda-like appearance. Plaster statues of Hindu deities flunk this door, and on either side of the second step is placed one of a magnificent pair of elephant's tuaks, each seven feet in length. We could not gain admittance to this part of the building; but Captain Forbes states, that it contains what is called by courtesy, the golden bow and arrow of the god. We lieard that it also contained a silver-stemmed umbrella, which in former times used to be spread above 'the shrine 124 ADAM'S PEAK. of Saman, on the summit of Samandia, indicating his divine supremacy in the District. Inside the hall were several large long-handled fans, and other articles used in processions, besides six antique looking gingalls, some of which we found to be of but very rough and modern manufacture. They were eighteen inches long, with an inch thickness of metal, and a bore an inch in diameter. Each was firmly fixed upon a thrce-lc!ggcd carriage raised about eighteen inches from the ground. In the open quadrangle, north of the sanctum, is a well, enclosed by four old massive walls (15 ft. by 24 ft. J, each wall having a narrow arched doorway in its centre. This is the most archasological feature of the place ; the walls are undoubtedly those originally built by the Portuguese, and the arched doorways differ from anything of the kind to be seen elsewhere. At the east end of the quadrangle, facing the two openings in the colonnade, are two Buddhist temples, each on a raised platform 1 6 ft. by 24, with four pillars on each side, forming nairow verandalis round a central room, in which is an image of Buddha, and a karandua containing some of his relics. These relics hold an important position in the processions at the iPerahera in the month of July. Against the walls of the quadrangle are several lean-to buildings, either occupied by the temple attendants, or used as stores. Cordiner, in his description of this Dewdle, says, at the tiuie of the Kandian campaign in 1803, "the apartments of the Pagoda"— (by which he evidently meant the whole of ADAM'S PEAK. 125 the buildings in this quadrangle)—" afforded excellent shelter for the troops; who found in several chests, a greater quantity of silver and copper coins than they were capable of carrying away. The Malays, probably from motives of superstition, refused to receive any share of them ; and almost all the indigent coolies [camp followers] disdained the sacrilege of either entering the Pagoda, or touching the coin. The idols had been removed, but a great many beautiful elephants' tusks, and other curious articles remained, which could not be brought away." • Scattered about the ground are sundry fragments of slender gothic pillars, which clearly formed a part of the church that once stood here; and near to pne of the Buddhist temples stands what looks most suspiciously like a baptismal font. It consists of a stone pillar rising two feet three inches from the ground, square at the base for twelve inches,' and octagonal above. This supports a font eighteen inches square on the upper surface; the outer edges of which are moulded, and carved with delicate tracery ; and the sides rounded from the top to the base. The inside is hollowed into a circular basin fifteen inches in diameter, and four in depth. Let into a deep niche in the basement of the raised quadrangle, a little to the north of the flight of steps leading from the outer courtyard, is a mural stone of some * Description of Ceylon, vol. ii. p. 252. 126 ADAM'S PEAK. historic value, and of singular interest from the strange and unexpected position in which it is found. On it, sculptured in bold relief, are two figures, about half the size of life. They represent the closing event of a mortal combat between a Portuguese, armed cap-a-pie, and a Si^ihalese warrior. Conquered in the encounter, the latter has been stricken down; his sword and shield are cast despairingly aside; and his antagonist, trampling under foot his prostrate form, is now with one final blow about to deprive him of his life. The inscription below, partly in Bomau, and partly in Siyhalese characters, is so mucli effaced as to be only very ])artially readable; some portions of the figures are also damaged, seemingly from the action of the weather upon the stone. The wliole is, however, most spiritedly executed, and enough of the inscription remains to shew that the name of the Portuguese soldier was Gomez. The Siyhalese say, the prostrate warrior was their champion, one Kuruwita Banddra, a dreaded enemy of the Portuguese, whose soldiers he had repeatedly cut off, and that some fifty had fallen by his hand ere he himself was slain. The sculpture was no doubt executed in Europe by royal or vice-regal command, and sent hither to do honor to the soldier whose valorous dcud it commemorated. At the north and south sides of the outer courtyard are raised platforms, with high canopies, which are profusely decorated during the pilgrim season. The backgrounds are then filled with paintings of the gods, and in front of these, gazed at by admiring multitudes, the dancing girls ADAM'S PEAK. 127 in the service of the temple, perform their parts in the annual . festival in honor of Saman. On such an occasion one can realize the description given by Sri B&faula of similar scenes in honor of Vibhishana at the temple at Eelani, four cen- turies and a half ago. Yet linger for awhile and note the dancing fair Whose charming, handsome ears, bright shining gold plates bear-; Whose eyes, long, lustrous, dark, wash'd with coUyrium, seem With deeper, darker lustre, beneath their lids to gleam; Whose 'tresses, twined with flowers their beauty to enhance, And fragrant odours flinging, beholders' hearts entrance. Upon their dancing stages, in gala garb array'd, Each vestment strew'd with jewels, gems dazzlingly display'd, At every agile motion and lissom action light They scintillate in splendour, seem lambent lamp-flames bright: Aloft, alow, their arms, tossing, waving in the dance And around them casting many a swift-sped sidelong glance, Their narubaras' ♦ end-falls they from their broad hips fling, The full-folds op'ning, closing, at each clastic spring. While bells from zones gem-spangled their slender waists girt round In unison chime sweetly, as o'er the scarce touch'd ground They clink their golden anklets and flash their lotus feet And step in time responsive to music's measured beat.f A flight of fifty steps leads up from the river to a path in the outer temple grounds; and on the sides of the quadrangles, ♦ The narvibara is a graceful kind of waist cloth, the wide end of which, about a foot in length, falls from the girdle over the hips in a number of thickly gathered folds or plaits. f S(la-lihini Sandcse. B6, Temple,* and other trees spread tlieir umbrageous branches over the enclosing walls. Kapur&las and temple officers arid tenants perform a daily service within the walls, with the harshest of pipings and the noisiest beatings of tam- a-tams. A dozen or more elephants are attached to the place, their chief duty being to take a leading part in the annual processions. The temporalities are large, and the revenue is collected, and all the affairs of the temple regulated by the Kandiaii Chief Iddamalgoda Abayakon Atapattu Mu- diyanse, himself a Buddhist, but the Basnd.yaka Nilamd, or lay incumbent of the great Hindu Dawdle, which, with a kind of mutual toleration, Buddhists and Hindus alike agree to consider one of their most notable places of holy resort. t * The Ficta religiosa, and the Michelia Champaca, t Saman U generally believed to be an incarnation of Yishnfi, (see ante, p. 13). With reference to thisdeity I am indebted for th& following note, to the learned Tamil Advocate, Mr. C, Bbito, "During the domi- nation of the TamilB, the elastic faith of the Sighaleae had to be extended so ns to include a large number of the gods of the rulers. And every vih&ra had to receive a number of images of these uncouth gods. But they wiere not received indiscriminately. And if I do not greatly err, Vishnft was the only god who was received without reluctance> His shrine is the D6w&l€ we meet with everywhere attached to Buddhist temples." The adoration of Vishnii under the forms of Bama and Lakshamana, or Saman, was the old traditionary religion of the Sinhalese before the Vij&yan invasion. Buddhists moreover believe that this god is the tutelary cUvinity of the island; that he is a candidate for Buddha- hood, and will, in some future kalpa, be manifested aa a Buddha; hence the readiness with which they allowed his worship at the time referred to. But at the same time many Hindus maintain that Buddha himself was only an avat&r or incarnation of VisbnA. gidam's §JinL " Amidst the grove that crowns yon tufted hill AVhich, were it not for many a mountain nigh Rising in lofty ranks, and loftier still, Might well itself be deemed of dignity, The convent's white walls glisten fair on high; . Here dwells the ciiloyer, nor rude is he ^^^ Kor niggard of his cheer; the passer by '.■ Is welcome still ; nor heedless will he flee From hence, if he delight kind Nature's sheen to see." Uybom. \ CHAPTER V. Katnapuka. — Mount Karangoda. — Godiqamuwa. — GiLi'- mai.f/. — Ellapita 'I'otupola. — GOBULUWAN, Kald, and Hatcla GANGA9, — Banda'ra Mahatuaya'. — Tuntota Ferry. — Maskeliya ganga. — Dridge and Ford.— Au- iia'ntenne. — "Estuary op reeds." — Batapola. — Rock- cave. — MapANAN-ELLA waterfall. — PALA'nADDALA. The city of Ratnapura, like the "langtoun o' Kirkaldy," consists principally of clustering rows of houses on either side of the main road. On the left of the road, ajxproaching from Awissdwela, picturesquely situated in an arborescent ■ dell, is the residence of the Assistant Government Agent of 130 ADAM'S PEAK. the District, near to which is the small episcopal place of worship, called by courtesy, the church. On the right of the road is the gaol; beyond which, receding towards the bank of the river, are theresthouse and the Grovernuient Hospital. These are both newly erected, commodious buildings; and at the back of the former, fringing the high river-bank, is a luxuriant grove of nutmeg trees. Within the walls of the small fort, surmounting a rocky hillock, about 114 feet above the level of the sea, are the Government Kachcheri, in which a meteorological observatory has lately been established, the District Court, and other official buildings. This fort was formerly a military station; but the troops have been with- drawn; and the Police, who have a station and barracks further on, now guard the Kachchdri, and discharge the duties formerly entrusted to soldiers. The situation of the city is considered healthy; there is an excellent bazaar; and a Roman Catholic chapel in a very central position. In the suburbs there are many pleasantly detached bungalows, the residences of the ,Tudge, the lawyers, and other leading inhabitants. An ancient mosque, indicates that the faith of Islam is no very recent profession amongst a section of the community, the majority of whom it may be presumed, from the neighbouring viharas, and the great Saman Dewdle, are liuddhista and Hindus. Strings of bullock bandies con- tinually pass up and