Sri Pada Abode of the Gods
Walter RUPESINGHE
The Sri Pada season is on again. During the
next five months until the Wesak Poya hundreds of thousands of devotees
will climb the 7,362 feet high mountain to pay homage to the sacred
footprint of the Buddha. Although Sri Pada is not the highest mountain
in the country it is certainly the most conspicuous.
Many a traveller by ship to the west has
recorded that as the shores of Sri Lanka faded away and they cast a
lasting look behind they could see on a clear day the majestic form of
Sri Pada almost waving to them in fond farewell. Such is the magic spell
that this holy mountain casts on everyone who are privileged to see it
and also to climb it.
The first reference to Sri Pada is found in the Mahawansa the great
Chronicle. It states that the Buddha on His third visit to Sri Lanka
after preaching the doctrine at Kelaniya “rising aloft into the air
displayed the impression of his foot on the mountain Samanakuta (Sri
Pada) by imprinting it there. On the side of the mountain He with His
disciples having enjoyed the rest of noon day departed for Dighavapi.”
Although there is no archaeological evidence of pilgrims worshipping
the sacred footprint before the 12th century there is reference to the
devotion of some Sinhala Buddhists during the period before the 12th
century in the Tamil Buddhist Poem “Manimekalai” and the writings of
Chinese pilgrims who visited this country (Senerath Paranavithana’s “The
God of Adams Peak”).
The first Sinhalese king who is mentioned in the Mahawansa as having
paid obeisance to the sacred footprint and improved the environs is King
Vijaya Bahu I (Ad 1055 to 1100). A detailed account of the work
undertaken by him has been recorded in the Ambegamuwa inscription which
is near the sixth milepost on the Nawalapitiya, Hatton road.
The services rendered by the King to the Shrine of the sacred
footprint were the institution of a refectory, the suspension of a
network over the sacred footprint, construction of a large Prakara
around the terrace of, the shrine and the donation of lands to the
shrine (The Archaeological Department’s Register of ancient monuments).
Parakrama Bahu the Great had also visited the shrine with a retinue
of followers and worshipped the sacred footprint. He had offered
valuable gifts at the shrine and carried out several improvements.
King Nissanka Malla (1187-1196) excelled King Vijaya Bahu in his
devotion to the sacred footprint. He had made a number of improvements.
A record of the work done by him is engraved on a rock in the cave named
Bhagavalena about a hundred feet below the summit on the Kuruwita route
to the mountain.
Successive kings had worshipped the sacred footprint and done
everything they could to provide for the needs of pilgrims.
John Still and Rev. Stanley Senior
In his book “Jungle Tide” John Still says that Sri Pada must be one
of the vastest and the most widely reverenced Cathedrals of the human
race. He says “I have climbed Sri Pada many a time when pilgrims by
thousands wound up its rugged paths by torchlight singing as they went.
I have camped with them in sheltering caves and with them I have kept
vigil on the cold windswept summit waiting for the rising sun.
“And he adds “there were no policemen there and no one in the form of
authority at all, so far as I could learn; but the place was holy ground
and the tolerance of the pilgrims seemed a thing that might very well
have been studied by western ecclesiastics with honour and amazement and
perhaps even in shame.”
Rev. Walter Stanley Senior, an Anglican Minister and a passionate
lover of Sri Lanka, whose ashes are buried in the little churchyard on
the hill above Haputale town, recalls his visits to Sri Pada.
He had reached the summit and proudly rung the bell four times for
his four visits and looked on in amazement when a middle aged woman had
rung it thirty one times! He has expressed eloquently the irresistible
lure of Sri Pada when he wrote.
“The climb is always an effort except to the Halangodas and the
Josephs in the heyday of their youth; and near the top one always said
“never again”. Still more did one say it at the Ambalama half way down
the descent when ones toes almost burst through ones boots.”
But let six months pass and lo! the Peak is once more weaving spells
and a “Spirit in one’s feet” is drawing one back into its charmed
circle” (The call of Lanka).
How very true! Ask anyone who has climbed Sri Pada and he will tell
you that this is so.
The experience
Although I am not a Buddhist I have climbed Sri Pada on five
occasions because I firmly believe that Sri Pada belongs to everyone
irrespective of caste or creed. The holy mountain has cast a magic spell
over me urging me to return again and I looked forward to many more
visits to this great cathedral of the human race.
Unfortunately with the passage of time I was afflicted by Vertigo
which put an end to my plans. Climbing the mountain is one thing but if
the Vertigo struck while descending the steep slopes it might have
proved fatal. Nevertheless Sri Pada will always be the mountain of my
dreams.
On my first visit to the mountain in 1949, I joined a group of
students from the Maradana Technical College who were led by a frail
lecturer who had not been to Sri Pada before and was determined to make
it to the top.
Assisted by some wiry students who virtually carried him all the way
up he reached the summit and paid homage to the sacred foot print.
Thereafter, with his face lit up by the morning sun he rang the bell and
exclaimed “at last I have realised my life’s dream.”
There was also the time when two members of our party fell ill. We
had to dose them with Disprin and Coffee and leave them behind in an
Ambalama half way up the mountain and proceed on our journey.
I also remember the occasion when a few of us on the way to Sri Pada
stayed with the late Ananda Madena, Manager of Norwood estate and his
charming wife Chitrangani. We left for Sri Pada just before midnight.
As we reached the summit of the hill overlooking the Maskeliya valley
we were thrilled to see the trail of golden lights going right up to the
summit. It was truly magnificent this token of a nation’s gratitude to
God Saman for ensuring the successful completion of the Laxapana hydro
electric project.
Ananda insisted that before we started on the climb proper we should
purify ourselves in the icy cold waters of ‘Seetha Gangula.’ When we
hesitated he put us to shame by pointing to the old and infirm men and
women who were bathing in the stream. We followed suit. We came out of
the water with shivering bodies and chattering teeth but we were happy
because we had imbibed the true spirit of the pilgrimage.
On almost every occasion on which I climbed Sri Pada when my aching
feet almost refused to go any further I recited to myself the following
verse from a poem of the great Rabindranath Tagore. This urged me to
move on:
“Far away glitters the temple spire
There sounds the song of the dying day
In its melody mingles all that is beautiful
All that touches life along the pilgrims path
With the gesture of perfection
I hear the refrain
It is not far, not far away.”
It was only on one occasion that I was fortunate enough to witness
the brilliant sunrise from the summit. On the other occasions a bank of
cloud hung over the Eastern sky. The sunrise is one of the most
beautiful sights in the world enhanced by the giant and awesome shadow
of the peak falling on the mountains behind us. Henry Cave another great
lover of this country vividly described it in the following words;
“Under peculiar atmospheric conditions that frequently present
themselves the curious phenomenon known as the shadow of the peak is
observable at dawn from the summit of the mountain. The first faint
beams reveal the fleecy shroud of mist covering the world below and as
the welling light grows clearer up rises the mighty shadow.
Like a distant pyramid is stands for many seconds; then nearer and
nearer ever increasing in size and distinctness as the rays of light
broaden over the horizon, it advances towards us life a veil, through
which the distant forests and plains are distinctly visible, till at
length it seems to merge in its mighty parent and instantly vanish.”
Environmental pollution
One late January evening I was driving to Ratnapura and stopped at
the Kuruwita bridge. The sky was clear and I could see the lights of Sri
Pada peeping over the neighbouring mountains.
I made up my mind that some day I would climb the mountain along this
more difficult and arduous route through Kuruwita which meant climbing
from almost sea level unlike the Maskeliya climb which begins from the
4000 foot high Hatton Plateau. The recurring Vertigo put an end to my
plans.
It is with a great deal of reluctance that I have to strike a sad
note. Our pilgrims are so devout and caring but they do not think much
about polluting the environment around Sri Pada. Perhaps they might
plead that necessity has no law.
The answer to this is to provide more toilet facilities with running
water and waste bins at more regular intervals. These must be well
publicised and appeals made to the public to use them.
The co-operation of the pilgrims is essential if this holy mountain
is to preserve it pristine purity. I have been ashamed to hear the
comments of some foreign tourists about the unbearable stench on the way
up the mountain and the very bad state of the toilets in the summit
area.
I am aware that a lot of good work is being done to remedy the
situation but it would come to nothing without the co-operation of the
pilgrims.
The younger generation
While we of the older generation cherish and venerate these unique
religious assets how many of the younger generation especially in the
urban and semi urban areas have visited Sri Pada and seen and
experienced for themselves the exemplary, faith of the pilgrims some of
them old and infirm, who brave the elements and wend their weary way to
the summit chanting “Karunavai” to worship the sacred foot print.
If they climb the mountain once and capture the spirit of the Sri
Pada Pilgrimage and also learn about its history and significance they
will want to go back again and agains. For Sri Pada is the above of the
Gods. |