The General justly remarks that perhaps the worship of the Buddha’s foot-prints may have sprung up in imitation of the homage alleged to have been paid by Mahā-Kāṡyapa and 500 monks to his feet, which, it is said, were exposed to view when his body was lying on the funeral pile. The legend states that while the monks were in the act of bowing down in adoration before the feet, the funeral pile ignited spontaneously.
On one of the gate-pillars of the ancient Sāñchī Stūpa there is a sculpture of a foot-print marked with the wheel (Ćakra, [p. 522]) symbol, which the late Mr. Fergusson ascribed to the early part of the first century of the Christian era.
There are also sculptured representations of the Buddha’s foot-prints at Amarāvatī, supposed to date from the second or third century of the Christian era. These representations are often carved on so-called altars or else placed before altars.
But of all foot-prints, that on Adam’s Peak (the highest mountain in Ceylon, more than 7000 feet above the sea), supposed to have been left by the Buddha when he ascended thence to heaven, is the most celebrated.
According to Fā-hien (Legge, p. 102), when Buddha was in Ceylon he planted one foot on the north of the royal city and the other on Sumana-Kūṭa (Adam’s Peak), fifteen yojanas, or about a hundred miles, distant.
This fancied impression of the Buddha’s foot (believed by Christians to be that of St. Thomas, by Muhammadans to be that of Adam, and by Hindūs to be that of the god Ṡiva) is merely a shapeless hollow in the rock, five feet seven inches long by two feet seven inches broad, which would give the Buddha a stature of about thirty-five feet. It is said to have been discovered by a hunter at the beginning of the century before Christ, and, although very difficult of access, is annually visited by about 100,000 Buddhist pilgrims. Near it, on the summit of the mountain, is a small temple dedicated to Saman ([p. 217]).
In a shrine near the tooth-temple at Kandy, I saw a so-called facsimile of this foot-print. Those who are physically incapable of toiling up the mountain to bow down before the sacred impression on the rock, gain nearly as much merit by worshipping its copy. The shrine was filled with fragrant flowers recently deposited on the facsimile.
Other foot-prints in various places throughout India, Burma, Siam, Tibet, Mongolia, and China, are from two to five feet long. A tradition is mentioned by Fā-hien (Legge, 29) that, when Buddha visited Northern India, he came to the country of Woo-chang or Udyāna, and there he left a print of his foot, which appears long or short according to the ideas of the beholders.
Another legend states that Buddha left the print of his left foot on Adam’s Peak, and then, in one stride, strode across to Siam, where he left the impression of his right foot.
The Siamese hold their foot-print in as much reverence as the Sinhalese hold theirs. It is called Phra Bat, and, according to Mr. Alabaster, its appearance is like that of the foot-print on Adam’s Peak. Nothing is to be seen but a hole in the rock, about five feet long by two broad. A temple is built over it, and every precaution taken to protect it from over-zealous worshippers. Mr. Alabaster thus describes his visit to this sacred spot:—