Pada Yatra 2015 – By Stefan D’silva
Recently a friend of mine from Sydney visited Kumana NP and the topic of the annual pilgrimage arose. That prompted me to revisit these images that have never been released before.
The pilgrimage is quite a spectacle of devotion and faith and people walk for many days- they sleep in the jungle and plod on to Kataragama to fulfill their vows. The age of so many defies many a stereotypical narrative on the health of the aged. Some commence the walk in Jaffna – many join the walk from Panama and other locations along the East Coast. Either way it is a formidable journey, carrying dry rations, coconut scrapers and kids.
As far as I know it happens every August.
I have minimized the text and kept it to one sentence per page – as they say “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Let the images do the “talking:”
I trust your contacts will examine the images and marvel at the annual event
Cheers Steff
