Adam’s Peak

Adam's Peak is a 2,243 m-tall conical sacred mountain located in central Sri Lanka. It is well known for the Sri Pada, a 1.8 m rock formation 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, in Sri Lankan Hindu tradition that of Hanuman or Shiva, 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, Malayagiri and Mount Rohana.