Adam's Peak
Sri Lanka · Asia
About
Adam's Peak is a 2,243-metre-tall (7,359-foot) conical sacred mountain located in central Sri Lanka. It is well known for the Sri Pada (IAST: Śrī Pāda; Sinhala: ශ්රී පාද, lit. 'sacred footprint'), a 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) rock formation resembling a footprint near the summit whose name is also used for the mountain itself. In Buddhist tradition the print is held to be the footprint of the Buddha, later in Sri Lankan Hindu tradition that of Hanuman or Shiva (its Tamil name, சிவனொளிபாதமலை, Sivanolipaathamalai, means 'Mountain of Shiva's Light'), and in some Islamic and Christian traditions that of Adam or St. Thomas the Apostle.
The mountain is also known as Mount Malaya in Buddhist sources, particularly the Mahayana Lankavatara Sutra, which states that the Buddha preached this sutra on top of the mountain. According to this sutra, the mountain was the abode of Ravana, overlord of the Rakshasas and ruler of Lanka. Other names in Sanskrit sources include Mount Lanka, Ratnagiri ("Mountain of Gems"), Malayagiri and Mount Rohana.
The mountain is also seen as the abode of the deity Saman and also goes by various names associated with this, including Samanthakūta in Pali, and Samonalakanda ("Mountain of Saman").
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.