Sri Pada Mountain (Adams Peak)
- Visit of Alexander the Great to the sacred mount of Sri Pada - fact or
fiction? -
Sri Pada or Adam’s Peak as it was known to the early West was in the
limelight from times before the recorded history of the island. Legends surrounding
the sacred mount existed prior to the Christian era. It is axiomatic that
worship of deities in high places is indulged in by mankind from times of
remote antiquity. Indeed, high inaccessible places were held in awe and veneration
from the time of man’s primordial religion - worship of nature. The
cult persisted in the pagan world up to the Early Greek and Roman times and
even later, thus Mt. Olympus in Greece was dedicated to the Greek pantheon.
Even to this day, Chomolungma (Tibetan for Goddess Mother of the World),
a peak in the Himalayan range and several other peaks en route to Everest
and Mt. Everest itself are held sacred by the Tibetans and Nepalese. It is
recorded that Norkay Tensing and his sherpa clansmen who accompanied Edmund
Hillary in his successful expedition to Mt. Everest in 1953, offered a sacrifice
of food to the mountain goddess Chomolungma invoking her blessings for success
of the expedition. Hillary himself buried a small crucifix given him by the
leader, Colonel John Hunt. Tradition is hard to die!
Alexander’s visit
By the time that Macedon’s illustrious son, Alexander the Great,
Greek warrier king and empire builder is believed to have visited Sri
Pada (circa 324 B.C.), the peak was already held in veneration. After
his subjugation of the Persian empire and the dependencies thereof, Alexander
led his forces on to India beyond the Indus to the ancient city of Taxila.
He was at last countered by Porus the Indian king and his cohorts of battle
trained fighting elephants. These huge beasts were unfamiliar to the Greek
cavalry to which they presented a forbidding and formidable obstacle.
The terrified horses stampeded and started to scatter out of control in
utter panic. On the representation of his generals, fearing mutiny by
the army Alexander decided to come to terms with Porus.
After his skirmish with the Indian king, the restless Alexander decided
to detour the South West coast of India and explore further south where
he had heard of the fabulous isle of Sri Lanka known to the early Greeks
as ‘Taprobane’. Here reports of the sacred mount of Sri Pada,
then dedicated to the Hindu deity Saman and known as ‘Samanthakuty’,
attracted his attention. The peak with its proud pinnacle commanding an
enchanting prospect was too much of an attraction for the pleasure-bent
Alexander to resist.
Ancient artefacts
Ashraff, the 15th century Persian poet and chronicler, describes this
odyssey of Alexander to Sri Pada in his work ‘Zaffer Namah Skendari’.
After landing in the island and indulging himself and his retinue in orgies
and revelry he explores the wonders of the island. Here Alexander is known
to have sought the assistance of the philosopher Bolinas, a celebrated
Greek occultist and magician, to climb the sacred peak then supposed to
be zealously guarded by various deities. Among the artefacts devised to
ascend the almost inaccessible peak were massive iron chains affixed to
stanchions of the same metal secured to the bare rock face. The chains
were secured to the stanchions with rivets of iron and bronze. Remains
of these artefacts still exist. Early pilgrims to the peak sought the
assistance of these chains to hoist themselves up to the summit.
The belief that Alexander visited Sri Pada existed before Ashraff. Ibn
Batuta the romantic 14th century pilgrim traveller from Tangiers in Morocco
who sojourned in the island visiting the sacred mount, refers to a grotto
at the foot of the peak with the name ‘Iskander’ inscribed
on it. This ‘Iskander’ and ‘Skendari’ of Ashraff
are identical, both names refer to none other than the celebrated Alexander
the Great himself. Notes Batuta in his memoirs: "The ancients have
cut steps of a sort on the vertical rock face, to these steps are fixed
iron stanchions with suspended chains to enable pilgrims clamber up to
the top with ease and minimum risk. The impression of the Almighty’s
foot is observed upon a black and lofty rock in an open space on the summit.
Apart from scanty and much belated Arab sources, history is strangely
silent for over seventeen centuries on the visit of Alexander to the island
and his journey to Sri Pada. Neither the Great Dynastic Chronicle ‘Mahawamsa’ or
any other historical record of significance refer to it. Alexander’s
exploits were centered mainly in and around Persia and the Persian empire,
the legends and folklore of the early Persians were, as a matter of course,
handed over to their Arab posterity.
Commenting on the ancient artefacts on Sri Pada, the Englishman Robert
Percival, who served with the British garrison in Colombo in the early
nineteenth century, notes: "The iron chains on the rock face of Adam’s
Peak have the appearance of being planted there at a very early date,
who placed them there or for what purpose they were set up there it is
difficult for anyone to know. The beliefs and superstitions of the natives
present difficulties. Whatever it is, all evidence indicates that the
Peak was in the limelight long before the recorded history of the island.
by S. S. M. Nanayakkara
The Island, 04th January, 2003
Created April 12, 2009
Updated
April 12, 2009
|
