Sri Pada (Adam's Peak) | Footprint on the Mountain

Sri Pada (Adam's Peak) | Footprint on the Mountain

Sri Pada , fondly known to the west as  Adam's Peak (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී පාදස්ථානය; Tamil: சிவனொளிபாத மலை) is a mountain and a sacred pilgrimage site situated in Ratnapura District, Sri Lanka. It is highly venerated by the Buddhists as one of the sixteen sacred places (Solosmastana) in the country where the Buddha is supposed to have visited (Abeyawardana, 2002). Visitors from all parts of the world visit this sacred mountain. Buddhists firmly believe that the left footprint of the Buddha is preserved on the summit of the Sri Pada mountain (Paranavitana, 1958;  Wickramasinghe, 2005) . However, Christians and Muslims refer to Sri Pada mountain as Adam's Peak as they believe the footprint on the mountain to be that of Adam [(according to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the first parent of the human race is Adam) Abeyawardana, 2002; Paranavitana, 1958]. Muslims believe that Adam stood on the peak of this mountain on one foot for a thousand years when he was cast out of paradise and some …