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FEBRUARY, 1884.]
BUDDHIST LEGENDS.
43
Camoens, and before him Duarte Barboza, were acquainted with this trace of Buddhist legend; but it seems that they heard it from the Arabs.es
Commencing with low lands, the island of Ceylon runs down to 7° 51' south latitude, rising, little by little, and appearing to attain to the highest ranges, which fall suddenly from the clouds to the other shore of the sea.
the mountains which form the crown of this "jockey's cap," a remarkable one is the Samanella, "rock of the divine assembly in the mountain," which the Europeans, following the Arabs, call Adam's Peak, and which the Buddhists had previously named Siripada in PAli, in Sanskrit Srîpâda, "foot-mark of the Fortunate One," because they believe that there the footprint of Buddha is still visible.
The true PAli name of this mountain is Sumanakůto, so-called because the divinity (déva) Sumana dwelt there, says Childers (Pali Dict., 8. v.), "mountain of the happy," or, as Lassen" says, "mountain of the gods." Another name of this mountain is Sumbhakuța, "the shining mount," the last from which, in the south, the sun disappears."
Hardy (Manual of Budhism, p. 211-12) gives the following Ceylonese legend :-"The dewa (the divinity) of Samanakuta (another name of Samanella), Sumana, having heard of the arrival of Budha, went to the place where he was, and after he had worshipped him, he presented a request that he would leave an impression of his foot upon the mountain of which he was the guardian, that it might be worshipped during the five thousand years his religion would continue among men.......
....... Budha went to it (the mountain) through the air, attended by 500 rahats (saints). At the right hand of the sage was Sumana, in beautifal garments and rich ornaments, attended by all his inferior dewas, with their queens, who made music and carried flags and banners, and scattered around gold and gems. Sekra,7 Maha Brahma,'' and Iswara," were all there with their attendant retinues; and like the rolling of the great ocean upon Maha Méru or the Yugandhara rocks, was their arrival at the mountain. The sun remained in the midst of the sky, but his rays were cold as those of the moon; there was a slight falling of rain like the water that is sprinkled around a throne to allay the dust; and the breeze, charged with sweet perfume, came from all sides to refresh the illustrious visitant. At his approach, all the trees of the mountain were as though they danced in gladness at the anointing of a king. In the midst of the assembled dewas, Budha, looking towards the east, made the impression of his foot, in length three inches less than the cubit of the carpenter; and the impression remained as a seal to show that Lanká is the inheritance of Badha, and that his religion will here flourish."
Hardy says in a note, that the print of the foot of Buddha is an "indentation upon the summit of Adam's Peak." Ibn Batutah describes the foot of Adam in the island of Serendib (Ceylon), saying :-" The mark of the noble foot, that of our father Adam, is seen in a black and high rock, and in an open place. The foot is impressed in the stone, so that its site is quite depressed ; its length is eleven spans. The inhabitants of China came there formerly; they
83 It is not the only instance of an Indian name being replaced by another of Arab origin, this of "Adam's footprint," in place of "Buddha's footprint," given to the depression on the summit of Samanella. So the Arabe give the name " Adam's Bridge" to the "Bridge of Rama," the line of rocks which renches from the Asiatic continent to the island of Ceylon, like enormous stepping-stones, thrown by Hanumat, from the end of the coast of Coromandel to the island of the terrible Rivana, for the passage of the troops of the heroic Rama, and called Setubandha (Ramayana, ed. of Gorresio, v. 95; trans. vol. 4, ch. 95. In the magnificent summary of H. Fauche, which is, so to speak, the popular Ramayan in the west of Europe, this chapter, where the work of the allied soldiers constructing the “Bridge of Rama," is described, is on p. 163-5 of vol. II).
"It is 7420 feet above the level of the sea, and was considered as the highest mountain in the island; but it has been discovered, since the English came into possession of the interior, that there are at least three others that are higher, Pidurutalagala having an eleva tion of 8280 feet. It will, however, always be the most
remarkable, from the many legends connected with it, and the conspicuousness of its appearance, especially from the sea; it is an insulated cone, rising boldly into the sky, and generally cloud-capped. It is supposed by the Chinese (Davis's Chinese), that at its base is a temple. in which the real body of Buddha reposes on its side, and that near it are his teeth and other relics." Spence Hardy, Manual of Budhism, 1st ed., p. 211.
86 Lassen, Ind. Alterthumsk., 2nd ed., vol. I, p. 233-4.
$0 On the hypothesis, in the idea, that this was the highest. Cf. however, note 45.
07 The lord of Tavutiga (paradise). He is the same as Sakra (powerful), in Sanskrit, a name given to Indra.
* Not to be confounded with the Brahma of the Puranic religion. In that of the Pitakas (Buddhist sacred books) Maha Brahma " is simply the ruler of a brahma-loka' (H., p. 41), of a superior celestial world. See Childers, Pali Dict., 8. v. Sakko.
Not to be confounded with fávara, "supreme lord," in Sanskrit. In the Buddhist religion some of the principal Brahmanio divinities are met with as archangels. See Childers, ut supra,
