Alexander McKinley studies the religious traditions of Sri Lanka, especially their connections and transformations across past and present. He received a PhD in religion and modernity from Duke University and teaches at Lake Forest College and Loyola University Chicago.

By way of stories, poetry, songs, myths, and archival research, we learn about a global history of the human search for meaning and belonging and about a planetary history, where humans are secondary to the mountain’s existence and, inevitably, transitory.

• A Note on Translation, Transliteration, Terminology, and TeachingAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Making the Most of a MountainPart I: A Mountain and Its People1. Rock, Water, and Montane Agency2. The Workaday MountainPart II: A Mountain of Myth3. Adam’s Peak and Buddhist Visions of Mecca4. Admitting and Forbidding Siva at the PeakPart III: Being Like a Mountain5. Pilgrimage Ethics from PluralismConclusion: Deep StakesNotesBibliographyIndex

Alexander McKinley studies the religious traditions of Sri Lanka, especially their connections and transformations across past and present. He received a PhD in religion and modernity from Duke University and teaches at Lake Forest College and Loyola University Chicago.

By way of stories, poetry, songs, myths, and archival research, we learn about a global history of the human search for meaning and belonging and about a planetary history, where humans are secondary to the mountain’s existence and, inevitably, transitory.

• A Note on Translation, Transliteration, Terminology, and TeachingAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Making the Most of a MountainPart I: A Mountain and Its People1. Rock, Water, and Montane Agency2. The Workaday MountainPart II: A Mountain of Myth3. Adam’s Peak and Buddhist Visions of Mecca4. Admitting and Forbidding Siva at the PeakPart III: Being Like a Mountain5. Pilgrimage Ethics from PluralismConclusion: Deep StakesNotesBibliographyIndex

Alexander McKinley studies the religious traditions of Sri Lanka, especially their connections and transformations across past and present. He received a PhD in religion and modernity from Duke University and teaches at Lake Forest College and Loyola University Chicago.

By way of stories, poetry, songs, myths, and archival research, we learn about a global history of the human search for meaning and belonging and about a planetary history, where humans are secondary to the mountain’s existence and, inevitably, transitory.

• A Note on Translation, Transliteration, Terminology, and TeachingAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Making the Most of a MountainPart I: A Mountain and Its People1. Rock, Water, and Montane Agency2. The Workaday MountainPart II: A Mountain of Myth3. Adam’s Peak and Buddhist Visions of Mecca4. Admitting and Forbidding Siva at the PeakPart III: Being Like a Mountain5. Pilgrimage Ethics from PluralismConclusion: Deep StakesNotesBibliographyIndex