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HISTORY of a BLACK MAN

My original ancestors were black


All of ours were.

They lived in Africa where they had evolved


From apes in forests
Apes with black skin and black hair
Though their hair grew silver
With age.
Just like ours.

Some of my ancestors were more curious than others


Some stayed close to home
Others wondered about distant lands
Some wandered along the beaches
As far as they could travel
Others used rafts and canoes.

Some travelled north


Some travelled east
Some travelled west
Till they reached the Atlantic Ocean
Some travelled south
Till they reached the Cape of Good Hope.

Those who travelled north

Were subjected to hardship


Terrible hardship, the further north they travelled.
They froze
They starved
They developed bone deformities
From lack of sun when they were children.
So they changed, they evolved, they adapted:
The melanocytes in their skin produced less pigment
And their skin became lighter and lighter
The further north they settled.

Those who travelled east


Had an easier journey
And found more bountiful forests
Once they had negotiated
The deserts and mountains
That separate Africa
From the Gardens of Eden.

My black ancestors lived in the Gardens of Eden


They climbed Adams Peak
After they found paradise
A land full of treasures
Jewels and precious stones
Pearls in delicious oysters
And beautiful shells washed up
on the wide beaches.
Surrounded by a sea full of fish

Defended by coral reefs


Lush and fertile mountains
Crashing waterfalls and crystal streams.
Forests full of life, with just a few leopards, vipers
And cobras to be wary of.

This was only one of the Gardens of Eden, though.


There were more and more Gardens of Eden
The further east they travelled.

Eventually my black ancestors reached the ocean


That stopped their journey further east.
So they took to the sea.
And they changed, and they grew
And some got bigger
And some got smaller
And some got lighter
And some got darker.
And they had many wonderful adventures.

Adam's Bridge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates:

9.1210N 79.5217E

Adam's bridge as seen from the air


Adam's Bridge (Tamil: tm plam), also known as Rama's
Bridge or Rama Setu (Tamil: Irmar
plam, Sanskrit: , rmasetu),[1] is a chain of limestone shoals,
between Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, off the southeastern
coast of Tamil Nadu, India, and Mannar Island, off the northwestern coast of Sri
Lanka. Geological evidence suggests that this bridge is a former land connection
between India and Sri Lanka.[2]
The bridge is 18 miles (30 km) long[3] and separates the Gulf of
Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some of the sandbanks are
dry and the sea in the area is very shallow, being only 3 ft to 30 ft (1 m to 10 m)
deep in places, which hinders navigation. [2][4][5] It was reportedly passable on foot
up to the 15th century until storms deepened the channel: temple records seem
to say that Ramas Bridge was completely above sea level until it broke in
a cyclone in AD 1480.[6]
Name
The bridge was first mentioned in the ancient Indian Sanskrit
epic Ramayana of Valmiki.[7] The name Rama's Bridge or Rama
Setu (Sanskrit; setu: bridge) refers to the bridge built by the Vanara (ape men)
army of Lord Rama in Hindu theology , which he used to reach Lanka and rescue
his wife Sita from the Rakshasa king, Ravana.[7] The Ramayana attributes the

building of this bridge to Rama in verse 2-22-76, naming it as Setubandhanam,


a name that persists until today. [8]
The sea separating India and Sri Lanka is
called Sethusamudram meaning "Sea of the
Bridge". Maps prepared by a Dutch cartographer
in 1747, available at the Tanjore Saraswathi Mahal
Library show this area as Ramancoil, a colloquial
form of the Tamil Raman Kovil (or Rama's Temple).
[9]
Another map of Mughal India prepared by J.
Rennel in 1788 retrieved from the same library called this area as "the area of
the Rama Temple", referring to the temple dedicated to Lord Rama
at Rameswaram.[10] Many other maps in Schwartzberg's historical atlas [11][12] and
other sources such as travel texts by Marco Polo call this area by various names
such as Sethubandha and Sethubandha Rameswaram.[13][14][15][16]
The western world first encountered it in "historical works in the 9th century"
by Ibn Khordadbeh in his Book of Roads and Kingdoms (c. AD 850), referring to it
is Set Bandhai or "Bridge of the Sea".[17] Later, Alberuni described it. The earliest
map that calls this area by the name Adam's bridge was prepared by a British
cartographer in 1804, probably referring to an Abrahamic myth, according to
which Adam used the bridge to reach a mountain (identified with Adam's Peak) in
Sri Lanka, where he stood repentant on one foot for 1,000 years, leaving a large
hollow mark resembling a footprint.[2][7][18]
Location

Historical map of Adam's Bridge and environs, prior to the cyclone of 1964

Adam's Bridge starts as chain of shoals from the Dhanushkodi tip of


India's Pamban Island and ends at Sri Lanka's Mannar Island. Pamban Island is
semi-connected to the Indian mainland by 2 km long Pamban Bridge. Mannar
Island is connected to mainland Sri Lanka by a causeway. The border between
India and Sri Lanka is said to pass across one of the shoals constituting one of
the shortest land borders in the world.[19] Adam's bridge and neighbouring areas
like Rameswaram, Dhanushkodi, Devipattinam and Thirupullani are mentioned in
the context of various legends in Ramayana.[20][21] [3].
Transportation and navigation

Rail Bridge from India Mainland to Pamban Island

The Pamban railway bridge, which connects the Pamban island with the Indian
mainland was constructed in 1914
Pamban Island (Tamil Nadu, India) with its small port of Rameswaram is about
2 km from mainland India. The Pamban Bridge crossing the Pamban channel links
Pamban Island with mainland India. It refers to both: a road bridge and a
cantilever railway bridge. Small boats would go below the 2065 m long road
bridge and the railway bridge would open up.
The problem in navigation exists because big ships cannot travel in the shallow
waters of the Pamban channel. Dredging in this channel would cost more than
dredging a channel in the Rama Setu area, where the waters are comparatively
deep and lesser earth would have to be dredged. Hence, in 2001, the
Government of India approved a multi-million dollar Sethusamudram Shipping
Canal Project that aims to create a ship channel across the Palk Bay cutting
across Rama Setu. Various organizations have opposed the project based on
religious, economic and environmental grounds and have sought the
implementation of one of the alternative alignments considered during the
earlier stages of the discussion.
A ferry service linked Dhanushkodi in India with Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. The
service was part of the Indo-Ceylon Railway service during the British Rule. One
could buy a railway ticket from Chennai to Colombo, whereby people travelled by
rail from Chennai to Pamban island, go by ferry to Talaimannar, and then go
again by rail to Colombo. In 1964, a cyclone completely destroyed Dhanushkodi,
as a train was about to enter the station. The tracks and the pier were heavily
damaged along the shores of Palk Bay and Palk Strait. [22] Dhanushkodi was not
rebuilt and the train then finished its journey at Rameswaram. There was a small
ferry service from there to Talaimannar, but it was suspended around 1982
because of the fighting between Sri Lankan government forces and the
separatist LTTE.
Geological evolution

Landsat 7 Image of Adam's Bridge

Landsat 5 image of Adam's Bridge


Considerable diversity of opinion and confusion exists about the nature and
origin of this structure. In the 19th century, there were two prevalent theories
explaining the structure. One considered it to be formed by a process of
accretion and rising of the land, while the other surmised that it was formed by
the breaking away of Sri Lanka from the Indian mainland. [23] The friable calcerous
ridges are broken into large rectangular blocks, which perhaps gave rise to the
belief that the causeway is an artificial construction. [24]
According to V. Ram Mohan of the Centre of Natural Hazards and Disaster Studies
of the University of Madras "reconstruction of the geological evolution of the
island chain is a challenging task and has to be carried out based on
circumstantial evidence".[25] The lack of comprehensive field studies explains
many of the uncertainties regarding the nature and origin of Adam's Bridge,
which essentially consists of a series of parallel ledges of sandstone and
conglomerates that are hard at the surface and grows coarse and soft as it
descends to sandy banks.[citation needed]
Studies have variously described the structure as a chain of shoals, coral reefs, a
ridge formed in the region owing to thinning of the earth's crust, a
double tombolo,[26] a sand spit, or barrier islands. It has been reported that this
bridge was formerly the world's largest tombolo before it was split into a chain of
shoals by the rise in mean sea level few thousand years ago. [27]
Based on satellite remote sensing data, but without actual field verification,
Marine and Water Resources Group of Space Application Centre (SAC) of Indian
Space Research Organisation (ISRO) states that Adam's Bridge comprises 103

small patch reefs lying in a linear pattern with reef crest (flattened, emergent
especially during low tides or nearly emergent segment of a reef), sand cays
(accumulations of loose coral sands and beach rock) and intermittent deep
channels. The coral reefs are designated by the different studies variously as
ribbon and atoll reefs.
The geological process that gave rise to this structure has also been attributed to
crustal downwarping, block faulting, and mantle plume activity by one
study[28] while another theory attributes it to continuous sand deposition and the
natural process of sedimentation leading to the formation of a chain of barrier
islands related to rising sea levels.[25] Another theory affirms that the origin and
linearity of the Adam's bridge may be due to the old shoreline implying that the
two landmasses of India and Sri Lanka were once connected from where coral
reefs evolved.
Another study explains the origin the structure due to longshore drifting currents
which moved in an anticlockwise direction in the north and clockwise direction in
the south of Rameswaram and Talaimannar. The sand was supposedly dumped in
a linear pattern along the current shadow zone between Dhanushkodi and
Talaimannar with later accumulation of corals over these linear sand bodies. [citation
needed]
In a diametrically opposing view, another group of geologists propose
crustal thinning theory, block faulting and a ridge formed in the region owing to
thinning and asserts that development of this ridge augmented the coral growth
in the region and in turn coral cover acted as a `sand trapper'. [citation needed]
The tombolo model affirms a constant sediment source and a strong
unidirectional or bi-directional (monsoonal) longshore current. [citation needed] One
study tentatively concludes that there is insufficient evidence to indicate eustatic
emergence and that the raised reef in south India probably results from a local
uplift.[29] Other studies also conclude that during periods of lowered sea level
over the last 100,000 years, Adam's Bridge has provided an intermittent land
connection between India and Sri Lanka, which according to
famous ornithologists Sidney Dillon Ripley and Bruce Beehler supports
the vicariance model for speciation in some birds of the Indian Subcontinent. [30]
Age
Geological Survey of India (GSI) carried out a special programme called "Project
Rameswaram" that concluded that age data of corals indicate that the
Rameswaram island has evolved since 125,000 years ago. Radiocarbon dating of
samples in this study suggests that the domain between Rameswaram and
Talaimannar may have thus been exposed around 18,000 years ago.
[25]
Thermoluminescence dating by GSI concludes that the sand dunes of
Dhanushkodi to Adam's bridge started forming only about 500600 years ago. [25]
Investigation by Centre for Remote Sensing (CRS) of Bharathidasan University,
Tiruchi, led by Professor S.M. Ramasamy dates the structure to 3,500 years. [31]
[dead link]
In the same study, carbon dating of some ancient beaches between
Thiruthuraipoondi and Kodiyakarai shows the Thiruthuraipoondi beach dates

back to 6,000 years and Kodiyakarai around 1,100 years ago. Another study
suggests that the appearance of the reefs and other evidence indicate their
recency, and a coral sample gives a radiocarbon age of 4020160 years BP[29]
Early surveys and dredging efforts

Pearl fishing in the Gulf of Mannar, c.a. 1926


Owing to shallow waters, Adam's bridge presents a formidable hindrance to
navigation through the Palk strait. Though trade across the India-Sri Lanka divide
has been active since at least the first millennium BC, it has been limited to small
boats and dinghies. Larger ocean-going vessels from the West have had to
navigate around Sri Lanka to reach India's eastern coast. [32] Eminent British
geographer Major James Rennell, who surveyed the region as a young officer in
the late 18th century, suggested that a "navigable passage could be maintained
by dredging the strait of Ramisseram [sic]". However little notice was given to his
proposal, perhaps because it came from "so young and unknown an officer", and
the idea was only revived 60 years later.[33]
In 1823, Sir Arthur Cotton (then an Ensign), was trusted with the responsibility of
surveying the Pamban channel, which separates the Indian mainland from the
island of Rameswaram and forms the first link of Ram Setu. Geological evidence
indicates that this was at one point bridged by a land connection, and some
temple records suggest that the connection was broken by violent storms in
1480. Cotton suggested that the channel be dredged to enable passage of ships,
but nothing was done until 1828, when some rocks were blasted and removed
under the direction of Major Sim. [34][35]
A more detailed marine survey of Ram Setu was undertaken in 1837 by
Lieutenants F. T. Powell, Ethersey, Grieve and Christopher along with
draughtsman Felix Jones, and operations to dredge the channel were
recommenced the next year.[34][36]However these, and subsequent efforts in the
19th century, did not succeed in keeping the passage navigable for any vessels
except those with a light draft.[2]
Sethusamudram shipping canal project

Main article: Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project

Opposition parties are demanding implementation of the Sethusamudram canal


project using one of the 5 alternative alignments considered by Government
earlier without damaging Ramsetu's structure
The government of India constituted nine committees before independence, and
five committees since then to suggest alignments for a Sethusamudram canal
project. Most of them suggested land-based passages across Rameswaram
island and none suggested alignment across Adam's bridge. [37] The
Sethusamudram project committee in 1956 also strongly recommended to the
Union government to use land passages instead of cutting Adam's bridge
because of the several advantages of land passage. [38]
In 2001, the Government of India approved a multi-million dollar Sethusamudram
Shipping Canal Project that aims to create a ship channel across the Palk
Strait by dredging the shallow ocean floor near Dhanushkodi. The channel is
expected to cut over 400 km (nearly 30 hours of shipping time) off the voyage
around the island of Sri Lanka. This proposed channel's current alignment
requires dredging through Rama's Bridge.
Political parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), All India Anna Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal
(Secular) (JD(S)) and some Hindu organisations oppose dredging through the
shoal on religious grounds Rama's Bridge being popularly identified as the
causeway described in the Ramayana and suggest using an alternate
alignment for the channel that avoids damage to Adam's Bridge. [39][40] The state
and central government have opposed such changes, with Union Shipping
Minister T R Baalu, who belongs to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and a strong
supporter of the project, saying the current proposal was well scrutinised for
economic viability and environmental sustainability and that there were no other
environmentally feasible alternatives. [41][42][43]
Opposition to dredging through this causeway also stems from concerns over its
impact on the area's ecology and marine wealth, potential loss
of thorium deposits in the area, and increased risk of damage due to tsunamis.

[44]

Some organisations are completely opposing this project on economical and


environmental grounds and claim proper scientific studies were not conducted
before undertaking this project. [45]
Controversies

NASA satellite photo: India on top, Sri Lanka at the bottom of the photo
Certain historical inscriptions, old travel guides, old dictionary references and
some old maps have been said to reinforce a religious and geographical belief
that this is an ancient bridge.(seeRamayana). In 2007 the Sri Lankan Tourism
Development Authority sought to promote religious tourism from Hindu piligrims
in India by including the phenomenon as one of the points on its "Ramayana
Trail", celebrating the legend of Prince Rama. Sri Lankan historians condemn the
undertaking as "a gross distortion of Sri Lankan history". [46] Vaishnava News
Network and some other U.S.-based news services suggested that they had
discovered the remains of the bridge built by Rama and his Vanara army that is
referred to in the Ramayana, and that it was not a natural formation, basing their
claim on 2002 NASA satellite footage.[47] NASA distanced itself from the claims
saying that what had been captured was nothing more than a 30-km-long,
naturally occurring chain of sandbanks.[48] It also clarified that, "The images
reproduced on the websites may well be ours, but their interpretation is certainly
not ours. [...] Remote sensing images or photographs from orbit cannot provide
direct information about the origin or age of a chain of islands, and certainly
cannot determine whether humans were involved in producing any of the
patterns seen."[48]
A team from the Centre for Remote Sensing (CRS) of Bharathidasan University,
Tiruchi led by Professor S.M. Ramasamy in 2003 said "the land/beaches were
formed between Ramanathapuram and Pamban because of the long shore
drifting currents which moved in an anti-clockwise direction in the north and
clockwise direction in the south of Rameswaram and Talaimannar about 3,500
years ago." and, "as the carbon dating of the beaches roughly matches the dates
of Ramayana, its link to the epic needs to be explored". [49] A former director of

the Geological Survey of India, S. Badrinarayanan, claims that such a natural


formation would be impossible. He justifies the same by the presence of a loose
sand layer under corals for the entire stretch. Corals normally form above rocks.
[50][51]
He feels that thorough analysis was not conducted by the Geological Survey
of India before undertaking the SSCP project. Government of India, in an affidavit
in the Supreme Court of India, said that there is no historical proof of the bridge
being built by Rama.[52] In connection with the canal project, the Madras High
Court in its verdict stated that the Rama Sethu is a man-made structure.[53]
Hindu belief is that the bridge was created by Shri Rama and Shri Lakshman with
the assistance of Lord Hanuman and the vanara army to reach Lanka in order to
find Shri Rama's wife Sita who was kidnapped by Ravana. A 2007 publication of
the National Remote Sensing Agency said that the structure "may be manmade", contradicting the report from the Archaeological Survey of India which
found no evidence for it being man-made. [54][55] In a 2008 court case, a
spokesman for the government stated "So where is the Setu? We are not
destroying any bridge. There is no bridge. It was not a man-made structure. It
may be a superman-made structure, but the same superman had destroyed it.
That is why for centuries nobody mentioned anything about it. It (Ram Setu) has
become an object of worship only recently,". [56]
Construction Artwork

Razmnama : illustration to Persian


translation
of Mahabharata by Akbar

A 19th century painting depicting a


scene from Ramayana, wherein
monkeys are shown building a
bridge to Lanka

See also

Pamban channel

Ramayana

Rama Setu (Ramayana)

Lord Rama

Kumari Kandam

Bimini Road

Shoal

References
1. ^ also spelled Rama Setu, Ram Sethu, Ramasethu and variants.
2. ^ a b c d "Adam's bridge". Encyclopdia Britannica.
2007. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved
2007-09-14.
3. ^ Length taken from Google Earth
4. ^ Map of the area
5. ^ Map of the area2
6. ^ Garg, Ganga Ram (1992). "Adam's Bridge". Encyclopaedia of the
Hindu World AAj. New Delhi: South Asia Books. p. 142. ISBN 817022-374-1.
7. ^ a b c Room, Adrian (2006). Placenames of the World. McFarland &
Company. p. 19. ISBN 0-7864-2248-3.
8. ^ Valmiki Ramayan calls mythological bridge built by Lord Rama as
Setubandhanam
9. ^ Jayalalitha quotes literary evidence for Ramar bridge
10.^ Protests against shipping canal hot up | Latest News
11.^ Schwartzberg Atlas Digital South Asia Library
12.^ Schwartzberg Atlas Digital South Asia Library
13.^ Special Story
14.^ News Today An English evening daily published from Chennai
15.^ Scrap the shipping channel project Newindpress.com

16.^ Marco Polo (1854) The travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian; Marco
polo's travel book calls the Adam's Bridge area Ramar bridge
17.^ Horatio John Suckling, Ceylon: A General Description of the Island,
Historical, Physical, Statistical, London (1876), p. 76.
18.^ Ramar Sethu, a world heritage centre?
19.^ Dhanuskodi: The Lost Land
20.^ [1][dead link]
21.^ "Madurai Travels Rameswaram". Madurai.com. Retrieved 201007-16.
22.^ For further details see Dhanushkodi
23.^ Tennent, James Emerson (1859). Ceylon: An Account of the Island
Physical, Historical and Topographical. London: Longman, Green,
Longman, and Roberts. p. 13.
24.^ Suess, Eduard; Hertha B. C. Sollas (translator) (1906). The Face of
the Earth (Vol. II). Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 512513.
25.^ a b c d Frontline, "Myth and Reality", 22 September 2007 5
October 2007
26.^ Double Tombolo reference by NASA
27.^ Adam's Bridge World's largest Tombolo
28.^ Crustal downwarping, block faulting, and mantel plume activity
view
29.^ a b D. R. Stoddart, C. S. Gopinadha Pillai (1972). "Raised Reefs of
Ramanathapuram, South India". Transactions of the Institute of
British Geographers 56 (56): 111
125. doi:10.2307/621544. JSTOR 621544.
30.^ Ripley, S. Dillon; Beehler, Bruce M. (November 1990). "Patterns of
Speciation in Indian Birds". Journal of Biogeography (Journal of
Biogeography) 17 (6): 639
648. doi:10.2307/2845145. JSTOR 2845145.
31.^ CRS study point Ram Setu to 3500 years old
32.^ Francis, Jr., Peter (2002). Asia's Maritime Bead Trade: 300 B.C. to
the Present. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-2332-X.
33.^ Rodd, Rennell (1930). "Major James Rennell. Born 3 December
1742. Died 20 March 1830". The Geographical Journal (The
Geographical Journal) 75 (4): 289
299. doi:10.2307/1784813. JSTOR 1784813.

34.^ a b Hunter, Sir William Wilson (1886). The Imperial Gazetteer of


India. Trbner & co. pp. 2123.
35.^ Digby, William (1900). General Sir Arthur Cotton, R. E., K. C. S. I.:
His Life and Work. Hodder & Stoughton. pp. 1516.
36.^ Dawson, Llewellyn Styles (1885). Memoirs of hydrography. Keay.
p. 52. ISBN 0-665-68425-8.
37.^ Sethusamudram Corporation Limited History
38.^ "Use land based channel and do not cut through Adam
bridge:Sethu samudram project committee report to Union
Government". 30 September 2007. Archived from the original on 13
October 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-15. ""In these circumstances we
have no doubt, whatever that the junction between the two sea
should be effected by a Canal; and the idea of cutting a passage in
the sea through Adam's Bridge should be abandoned."
39.^ "Ram Setu a matter of faith, needs to be protected:
Lalu". NewKerela.com. 21 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
40.^ "Rama is 'divine personality' says Gowda". MangaoreNews.com.
22 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
41.^ IndianExpress.com Sethu: DMK chief sticks to his stand
42.^ Latest India News @ NewKerala.Com, India
43.^ indianexpress.com
44.^ "Thorium reserves to be disturbed if Ramar Sethu is
destroyed". The Hindu. 5 August 2007. Archived from the original on
12 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
45.^ Karunanidhi or T R Baalu's arguments are not based on scientific
studies claims coastal action network convenor
46.^ Kumarage, Achalie (23 July 2010). "Selling off the history via the
Ramayana Trail". Daily Mirror (Colombo: Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd).Archived from the original on 25 July 2010. Retrieved 23 July
2010. "the Tourism Authority is imposing an artificial [history]
targeting a small segment of Indian travellers, specifically Hindu
fundamentalists..."
47.^ "Hanuman bridge is myth: Experts". Times of India. 19 October
2002. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
48.^ a b Kumar, Arun (14 September 2007). "Space photos no proof of
Ram Setu: NASA". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 2007-09-18. ""The
mysterious bridge was nothing more than a 30 km long, naturally
occurring chain of sandbanks called Adam's bridge", [NASA official

Mark] Hess had added. "NASA had been taking pictures of these
shoals for years. Its images had never resulted in any scientific
discovery in the area."
49.^ "Rama's bridge is only 3,500 years old: CRS". Indian Express. 2
February 2003. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
50.^ "Debate shifted over Ram from Ram Sethu". indianewstrack.com.
15 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
51.^ Ram sethu should be manmade says former Geological survey of
India director
52.^ No evidence to prove existence of Ram, Centre to SC
53.^ [2][dead link]
54.^ Ram Sethu 'man-made', says government publication
55.^ Ram Setu 'man-made', says government publication
56.^ Ram himself destroyed Setu, govt tells SC

Adams Bridge or Ramas Bridge?


And whose footprint is it on the top of Adams Peak?
Is it that of Adam or that of the Buddha?
Or is it not a footprint at all?
Should I call it Adams Peak
Or Butterfly Mountain?
For that is what samanala-kanda means.

Sri Pada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sri Pada

Adam's Peak
Samanalakanda
Sivanolipatha Malai

Sri Pada from a distance


Elevation 2,243 m (7,359 ft)
Location

Sri Pada

Sri Lanka
Location

Sabaragamuwa, Sri Lanka

Range

Samanala

Coordina
tes

064841N 802959ECoordinates:

064841N 802959E
Sri Pada (also Adam's peak; Sinhalese Samanalakanda - "butterfly
mountain", and also "Sri Paadaya"; Tamil Sivanolipatha Malai -
), is a 2,243 metres (7,359 ft) tall conical mountain located in central Sri
Lanka. It is well known for the Sri Pada, i.e., "sacred footprint", a 1.8 metres
(5 ft 11 in) rock formation near the summit, which in Buddhist tradition is held to
be the footprint of the Buddha, in Hindu tradition that of Shiva and
in Muslim and Christian tradition that of Adam, or that of St. Thomas.[1]
Contents
[hide]

1 Geography

2 Trails

3 Nomenclature

4 History

5 The Sacred Mountain


o

5.1 Legends

6 See also

7 References

8 External links

Geography
The mountain is located in the southern reaches of the Central Highlands, in the
Ratnapura district of the Sabaragamuwa Province - lying about 40 km northeast
of the city of Ratnapura. The surrounding region is largely forested hills, with no
mountain of comparable size nearby. The region along the mountain is a wildlife
reserve housing many species varying from elephants to leopards, and including
many endemic species.
Adam's Peak is important as the main watershed of Sri Lanka, four of the
principal rivers of the Island, including the Mahaveli Ganga, the longest, having
their source from this mountain, and descend to the sea on the eastern, western
and south eastern coasts. The districts to the south and the east of Adam's Peak
yield precious stones-emeralds, rubies and sapphires, for which the island has
been famous, and which earned for its ancient name of Ratnadvipa. [2]
Trails

Access to the mountain is possible by 6 trails: Ratnapura-Palabaddala, HattonNallathanni, Kuruwita-Erathna, Murraywatte, Mookuwatte & Malimboda. The
Nallathanni & Palabaddala routes are most favored by those undertaking the
climb, while the Kuruwita-Erathna trail is used less often; these trails are linked to
major cities or town by bus, accounting for their popular use. The Murraywatte,
Mookuwatte & Malimboda routes are hardly used, but do intersect with the
Palabaddala road midway through the ascent. The usual route taken by most
pilgrims is ascent via Hatton and descent via Ratnapura; although the Hatton
trail is the steepest, it is also shorter than any of the other trails by
approximately five kilometers.

Sri Pada (Adam's peak) view. Sri Lanka


Once one of the starting 'nodes' of Palabadalla, Nallathanni or Erathna are
reached, the rest of the ascent is done on foot through the forested
mountainside on the steps built into it. The greater part of the track leading from
the base to the summit consists of thousands of steps built in cement or rough
stones. The trails are illuminated with electric light, making night-time ascent
possible and safe to do even when accompanied by children. Rest stops and
wayside shops along the trails serve refreshments and supplies.
Nomenclature

Sunrise on Adam's Peak

Mahagiri Dambaya
Due to its significance to the various people that inhabit the country, the
mountain is referred to by a variety of names.
The often used Sri Pada is derived from Sanskrit, used by the Sinhalese people in
a religious context; this name also has meaning in Pli, and may be translated
roughly as "the sacred foot". It refers to the footprint-shaped mark at the
summit, which is believed by Buddhists to be that of the Buddha. Christian and
Islamic traditions assert that it is the footprint of Adam, left when first setting
foot on Earth after having been cast out of paradise, giving it the name "Adam's
Peak".[citation needed] Hindu tradition refers to the footprint as that of
the Hindu deity Shiva, and thus names the mountain Shiva padam (Shiva's foot)
in Tamil. Tamils may also use the name Shivanolipatha Malai to refer to the
mountain.
Another Sinhala name for the mountain is Samanalakanda, which refers either to
the deity Saman, who is said to live upon the mountain, or to the butterflies
(samanalay) that frequent the mountain during their annual migrations to the
region. The name Sri Paada, however, is the more commonly used.
Other local and historic names include Ratnagiri ("jewelled
hill"), Samantakuta ("Peak of Saman"), Svargarohanam ("the climb to
heaven"), Mount Rohana and other variations on the root Rohana.
History
Sri Pada is first mentioned (as `Samanthakuta') in the Deepawamsa, the earliest
Pali chronicle, (4th century), and also in the 5th century chronicle Mahawamsa,
where it is stated that the Buddha visited the mountain peak. The
chronicle Rajavaliya states that the King Valagamba (1st century BCE) had taken
refuge in the forests of Adam's Peak against invaders from India, and later
returned to Anuradhapura. The Mahawamsa again mentions the visit of King

Vijayabahu I (1058-1114) to the mountain. The famous Chinese pilgrim and


Buddhist traveler Fa Hien stayed in Sri Lanka in 411-12 CE and mentions Sri Pada
although it is not made clear whether he actually visited it. The Arab traveler Ibn
Batuta on arriving on the island in 1344 CE, and Marco Polo, have recorded their
visits to Sri Pada. John Davy (1817) was the first English traveler to visit the
peak, and recorded observing an oversized foot print carved in stone and
ornamented with a single margin of brass and studded with gems.
The Sacred Mountain

The village of Nallathanniya at the feet of the mountain, where the stairs begin
It is revered as a holy site by Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Christians. It has
specific qualities that cause it to stand out and be noticed; including its dominant
and outstanding profile, and the boulder at the peak that contains an indentation
resembling a footprint. As the 1910, Encyclopdia Britannica notes[3]
"For a long period Sri Pada was supposed to be the highest mountain in Ceylon,
but actual survey makes it only 7353 ft. above sea-level. This elevation is chiefly
remarkable as the resort of pilgrims from all parts of the East. The hollow in the
lofty rock that crowns the summit is said by the Brahmans to be the footstep
of Siva, by the Buddhists of Buddha, by the Muslims of Adam, whilst the
Portuguese Christians were divided between the conflicting claims of St
Thomas and the eunuch of Candace, queen of Ethiopia. The footstep is covered
by a handsome roof, and is guarded by the priests of a rich monastery half-way
up the mountain, who maintain a shrine on the summit of the peak."
It is an important pilgrimage site, especially for Buddhists. Pilgrims walk up the
mountain, following a variety of difficult routes up thousands of steps. The
journey takes several hours at least. The peak pilgrimage season is in April, and
the goal is to be on top of the mountain at sunrise, when the distinctive shape of
the mountain casts a triangular shadow on the surrounding plain and can be
seen to move quickly downward as the sun rises.
Climbing at night can be a remarkable experience, with the lights of the path
leading up and into the stars overhead. There are rest stops along the way.
Legends

A view of Adam's peak from Maskeliya town


The mountain is most often scaled from December to May. During other months
it is hard to climb the mountain due to very heavy rain, extreme wind, and thick
mist.
For Buddhists, the footprint mark is the left foot of the Buddha, left behind when
Buddha visited Sri Lanka, as a symbol for worship at the invitation of Buddhist
God Saman.
Tamil Hindus consider it as the footprint of Lord Shiva. It is also fabled that the
mountain is the legendary mount Trikuta the capital of Ravana during
the Ramayana times from where he ruled Lanka.
Muslims and Christians in Sri Lanka ascribe it to where Adam, the first Ancestor,
set foot as he was exiled from the Garden of Eden. The legends of Adam are
connected to the idea that Sri Lanka was the original Eden, and in the Muslim
tradition that Adam was 30 ft tall.
A shrine to Saman, a Buddhist "deity" (People who have spent spiritual life during
their life on earth and done pacificism service to regions are deified by Sri
Lankan Buddhists) charged with protecting the mountain top, can be found near
the footprint.
See also

Petrosomatoglyph

Trikuta

[edit]References
1. ^ "Seruwila to Sri Pada (Sacred Foot Print Shrine)". UNESCO.org.
Retrieved 2011-08-25.
2. ^ Palihapitiya. "P.G.G.". Retrieved 28 September 2012.
3. ^ Chisolm, Hugh (1910). The Encyclopdia Britannica (Vol. 5).
University press. p. 778.

[edit]External links
Wikimedia
Commons has
media related
to: Sri Pada

The Legend of Adam's Peak, Sri Lanka

Sri Pada or Adam's Peak web site

Sri pada: Buddhism's most sacred mountain

Adam's Peak - Sri Pada

"Adams Peak, Sri Lanka" on Peakbagger

Adams Peak or Sri Pada

Trikuta
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Trikuta (Sinhala: Thirikunamalai, Tamil: Tirikutamalai, Trikuta giri, Thai: Nila Kala)
is a three peaked mountain in Hindu mythology. It is one of the twenty
mountains surrounding Maha-Meru. The height is said in the Bhagavata
Purana to be 10,000 yojanas, and the three peaks are iron, silver and gold. We
find its references in the Sundarkand chapter of the Ramayana and its location is
believed to be in Lanka.
Srimad Bhagavatam further tells us that it contains a nice garden called Rumak,
constructed by Varuna, and it also contains a beautiful lake with elephants
(see: Gajendra Moksha) inhabiting the region.[1] Trikuta is historically viewed as a
legendary reference to the tallest peak of the island, the mountain Sivanoli
Padam of the Malaya mountainous range, surrounded by lakes and gardens and
capital of Ravana's kingdom [edit] . Jatavarman Veera Pandyan
I mentionsTrikutagiri alongside the Koneswaram temple of Konamalai as two

different places in a country of the island Eelam that he conquered and placed
atop the victory bull flag of the Pandyan kingdom in 1262.
Trikuta finds mention in the Ramayana as being where the city of Lanka is built,
while Vayu Purana (300 CE) mentions it as being on Malaya Dvipa, to the east of
which on the coast lies the Shiva shrine of Koneswaram at Gokarna bay. [2]
[3]
The Vividhatirthakalpa, a 14th century Jain text mentions that
at Trikutagiri in Kishkindha of Lanka there was a magnificent Jain temple which
was dedicated by Ravana for the attainment of supernatural powers. [4] To fulfil a
desire of Mandodari, his queen consort, Ravana is said to have "erected a Jain
deity statue out of jewels; this was thrown into the sea when he was defeated
by Rama Chandra. King Sankara, a royal of Kalyananagara of Kannada, came to
know about this statue and he recovered it from the bottom of the sea with the
help of Padmavatidevi, a prominent "Goddess of the Jainas.""[5][6]
[edit]See also

Trincomalee

[edit]References
1. ^ Srimad Bhagavatam: Withdrawal of the cosmic creations By A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupda, page no.41 [1]
2. ^ H.N. Apte, Vayupurana, Chapter 48 verses 20-30, Poona, 1929
3. ^ S.Pathmanathan, The Kingdom of Jaffna, Colombo, 1978. pages
135-144
4. ^ Kiskindhayam Lankayah patalankayam Trikutagrirau
Srisantinathah
5. ^ Vividhatirthakalpa, pp. 93.
6. ^ Jain, Arun Kumar (2009). Faith & philosophy of Jainism. Delhi,
India : Kalpaz Publications, 2009. p. 10. ISBN 978-81-7835-723-2
8178357232 Check |isbn= value (help). OCLC 428923103.
Categories:

Locations in Hindu mythology

Ancient Indian mountains

This book is a treasure from 1870:

http://books.google.com.au/books?
id=2v9UYNqlGLQC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=sivanoli+padam+mountain&sourc
e=bl&ots=YlKc2XBzHi&sig=kW19L37iYp0mNkhDyQJ8d-qSXs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=thSGUdiYLMOQigfsvIDwBA&sqi=2&ved=0CHAQ6AEwCA#v
=onepage&q=sivanoli%20padam%20mountain&f=false

Negrito
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the ethnic group. For the shrub, see Citharexylum
berlandieri. For the municipality, see El Negrito.
Negrito

Regions with significant populations


India
(Andaman and Nicobar Islands)

Indonesia
(Maluku Islands, West Papua)

Malaysia
(Peninsular Malaysia)

Philippines
(Luzon, Palawan, Panay, Negros, Cebu,
andMindanao)

Thailand
(Southern Thailand)

Religion
Animism
Related ethnic groups
Australoid race, including Melanesians

Negrito group photo (Malaysia, 1905).

Negritos in a fishing boat (Philippines, 1899).

The Negrito are a class of several ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts
of Southeast Asia.[1]

Ati children, the Philippines


Their current populations include 12 Andamanese peoples of the Andaman
Islands, six Semang peoples of Malaysia, the Mani of Thailand, and
the Aeta, Agta, Ati, and 30 other peoples of the Philippines. Reports from British
traders also speak of negrito people on Borneo (Sarawak). (Journal of the
Malayan Branch Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XXIX, part 1, 1956)
Negritos are the most genetically distant human population from Africans at
most loci studied thus far (except for MC1R, which codes for dark skin).
They have also been shown to have separated early from Asians, suggesting that
they are either surviving descendants of settlers from an early migration out of
Africa, commonly referred to as the Proto-Australoids, or that they are
descendants of one of the founder populations of modern humans. [2]
Contents
[hide]

1 Etymology

2 Origins

3 Historical distribution

4 See also

5 Notes

6 Further reading

7 External links

[edit]Etymology

This article needs additional citations for verification. Pleas


help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources.
Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 20
The term "Negrito" is the Spanish diminutive of negro, i.e. "little black person",
referring to their small stature, and was coined by early European explorers. [3]
Occasionally, some Negritos are referred to as pygmies, bundling them with
peoples of similar physical stature in Central Africa, and likewise, the term
Negrito was previously occasionally used to refer to African Pygmies. [4]
[edit]Origins
Being among the least-known (by outsiders) of all living human groups, the
origins of the Negrito people is much debated. The Malay term for them is orang
asli, or aborigines.
They are likely descendants of the indigenous Australoid populations of
the Sunda landmass and New Guinea, predating the Austronesian peoples who
later entered Southeast Asia.[5]
Alternatively, some scientists[who?] claim they are merely a group of AustraloMelanesians who have undergone island dwarfing over thousands of years,
reducing their food intake in order to cope with limited resources and adapt to a
tropical rainforest environment.
Anthropologist Jared Diamond in his book, Guns, Germs, and Steel suggests that
the Negritos are possible ancestors of the Aboriginal
Australians and Papuans of New Guinea, groups regarded as Australoid.
A number of features would seem to suggest a common origin for the Negritos
and African pygmies, especially in the Andamanese Islanders who have been
isolated from incoming waves of Asiatic and Caucasoid peoples. No other living
human population has experienced such long-lasting isolation from contact with
other groups.[6]
These features include short stature, very dark skin, woolly hair, scant body hair
and occasional steatopygia. The claim that Andamanese pygmoids more closely
resemble Africans than Asians in their cranial morphology in a 1973 study added
some weight to this theory before genetic studies pointed to a closer relationship
with Asians.[6]
Other more recent studies have shown closer craniometric affinities to Egyptians
and Europeans than to Sub Saharan populations such as that of African Pygmies.
Walter Neves' study of the Lagoa Santa people had the incidental correlation of
showing Andamanese as classifying closer to Egyptians and Europeans than any
Sub Saharan population.[7][8]
Multiple studies also show that Negritos from Southeast Asia to New Guinea
share a closer cranial affinity with Australo-Melanesians.[5][9] Further evidence for

Asian ancestry is in craniometric markers such as sundadonty, shared by Asian


and Negrito populations.
It has been suggested that the craniometric similarities to Asians could merely
indicate a level of interbreeding between Negritos and later waves of people
arriving from the Asian mainland. This hypothesis is not supported by genetic
evidence that has shown the level of isolation populations such as the
Andamanese have had.
However, some studies have suggested that each group should be considered
separately, as the genetic evidence refutes the notion of a specific shared
ancestry between the "Negrito" groups of the Andaman Islands, Malay Peninsula,
and Philippines.[10]
A study on blood groups and proteins in the 1950s suggested that
the Andamanese were more closely related to Oceanic peoples than Africans.
Genetic studies on Philippine Negritos, based on polymorphic blood enzymes and
antigens, showed they were similar to surrounding Asian populations. [6] Genetic
testing places all the Onge and all but two of the Great Andamanese in
the mtDNA Haplogroup M found in East Africa, East Asia, and South Asia,
suggesting that the Negritos are at least partly descended from a migration
originating in eastern Africa as much as 60,000 years ago. This migration is
hypothesized to have followed a coastal route through India and into Southeast
Asia, which is sometimes referred to as the Great Coastal Migration.
Analysis of mtDNA coding sites indicated that these Andamanese fall into a
subgroup of M not previously identified in human populations in Africa and Asia.
These findings suggest an early split from the population of migrants from Africa;
the descendants of these migrants would eventually populate the entire
habitable world.[6] Haplogroup C-M130 and haplogroup D-M174 are believed to
represent Y-DNA in the migration.[11]
A recent genetic study found that unlike other early groups in Malesia,
Andamanese Negritos lack the Denisovan hominin admixture in their DNA, while
other Negrito groups may show some varying degree of Denisovan ancestry.
Denisovan ancestry is found among indigenous Melanesian and Australian
populations between 4-6% [12]
[edit]Historical distribution
Negritos may have also lived in Taiwan, where they were called the "Little Black
People". Apart from being short-statured, they were also said to be broad-nosed
and dark-skinned with curly hair.[13] The little black population shrank to the point
that, up to 100 years ago, only one small group lived near the Saisiyat tribe. [13] A
festival celebrated by the Saisiyat gives evidence to their former habitation of
Taiwan. The Saisiyat tribe celebrate the black people in a festival called Ritual of
the Little Black People ().[13]
According to James J.Y. Liu, a professor of comparative literature, the Chinese
term Kun-lun () means Negrito.[14]

[edit]See also
Wikimedia
Commons has
media related
to: Negrito
Peoples

Aeta peoples

Al-Akhdam

Ati people

Australoid race

Black people

Indigenous Australians

Koro-pok-guru

Kunlun Nu

Mamanwa

Mani people

Negroid race

Orang Asli

Peopling of India

Proto-Australoid

Pygmy peoples

Saisiyat people

Semang

Shanyue

Topics

History of Taiwan

List of topics related to the African diaspora

Primitive culture

[edit]Notes

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public


domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press.
1. ^ Snow, Philip. The Star Raft: China's Encounter With Africa. Cornell
Univ. Press, 1989 (ISBN 0801495830)
2. ^ Kashyap, VK, Sitalaximi, T, Sarkar, BN, Trivedi, R
(2003), "Molecular relatedness of the aboriginal groups of Andaman
and Nicobar Islands with similar ethnic populations" (PDF), The
International Journals of Human Genetics 3: 511.
3. ^ William Marsden (1834). "On the Polynesian, or East-Insular
Languages". Miscellaneous works of William Marsden. Pub. for the
Author by Parbury, Allen. p. 4.
4. ^ Encyclopdia Britannica Eleventh Edition, 19101911: "Second
are the large Negrito family, represented in Africa by the dwarfraces of the equatorial forests, the Akkas, Batwas, Wochuas and
others..." (pg. 851)
5. ^ a b Getting Here: The Story of Human Evolution, William Howells,
Compass Press, 1993
6. ^ a b c d Thangaraj, Kumarasamy; et al. (21 January 2003), "Genetic
Affinities of the Andaman Islanders, a Vanishing Human
Population",Current Biology, 13, Number 2: 86
93(8), doi:10.1016/S0960-9822(02)01336-2, PMID 12546781
7. ^ 2 Fig. 2 Morphological Affinities, Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences[dead link]
8. ^ Morphological Afinities, averaging graphs A through D,
onedroprule.org
9. ^ David Bulbeck; Pathmanathan Raghavan and Daniel Rayner
(2006), "Races of Homo sapiens: if not in the southwest Pacific, then
nowhere",World Archaeology (Taylor & Francis) 38 (1): 109
132, doi:10.1080/00438240600564987, ISSN 0043-8243, JSTOR 400
23598
10.^ Catherine Hill1; Pedro Soares, Maru Mormina1, Vincent Macaulay,
William Meehan, James Blackburn, Douglas Clarke, Joseph Maripa
Raja, Patimah Ismail, David Bulbeck, Stephen Oppenheimer, Martin
Richards (2006), "Phylogeography and Ethnogenesis of Aboriginal
Southeast Asians", Molecular Biology and Evolution (Oxford
University Press)
11.^

12.^ ^ Reich et al., Denisova Admixture and the First Modern Human
Dispersals into Southeast Asia and Oceania, The American Journal of
Human Genetics (2011), , DOI:10.1016/j.ajhg.2011.09.005, PMC
3188841, PMID
21944045,http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000292
9711003958
13.^ a b c Jules Quartly (Sat, 27 Nov 2004). "In honor of the Little Black
People". Taipei Times. p. 16. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
14.^ Liu, James J.Y. The Chinese Knight Errant. London: Routledge and
Kegan Paul, 1967 (ISBN 0-2264-8688-5)
[edit]Further reading

Evans, Ivor Hugh Norman. The Negritos of Malaya. Cambridge [Eng.]:


University Press, 1937.

Garvan, John M., and Hermann Hochegger. The Negritos of the Philippines.
Wiener Beitrage zur Kulturgeschichte und Linguistik, Bd. 14. Horn: F.
Berger, 1964.

Hurst Gallery. Art of the Negritos. Cambridge, Mass: Hurst Gallery, 1987.

Khadizan bin Abdullah, and Abdul Razak Yaacob. Pasir Lenggi, a Bateq
Negrito Resettlement Area in Ulu Kelantan. Pulau Pinang: Social
Anthropology Section, School of Comparative Social Sciences, Universit
Sains Malaysia, 1974.

Schebesta, P., & Schtze, F. (1970). The Negritos of Asia. Human relations
area files, 1-2. New Haven, Conn: Human Relations Area Files.

Zell, Reg. About the Negritos - A Bibliography. edition blurb, 2011.

Zell, Reg. Negritos of the Philippines -The People of the Bamboo - Age - A
Socio-Ecological Model. edition blurb, 2011.

Zell, Reg. John M. Garvan - An Investigation - On the Negritos of Tayabas.


edition blurb, 2011.

[edit]External links

The Negrito of Thailand

Negritos in the Philippines A detailed book written by an American at the


turn of the previous century holistically describing the Negrito culture.
Online document processed by Filipiniana.net

Africans and Asians: Historiography and the Long View of Global


Interaction

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Historical race concepts


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Negritos
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Culture of indigenous Oceania


Categories:

Indigenous peoples of South Asia

Indigenous peoples of Southeast Asia

Demographics of the Philippines

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