Sri Pada

A powerpoint on Sri Pada, a religious place where many people from many religions go pilgrimages. The specialty is that people from 5 major religions go on there: Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Jews and Muslims

1. Sri Pada By Amalendu Plackiyil Manoranjan

2. What is Sri Pada ? Sri Pada is a tall conical mountain located in Sri Lanka. Sri Pada is a pilgrimage for four major world religions: Hinduism Buddhism Christianity Islam There is a sacred footprint at the summit of the mountain. The mountain is sacred since the ancient times.

3. Geography of Sri Pada Sri Pada Mountain is situated in the South West corner of the central mountain region. This corn shaped mountain is 2243 meters high. Sri Pada is important as a watershed. The districts to the south and the east of Sri Pada yield precious stones - emeralds, rubies and sapphires, for which the island has been famous, and which earned for its ancient name of Ratnadeepa (mountain of gems).

4. How did Sri Pada become a place of pilgrimage ? At the top of the summit there is a sacred footprint. The footprint believed to be of: Lord Shiva by the Hindus Adam by the Muslims Buddha by the Buddhists St. Thomas by the Christians. The great desire of each pilgrim is to reach the top before sunrise and witness the glorious spectacle of the sunrise and thereafter perform their religious rites. It has pilgrimage site for over 1000 years.

5. The Sacred Footprint The footmark is a superficial flow 68 in. long, and 31 in. and 29 in. wide at the toes and the heel respectively. The cavity bears some coarse resemblance to a human foot, but the size is gigantic, and seems partly natural and partly artificial. There are little raised partitions to represent the interstices between toes.

6. The Sacred Footprint : Hindus The Hindus believe that while dancing to create the world, the god Shiva left his footprint; thus for them, the mountain is Sivanolipatha Malai (Lord Shiva’s Footprint on the Mount). Hindus climb Sri Pada believing that they will be blessed, forgiven for any sins and healed of any diseases or injuries by Lord Shiva for he had left his footprint as a place of blessing.

7. The Sacred Footprint : Buddhism Buddhists believe that the footmark on the summit of Sri Pada is that of Buddha, who, during his third visit to Kelaniya, 2,580 year ago, kept the imprint of his left foot thereon as a relict worthy of veneration. He did so at the kind request of god Saman, the tutelary deity of the mountain wilderness, whose divine eye is supposed to cast upon Deraniyagala, Boltumbe, Ellakkala, Nivitigala and the mountain Benasamanalagala.

8. The Sacred Footprint : Muslims Muslims believe that the mountain is where Adam stood on one foot after being cast out of the Garden of Eden. According to the legend, Adam was hurled from Paradise for his disobedience and stood in penance for a thousand years on one foot at the top of Adam's Peak, after which he was reunited with Eve on Mt. Arafat overlooking Mecca. By the ninth century, this footprint was consequently considered one of the most sacred sites in the world.

9. They also say that when the Buddha visited Sri Lanka he found the people poor and given to theft. So out of compassion and to turn them to virtue he sprinkled the island with sweet dew which crystallized into gems thus freeing the people from poverty by giving them a commodity to trade with.

10. The Sacred Footprint : Christians When Portuguese Christians came to the island in 16th century, they claimed the footprint to be of St. Thomas, who according to the legend first brought Christianity to Sri Lanka. St. Thomas left his footprint to symbolize that it was the closest place to heaven.

11. History of Sri Pada Sri Pada is first mentioned in the, the earliest Pali chronicle, (4th century), and also in the 5th century chronicle, where it is stated that the Buddha visited the mountain peak. The Arab traveler Ibn Batuta on arriving on the island in 1344 CE, and Marco Polo, have recorded their visits to Sri Pada. John Davy (1817) was the first English traveler to visit the peak, and recorded observing an oversized footprint carved in stone and ornamented with a single margin of brass and studded with gems. Symbolic reference to footprint made by the first historians

12. Random Facts There are 5,000 stairs in the shortest trail. People from 6 months to 90 years old climb that mountain. Although it is fifth highest peak in the land, its position retation to the topography is so dominant it stands above all others. It is said that thousands of butterflies go to that mountain to die in hope of dying on that sacred mountain everyday. THIS SACRED FOOTPRINT DRAWS FOUR MAJOR WORLD RELIGIONS TOGETHER.

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