The Giant Footprint

The Giant Footprint The Giant Footprint The Giant Footprint

Queens Tower is in the very south-east of Delft Island, travelling from there along the southern coastline you will arrive at the village called Sarapiddi close to the western coastline. Sarapiddi is located halfway between Queens Tower and the Dutch fort and not far from the stupa called Cholan Ruins, alias Vediyarasan Fort.

Sarapiddi does not really look like a village. It's a settlement area, with dispersed inhabited houses and some gardening areas in between them. Sarapiddi is the perfect place to study the coral walls surrounding private properties, typical for Delft Island. Fences used as enclosures of premises are typical for Tamil settlements all over the Jaffna peninsula. However, coral walls instead of fences are something special. Their appearance resembles Irish sceneries more than Tamil settlements. And this is not by accident, as we shall see below. That Sarapiddi is known for the best freshwater, is also connected with the story of the coral walls. Travellers usually stop at Sarapiddi to walk to the the ruins of a stable complex close to the village.

On the way to the ruins of those horse stable, visitors come along the so-called "Giant's footprint". It is engraved on the stone surface. It is said to have been left by a man who must have been about 13 meters tall. A similar footprint on the island of Nainativu is attributed to the second of the Buddha's three legendary visits in Sri Lanka. However, the Hindu population of Delft credits Hanuman with leaving the footprint in Sarapiddi. The monkey-faced Hanuman was the helper of Rama and came to Sri Lanka several times, flying through the air just like the Buddha. The first time he was on the Island of Lanka in search for Rama's abducted wife Sita. He came again with Rama's monkey army to free Sita. And during the war he had to travel to the Himalayas in search for medical herbs needed for curing Rama's and Lakshmana's otherwise fatal wounds. According to some Hindu beliefs, the entire island of Delft had been created by a piece of the Himalaya mountains that the god Hanuman had been carrying when returning to Sri Lanka, a story supposed to explain the occurence of 62 species of Ayurvedic plants on Delft Island. But usually it's the smaller island of Kachchaitivu which is regarded to be this so-called "Sanjeewani drop" in the Indian Ocean. However, on one of his visits Hanuman must have arrived on Delft or started his giant jump back to India from here. What else could be the cause of the giant footprint?

Om Jaffna-distriktet

Jaffna er hovedstaden i den Nordlige Provins i Sri Lanka. Omkring 85 % af befolkningen i Jaffna- og Kilinochchi-distrikterne er hinduer. Hinduerne følger den saivitiske tradition. Resten af befolkningen er hovedsageligt romersk-katolikker eller protestanter, hvoraf nogle er efterkommere af koloniale bosættere, kendt som burghere. Tamilerne er opdelt efter kastesystemet, hvor landbrugskasten Vellalar udgør flertallet. Havprodukter, rødløg og tobak er de vigtigste produkter i Jaffna.

Jaffna er hjemsted for mange smukke hinduistiske templer. Et gammelt hollandsk fort står stadig velbevaret, og indenfor findes en gammel kirke. Et andet eksempel på hollandsk arkitektur er King's House. Intet besøg i Jaffna er fuldendt uden at smage den udsøgte Jaffna-mango, som er kendt for sin sødme. Omkring 3 km derfra ligger det majestætiske Nallur Kandaswamy-tempel, som er hjemsted for den største religiøse festival i Jaffna. Kayts Havn er et gammelt skibsdokningssted i Jaffna-regionen.

Om den Nordlige Provins

Den Nordlige Provins er en af de ni provinser i Sri Lanka. Provinserne har eksisteret siden det 19. århundrede, men de fik først juridisk status i 1987, da det 13. forfatningstillæg til Sri Lankas forfatning fra 1978 etablerede provinsråd. Mellem 1988 og 2006 blev provinsen midlertidigt slået sammen med den Østlige Provins for at danne den Nordøstlige Provins. Provinsens hovedstad er Jaffna.

Den Nordlige Provins ligger i den nordlige del af Sri Lanka og er kun 22 miles (35 km) fra Indien. Provinsen er omgivet af Mannarbugten og Palkbugten mod vest, Palkstrædet mod nord, Bengalbugten mod øst og provinserne Eastern, North Central og North Western mod syd. Provinsen har flere laguner, hvoraf de største er Jaffna-lagunen, Nanthi Kadal, Chundikkulam-lagunen, Vadamarachchi-lagunen, Uppu Aru-lagunen, Kokkilai-lagunen, Nai Aru-lagunen og Chalai-lagunen. De fleste af øerne omkring Sri Lanka findes vest for den Nordlige Provins. De største øer er Kayts, Neduntivu, Karaitivu, Pungudutivu og Mandativu.

Den Nordlige Provins havde i 2007 en befolkning på 1.311.776. Størstedelen af befolkningen er srilankanske tamiler, med mindre grupper af srilankanske moorer og singalesere. Srilankansk tamil er det primære sprog, der tales af langt størstedelen af befolkningen i provinsen. Et andet sprog, der tales, er singalesisk, som bruges af omkring 1 % af befolkningen. Engelsk tales og forstås i vid udstrækning i byerne.

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