India Inklings. Madras, India. Vol. 3; No. 2
January 6, 1936.
Holiday Number.WEATHER: Fair to middling. It is not as clear and cool as it usually is at this time of the year. The monsoon was short but the symptoms still continue although the rain does not; the humidity is greater than normal for the "cool season" and there are lovely cumulus clouds. In Ceylon where the Editor spent the holidays there was an unusual amount of rain for the time of year, but as the last three years have been dry ones, there was great rejoicing except by those who wanted to amuse themselves. The daily range of temperature in Madras now is from 70-85.
SOCIETY NEWS. The Staff of the College entertained the students and a few former students who were in Madras at a Christmas party, Dec. 12th. The party began at 8:30 with refreshments. The decorating committee had arranged the college hall with rugs and mats around low tables holding brass bowls of flowers. The students as they entered were greeeted by Miss MacDougall and then given flowers for their hair by Miss Coon and Miss Hume. (This is always done at proper parties and is a very pretty custom.) They [sic] the students passed in line to Father Christmas who gave each one a crepe paper pack of cake, sweets and nuts. The idle members of the Staff had made these during the morning hours. The guests sat on the floor around the tables and the members of the Staff rustled around with coffee. After eating and drinking suitably, the guests prepared the room for the entertainment - arranging chairs - while the Staff dispersed to dress for the play which they were about to give: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. The play lasted from 9:30 until midnight, without very long waits, and was regarded by the students as a great success. Owing to the scarcity of Thieves those who enaced the parts had to double and triple. Miss Mason was Ali Baba; Miss MacDougall, Fatima; Miss Somarisinhe, the leader of the Robbers; Miss Coon and the Editor were Robbers. One student remarked that we were all well suited for our parts, and now we wonder..... The Editor is thankful that she was not one of the Robbers assigned to the rôle of being oil in an oil jar; she was killed in a fight and that was much more comfortable and quite as dignified.
Holiday news. Miss Coon and the Editor stayed in Madras at College until Dec. 26th. Miss Stokey went to Vellore to visit Miss Wells, Dec. 19-21, and Miss Coon, Dec. 22-23. Then they settled down to celebrate Christmas. They had managed to provide themselves with invitations for both lunch and dinner, so the day was a merry one. The luncheon party was given by Mr. and Mrs. Bingle, of the Madras Christian College (for men). It was an elaborate luncheon and if there had been turkey instead of boiled ham, it would have passed for a Christmas dinner. The dinner party was given by Mr. and Mrs. Buck at Saidapet with a cosmopolitan group of guests, chiefly delegates to the Y.M.C.A. conference to be held in Mysore City this month. It was an excellent American dinner and the guests were very interesting - Australians, English, Americans, Indians, Rumanians, and Czecho-Slovakians.
HOLIDAY TOURS. The Railroads give a fare and a fourth for the holidays, so there is every reason for travelling. Miss Coon and the Editor decided on Ceylon, as offering the greatest variety for the shortest distance in travel; it takes 36 hours to reach Colombo, so the trip consumes time - two nights and a day each way, but that includes time out for the boat trip from Danushkodi to Talaimannar, and return - a 2 hour trip.
We reached Colombo Monday morning, Dec. 28th, and devoted part of the morning to assuring the Health Officers that we did not constitute a menace; we were afraid of their malaria, and they were afriad [sic] we might have small-pox or cholera. In an absent-minded moment one official let Miss Coon through on the Editor's vaccination certificate, and we were too tactful to call his attention to the mistake. We had to see five health officers before we finally got safely back to India. We felt that we were the ones who took the risks, owing to the danger of Malaria in Ceylon especially in the regions where there are buried cities; that is why they are buried - the populations were killed off by malaria. So it was a little annoying to have the Sinhalese sniff at us as menaces.
Monday afternoon we went to Perideniya by train, up a beautiful region of hills and valleys with paddy fields. Perideniya is something over 1500 ft. in altitude. We presented ourselves at the Rest House attached to the Botanical Garden and found it approximately full, but the delightful elderly butler-in-charge said he would have a single room in an hour or so; it had one bed and a cot without a mosquito net. We were only too glad to stay and improvised a support for one of our own nets. We became very much attached to the Butler and referred to him as "Grandfather." He brought in some smoking coals with some sort of incense to drive off mosquitos. We were armed with Flit and Citronella and used both freely; we used so much citronella in Ceylon that we reached the point where we could not smell it except in the bottle in full strength.
Tuesday we had to go to Kandy, 3 miles away, register with the Provincial Surgeon. We had some difficulty finding him and when we did, the first official wanted us to report every day, but we told him we would prefer to go back to India; then we were taken to a higher official and he told us we did not need to report at Talaimanner where we would take the boat. We then took in a few of the sights of Kandy: first the Temple of the Tooth - the temple where Buddha's tooth (?) is the great relic. It is only exhibited in special occasions of which this was not one. It is a large tooth much more appropriate to the gigantic images of Buddha than to a human mouth. The Editor had often wondered why there should be so many gigantic images of Buddha and it has just occurred to her that it is to fit the tooth. The Temple is an ugly affair with nothing pleasing about it; the Siamese and Chinese Buddhist temples are much more beautiful than the Sinhalese; the Sinhalese have no beauty at all, to be exact. We also visited Trinity College to see the new chapel which is built in old Sinhalese fashion with many pillars; it is a beautiful building. Then we went into a brass shop and then hunted up the bus station, for a bus which was to go every ten minutes. We had to wait an hour until a bus had enough passengers to feel that it was worth while to take the road.
Tuesday afternoon we visited the Botanical Gardens and found that all the offices were closed for the Christmas holidays and all the officials had gone away, or at least, had hidden themselves securely. Fortunately the plants were not on a vacation. The Amherstia trees were in bloom, with large pendulous branches of coral-red flowers. We wandered around and decided what we would photograph the next day.
The Next Day - woe to us - it rained - it rained vigorously, continuously, torrentially and objectionably. Not only were our spirits dampened by the difficulty of visiting the garden - we did make two trips that day in spite of the rain - but we were sure it would be bad on Thursday and prevent us from going to Adam's Peak. We read, mended our clothes, knitted and ate Grandfather's good curries, and I think we wrote a few letters.
Thursday was bright and fair, to our great delight, and we packed up for Adams Peak and left Perideniya at 10:40, after making a visit to the Garden to take a few pictures. At Peradeniya [sic] Junction to our surprise and delight we saw Mr. Sugathapala and he joined us to take us to Adams Peak. He is the cousin and fiance of Gertie Gooneratanayaga, a former student of the College who had Botany with the Editor in 1930-31. He had met us at the station at Gertie's request (she visited the college just before Christmas) and had offered to go with us to Adams Peak, but we thought that it was too much for himto do. He had been there twice and knew the trip. Now we wonder what would have happened if we had tried to do it alone, and if we would ever had made it. We carried a basket with Vita-weat biscuit, cheese, ginger biscuit, raisins and candy. Mr. Sugathapala had sandwiches and two kinds of curry; he got some plantain (bananas) at the station, and then we had a picnic lunch together. We found that he had written ahead to two friends, the Postmaster at Hatton and the Postmaster at Maskeliya for a car and a coolie. He was indeed, our Guide, Counselor, and Friend. When we reached Hatton at 2:30 there was the P.M. ready to help us; he had provided a car - a very good car for a much more reasonable price than we could ever had secured it - he gave us a room and provided tea. We started off in the course of an hour for Maskeliya. There we saw the next P.M. who had secured a coolie, a Tamil from S. India who worked on a Tea Estate. Our G.C. & F. got batteries for his Electric Torch (Am I not English?), and E.M.C. and the Editor shopped for more plantains, sweet chocolate and biscuit. Then we were off for the Balhousie Tea Estate where the foot-work began. The ride was about 18 miles altogether, around the slopes of the mountains where there are tea estates - miles of tea - streams with giant Bamboo clumps, and here and there glimpses of Adam's Peak. From the first glimpse we wondered how we could all stand on the top at one time - so small did it appear - or how we could ever get up anything so steep, but the thought that at least 3,000 pilgrims had gone up at the last full moon gave us courage. As for the road and its curves.... on the return trip I watched the road to see if I could see 100 ft. on straight road, and I found it three times in 18 miles. When we reached the tea estate we began the walk - the gradual walk which must have been about 3 miles along the slopes past tea bushes by the million. The coolie carried the hold-all (the Atkinson hold-all) with our bedding and warm clothes; our Leader and E.M.C. carried a ruck-sack and leather bag, taking turns, also a canteen of water. The coolie also had the food basket. The Editor was looked upon as too fragile a flower to to [sic] any toting. She devoted herself to collecting ferns and to giving instructions on the vegetation to her very apt pupils who soon were able to point out Gleichenia, Blechnum, Pteris and Osbeckia with speed and accuracy. Osbeckia has a beautiful purple flower much like Tibouchina; the others are ferns. We stopped at intervals to collect breath as well as plants, as the climbing began at an altitude of 4300 ft. and we had all come from the plains, or at least, from close to see [sic] level, except for the brief stay which Miss Coon and the Editor made at Paradiniya, at 1500 ft. Our Leader was a slim young thing and he was provided with an adequate supply of breath, so far as we could see. At 6 P.M. just after sunset, we reached a stream with a tree fern beside it and two bridges across it. This is the place where the Pilgrims wash and Buddhist Pilgrims change to white clothes. We washed and then began the second part of the climb - the steep part where the steps begin. There are stone steps, more or les irregular, ranging in height from 6-15 inches, with sloping places occassionally [sic] and even level spots a foot or two wide.
The Editor feels that it is now time to discuss the mountain and why it is an object of pilgrimage. It has been looked upon as a Holy Mountain for many centuries - no one knows how long. It is a sharp peak standing out by itself, and at a considerable distance from the other mountains of the Central Province. On the summit there is a foot-print and this is the most sacred spot. It is attributed to Buddha, Siva, Adam, and St. Thomas, by Pilgrims according to their religion - Buddhist, Hindu, Mohammedan, or Eastern Christian. The Buddhists, who are in the majority in Ceylon, have possession and have erected an open temple over it, with pillars and a roof, but the foot-print is covered and is exhibited only on special occasions, of which this is not one, even if [it] was New Year's Eve and New Year's Morn. Like Buddha's tooth it is also of generous proportions. The Hindus have erected a small temple on the top and worship the god Saman, who or which, seems to be a local deity - a sort of God-of-the-mountain, although the[y] attribute the foot-print to Siva. Most of the pilgrims were Buddhists, as is usual, but there were Hindus and also several Mohammedans. They usually climb in groups with a leader who is responsible for their behaviour and sees that they conform to the traditions. We were grateful to our Leader for explaining customs to us. We think that the Pilgrims were also grateful to him, because they could ask him questions about us and satisfy their curiosity. We climbed the first steep stretch to the Rest House and arrived at 7:45, although Mr. Sugathapala had allowed until 10 o'clock for us. The rock path was through forest and in places the path was also a temporary brook bed. It was damp everywhere and somewhat slippery. The Editor went first and set the pace, and stopped when she needed wind. She took care to pick a place broad enough for her feet and where there was a step suitable for sitting. E.M.C. who followed her was not always so fortunate and she experience[d] difficulty in reversing after sitting down. In spite of the shade of the trees, we did not need our electric torches until 7 o'clock. A Hindu woman attached herself to our little party and climbed with us; she said she went up twice a year. After we left the brook we were in wild forest - the "Wilderness of the Peak" - and we could hear all sorts of wood noises. Our Leader told us that is [sic] is not proper to mention animals during the ascent, not by name, particularly the elephant which must be referred to as a "rock" or in some other vague way; and above all one must not express any desire to see wild animals - large animals. There are wild elephants, leopards, bear, deer, and other dangerous animals, but they are not likely to appear when there are many pilgrims, fortunately.
We arrived at the Rest House about 7:45. There is a mud hut with several rooms, an open place and a mandapam (pavilion sounds too impressive) - a roof supported on posts. There is a man there who keeps it open from November to May and then, during the rainy season, goes down lower on the mountain. He has a primitive restaurant - tea, coffee, and a few canned things, perhaps are not primitive, but convenient. We entered a long room with two thirds of its length given to a mud shelf wide enough for people to sleep on and about as high as a chair seat. The[y] spread mats for us to sit on. What E.M.C. and the Editor would have done alone is a question, as neither speaks Sinhalese, nor Tamil. Our Leader satisfied their curiosity about us, and they told him they would give us the room with cots in it - the only room. After the room was prepared (we have no idea in what the preparations consisted) we were escorted through the dining-room - a room with a long table and a bamboo bench - to our room. The doors consisted of three boards set in grooves - the middle one with a handle. The bedroom had a door to the outside and a window about a foot square - but we did not worry about fresh air. It was so cold that we were more concerned about keeping warm.
We had supper from our basket and our Leader's box - a continuation of our lunch supplemented by tea from our thermos and diluted by hot water supplied by the Host, if so he may be called. Then to bed. No undressing except to take off shoes, but on the contrary we put on all we had brought with us. The Editor wore her woolen skirt, a woolen blouse, a sleeveless woolen jersey, and two sweaters. We had brought mosquito nets, in our careful way, but we were too high for mosquitos and used the nets for sheets, or rather padding. We covered ourselves with our rugs and tried to sleep, but we were both too excited and too amused with ourselves to go to sleep quickly. About 1 o'clock we were awakened by a large party of Pilgrims who passed singing and shouting. When they were in the distance it sounded not unlike a ball-game crowd, but when they were closer and we could hear shouts of "Sadhu" (Holy Man) we knew they were not sporting people but Pilgrims. Adam's Peak is not climbed for sport but for religion. At a quarter to two, our Leader came to our door and greeted us with "Happy New Year", saying it was time to get up. So up we rose, put on our shoes, and called ourselves dressed for the day. Then we had "chota hazri" (little breakfast) which consisted of plantain and a few sweet biscuit[s] - not just what one might select for a cold morning stimulant. We started about 2 o'clock in beautiful moonlight (the third quarter) having taken a good look at the Dipper and the North Star to be sure that we were still on the north side. No one seemed to know the hour of sunrise, but spoke vaguely about that. We started up the second part of the steep path - the really steep part. The moonlight was sufficient to enable us to see the path, as much as we wanted to; this part of the mountain is less wooded and the moonlight was very helpful. Up we went. Several parties of Pilgrims passed us. They sing antiphonally; the leader sings a sentence and all the party or perhaps those who have most breath reply with what seems to be about one line. It was surprising how much easier it was to climb when there was a band of Pilgrims with us, but alas, they could all go faster and sooner or later they got ahead of us. A few of the men were fat and puffed, but they could sing one while the Pilgrims were there but soon lost the melody when reached they passed ahead. When we heard great shouts we knew that a party had reached the top. They were very friendly and helpful; one party wanted to light us. and after the[y] passed ahead the[y] stopped and waited for us. As we made the steep climb we wondered how it would be coming down when we could see below us. It was not as bad as we had thought it would be. Mr. Sugathapala went ahead coming down and we found it not so bad with him ahead. We reached the top at 3:45 ready for sunrise! The Buddhists worshipped at the Buddhist shrine and made offerings of flowers and rice; the Hindus worshipped at the Hindu temple with candles or lamps or incense which they lighted at a large oil lamp (open lamp) near the temple. There is also a Buddhist priest's hut on the top; it is a great honor to be Priest of the Peak.
After their ceremonies the Pilgrims came out and rang a bell, those who had been up before, one stroke for each pilgrimage. We heard 10 strokes, 7, 3, and 2. (A driver whom we had in Anuradhapura said he had been up 32 times; he had worked in a garage in Maskeliya and went up on holidays and Sundays.) We heard other parites [sic] arrive some from the Maskeliya side and some from Ratnapura. The southern route is much longer and more difficult because of the distance from the base of supplies and because their [sic] has been less done to help pilgrims, therefore the pilgrim acquires more merit by climbing from Ratnapura. We were not greedy about merit and preferrred to take the northern side with facilities for climbing. Even on the north side we found it necessary to have much help from railings, and chains in the steepest places where the steps were out in the rock. (In the early morning the iron railings felt very cold.) In the early days the pilgrims had chains to pull themselves up. We don't know how the first pilgrims got up.
There is a cement parapet around the top - highly desirable to prevent people from falling off or from being blown off. The top is about the size of the college dining-room, perhaps about two thirds of the New York room at M.H.C. with a rocky center somewhat higher than the parapet, 12-15 ft. higher. It was cold at the top. There is nothing to prevent the winds from sweeping over the top and into every crevice. EMC and the Editor wrapped themselves in a small Kashmir blanket and shivered; our Leader wrapped himself and tried to get a breath of heat from the fire in the Priest's hut, but he got only smoke in his eyes and in the blanket. The stars were magnificent; the Great Dipper and Polaris; the Southern Cross; Scorpio rising in the south, shooting stars. There were several children on the top and even a baby. Who acquired the merit for that? The baby did not seem to be rejoicing in its merit. Was it cold, too? We sat on a rock which was a chilly seat, and had our feet on the cold rock below. One of the ceremonies which must not be forgotton [sic] is taking off the shoes at the top, as soon as we reached the parapet. We rejoiced in our good woolen socks, and they deserved a better fate than being cast away when we got back into the automobile on our return. But both E.M.C. and the Editor preferred discarding them to washing them or carrying them with us until we reached a dhobie or our ayas. The Pilgrims were bare-footed and were not bothered by such problems.
About 5:15 we got the first flush of morning, but it was an hour before the sun rose. By 5:45 almost everyone had moved to the N.E. side to wait for the sunrise, perhaps everyone except the baby and the Burmese Buddhist priest who made a continuous circuit around the peak chanting prayers and beating on a fan-like drum - or a drum-like fan. He was a fine-looking young man in the usual saffron-colored robe (which I would call orange if I were not speaking of a Buddhist priest) with his right shoulder bare in the usual fashion. He walked with a good stride, a difficult feat in that space. The Editor is not such of an authority on sunrises, so it may not mean much when she says it was a fine one, but even others who knew more about them, said do. [sic] There was a great shout when the first rim of the disc came above the horizon, and another great shout when the sun was completely above. Then we went to the opposite side to see the unusual phenomenon of the Shadow of the Peak. At first we were too dazzled from looking at the sun, to be able to see a shadow, but it was soon visible - the peak on the distant hills and on the clouds in the valley - The Editor thought it was exciting as the total eclipse of the sun, but fortunately it lasted longer, probably about 10 minutes.
As soon as the sun was up most of the Pilgrims started down and went down the mountain with speed. Our party had a few plantains first, put on our shoes and then descended gradually, collecting the while. There were beautiful liverworts, a few filmy ferns, and tree ferns (no fruit accessible), Crimson Rhododendrons, Calceolarias, and many things unknown to the Editor. We arrived at the Rest House, Idiketupana, which means the Place of the Threads. Each Buddhist pilgrim on his first ascent brings a reall [sic] of cotton and a needle and it is strung along the railing at Idikatupana, for some reason which we were not able to learn. Our Leader was a Buddhist, but not an orthodox one. It is doubtful if even the orthodox ones know why they do it.
We had breakfast at the Rest House, the Host providing tea - a continuation of the biscuit, cheese, sandwiches and curry which we had had for three meals.
At 9 we started down the second descent, and reached the brook and path at 10:15; it was an hour a walk or run down the less steep road to the Tea Estate, and then we rode to Hatton along the winding road. We had a proper lunch on the train and our Leader left us at the junction where one part of the train is detached to go to Colombo.
That afternoon we went on to Kandy, and then to Matale, where we hired a car to take us to Dumballa where there are rock temples or old ruins. The next morning our car took us to Plannaruwa, one of the suried cities which has been excavated in the last few years. We rode through the forest jungle - the forest which has completely reclaimed what was once a prosperous region, and saw lovely things along the way - Gloriosa superba (a scarlet lily) Nussaenda with a large white sepal, Bauhinia with yellow bell-shaped flowers, and a large tree mallow with handsome flowers. It began to rain before we arrived at Polannaruwa, and to our dismay the Butler at the Rest House said it was full. But we said we could go nowhere else, so he finally agreed to put us up someway. We slept on the back verandah, so it was well that we rose before daylight on Sunday to take a 6:30 bus to Anuradhapura, 65-70 miles to the N.W. In spite of the rain we got a guide and visited some of the ruins, 11th and 12th century chiefly. We stayed at a hotel in A'pura (as the signs often give it) and thought we might call our trip "From Mud Hut to Grand Hotel, via the Back Verandah." We had a day and a half at A'pura, taking a train to go to Talaimannar at 1:45 A.M., but we had passed the stage of fussing about hours.
For three days we had Adams Peak ever present in our thoughts. Try coming down 2000 ft. of steps, 6" - 18" high; we alternated right and left and so were uniformly lame - symmetrically lame, completely disqualified for any exercise. Even without the lameness the Ascent is an unforgettable experience.