Day 80: Tracking the Sita in Eliya mountains, Sri Lanka - 108 Days Across Eurasia by Martins Ate

To get here I got up at 5:40 and left with a bus to Kandy, from where I went further down to Nuwara Eliya because of a time matter not stopping in a places of less importance than Nuwara Eliya. This is a significant place and I'm happy to be here now as it is the 80 days of my travelling and there could not be a better place to be.


Nuwara Eliya or Ashok Vatika is a garden where Ravana held Sita captive. This is in the area of Sita Eliya, close to the city of Nuwara Eliya. The Hakgala Gardens located at the base of the Hakgala Rock forms part of the famed Ashok Vatika. The Sita Pokuna is a barren area atop the Hakgala Rock Jungle where Sita was kept.


Now Sita Amman Temple is located at this spot. The stream that runs from the hill, catered to the needs of Sitadevi during her stay at Ashok Vatika. She is said to have bathed in this stream.


There is also temple for Lord Rama, Sitadevi, Laxshmana, and Hanuman by the side of this stream. I sit down in these incredible valleys and kind of was feeling all that through myself. I'm really impressed by the Ramayana story, it has captured my heart for sure a long time ago so this is a place where I believe one of the greatest pains of Love and sufferings where taking a place as Sitas Love towards Rama was something more than just Love. It was a very pure and uplifted love, as both of them where very pure and uplifted personalities.


It's a mountaineer area here, about 2000 m beyond sea level and It's quite cold so I even had to put on my jacket. Today also I visited one part of an underground cave labyrinth of King Ravana built about ten thousand years ago, where that time he was keeping Sita after Rama's assistant in the search for Sita - Hanuman found her in Nuwara Eliya area.


It is amazing to be on the sites and see everything I was reading about a while ago and it seemed like a fairy tail until now when I actually can be there and see the things written about thousands of years ago in life. That's amazing experience especially if the trail I'm tracking is as important for Hindu people values and religion system as visiting Israel and Palestine for Christians. I do respect both of them it's just that story of Ramayana is so incredible and it shows so good a real values of life in a simple way so I'm touched to be here. By the way - I've been to Israel and Palestine, too. The feelings where similar. Those who have been, too, probably will understand how I feel.

Afterwards I took a night train towards side of Colombo where about a hundred kilometers North a temple is located in which Rama, after killing the king of Lanka - Ravana, about 10,000 years ago, asked Shiva to free him from a sin of killing as he felt some bad energy following him. This is believed to be a place where the first temple for Shiva was standing. I got there at night and spent all night waiting for a morning for a priest to come and make a puja. So that's it for Sri Lanka! I had incredible time in here and this is a really nice country to visit.


I hearty valued the opportunity to be on a Hindu's Ramayana trail, Buddhist Sacred City Anuradhapura, where the oldest tree in a world is located under which first Buddha got enlightened and also can't mention kingly spent time at Boa Vista hotel there. So I'm ready to go further to the city whose name was always intriguing me since I ever heard it for a first time - Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. I'm going there NOW!:) Incredible!:)