Eat an aggala and climb the cliff my Son (අග්ගල කන් ඩෝන් පුතා, හෙලේ නගින් ඩෝන් පුතා) – Part I

Sri Paada season for 2013/14 started few days ago. About 100,000 devotees have climbed Sri Paada Mountain on the first day itself. Sri Paada means ‘sacred foot print’. It is at the summit of a mountain located in the central highlands of Sri Lanka. It is sacred for Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslims alike. So it is a place for religious harmony. Buddhists believe that the Lord Buddha set his foot print at the summit. The Hindus believe that the foot print is God Shiva’s. In Christian and Islamic belief it is of Adam’s and therefore the mountain is called Adma’s Peak in English.

There are many sacred and magnificent mountains in the world. Mount Everest is at the top of the world. Mount Sinai has witnessed Ten Commandments. Mount Fuji and Mount Kilimanjaro are more imposing. Mount Kailash and Mount Agung are more mysterious. But no other mountain has been considered holy by such a variety of faiths like Sri Pada. 

     

Sri Paada Mountain is 2245 m high from the MSL. It has the characteristic conical shape of a volcano but I do not know whether it is of volcanic origin. It can be easily recognized even from a far distance because of its location in the center of a mountain range and its distinctive conical shape. We can see it from our home town on a day with a clear blue sky although we are about 60km away from its peak. I was also fortunate to see it from two schools I attended in my childhood. One of them even had a mention of Sri Paada in the school anthem and featured it in the school emblem.

“පෙර දිගිනි පෙනේවී කඳු ශ්‍රීපා 

ඒ මතිනී අළුකර ලෝදා

හුදු රුවන් සකක්සේ බමමින් දිනිඳු උදාවේ //

එසේ සිසුන් තුලේ 

උපන් මෝහ තමස්සු බින්දවා සත්සල දිනේ”

Our school was fortunate to get the melody for the school anthem from Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, who established the school in 1934. The school's architecture has received inspiration from the infamous Shanthi Niketan in West Bengal, India. Tagore has come to Sri Lanka to lay the foundation stone for the school on invitation by the Philanthropist Wlmot Perera. The latter has donated his tea estate to establish the school. I was stunned by the beauty of its architecture and surrounding when I first went there for the admission test. I studied there for some time until moving to the best public school in Sri Lanka. It is located in Colombo, 130km from the peak of Sri Pada, yet we could still see it from our five story laboratory building on a clear day. Thus the image of Sri Paada was firmly established in my mind from very young age. It is an image that brings nostalgic memories of my home town, the schools and the climbs. 

Sri Paada Mountain is also called Samanala Kanda in Sinhala. As the story goes, every year before Sri Paada season begins on the full moon day of December, butterflies from all over the surrounding countryside fly together in long processions to worship the sacred foot print. Sadly, the lives of these exotic creatures come to an end at the peak of the mountain. I don’t know whether they can really fly many kilometers and ascend more than 2000 meters to make that pilgrimage. But I clearly remember seeing vivid procession of butterflies flying in front of our house to the direction of Sri Paada. We even had futile efforts to count them. That marvelous spectacle is rarely seen nowadays due to deforestation.

Perhaps my two classmates, Kasthuri and Charles, who are engineers of the National Water Supply Board, could witness if there were many bodies of butterflies at the summit when they visited there few weeks before the season began. They had the pious duty of ensuring the readiness of the water supply system to serve millions of devotees who climb the mountain during the five month long season. I envied them when I saw the pictures of their off season journey in the Facebook.

I liked to climb Sri Paada very much during my youth. How many times I climbed to the peak? I have lost the count. Many devotees ring the bell at the summit according to the number of times they climbed. But I think some people just boast by ringing it too many times to impress the onlookers. I had energy to climb the sacred mountain 3 times during three months in 1980. First time was with some friends including Charles, second time with parents and some neighbors and third time with brothers and their friends. But what I remember most is the first time I climbed with parents using the Rathnapura route.

There are three main routes to reach the peak. A climb using the Hatton route from Nallathanniya base takes about 6 hours. Ratnapura route from Palabbadala base takes about 10 hours to ascend. The most scenic Kuruwita route from Erathna base takes about 14 hrs. In 1983 we had a very memorable climb from Kuruwita route from our batch mate Priyantha Weerasinghe’s house. We were super fit university boys but most of us had leg cramps after climbing on the 12km strenuous trail.  My last attempt was in 2000, just before I left for Thailand. In that time we were on the least strenuous Hatton route but I could climb only up to the Japan-Sri Lanka peace pagoda. After that I had to abandon the journey due to tiredness. How could I become so weak in 17 years? My parents could climb when they were in their 60s. I have been dreaming of climbing Sri Paada with my children as my parents took me there several times. I regret for not giving that wonderful adventure for them.

Thailand also has a Sri Paada called Phra Puttapath in Saraburi Province. But it is not on a mountain. In fact it is at a small hill and therefore climbing is so easy. However, it is not mentioned in the gathaa (verse) about the four places where Lord Buddha placed his foot prints.

යන් නම්මාදය නදියා පුලිනේච තීරේ

(on the bank of Narmada River in India)

යන් සච්චබද්ධ ගිරිකේ සුමනා චලග්ගේ 

(on Sachchabaddha mountain in India)

and on Samanala mountain in Sri Lanka)

යන්තත්ත යෝනකපුරේ මුනිනෝච පාදන්

(at Mecca in Saudi Arabia according to some beliefs)

තම්පාද ලාංචන මහන් සිරසා නමාමී

      

I have been to Narmada River bank in Jabalpur. I could not see the holy foot print there because no one has found it yet. I also went to the top of the Sachchabaddha Mountain using a precarious cable car but I did not see any evidence of a footprint there. I am now in a neighboring country of Saudi Arabia but I guess I will not get permission to visit Mecca. I am happy that I could visit the locations of two holy foot prints, one in Samanala mountain in Sri Lanka and the other in Saraburi, Thailand. Although no one has seen the actual foot print, it is the belief that matters for most devotees. Sadly the younger generation climb the Sri Paada Mountain for fun and not due to a religious conviction. 

(To be continued ...)

View of Sri Paada from a location near my home town - Photo by my class mate Nihal Samarasinghe

Other photos by: Edirisinghe Kasturiarachchi, Charles Kao, Nayomaali Perera