3-052-419 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Adam's Peak, Ceylon, 1880. 'This mountain is often said to have received its name from the Portuguese conquerors of Ceylon in the sixteenth century...Ceylon, in the tenth century, was an established resort of Mohammedan pilgrims, who were accustomed to venerate the supposed footprint of Adam, a slight cavity in the surface of the rock, nearly 5 ft. long..., shaped rather like a human foot. But this gigantic imaginary footprint is equally claimed for other divine personages by the two great religions of India and south-eastern Asia; the Brahminical Hindoos, for their part affirm that it is the footprint of Siva; and the Buddhists say it is that of Buddha. The sacred relic is...in possession of the Buddhists, who call it the Sri-Pada, and is carefully tended by a priest, inhabiting the house built just below this topmost rock of the mountain. Adam's Peak...is 7420 ft. above the sea, and it commands an amazing view of the adjacent mountainous region, to the north and east, and of the western plains extending to the seashore..The miraculous footprint, whether it be that of Buddha or Adam, or Siva, or the Chinese Fo, or the eunuch of Queen Candace, or St. Thomas, to whom also it was ascribed by some Portuguese writers, is still perfectly visible'. From "Illustrated London News", 1880.