Pada Yatra: Foot Pilgrimage from Jaffna to Kataragama

If veneration takes you anywhere in Sri Lanka, then Kataragama should be one of your first places to visit. Thousands of devotees and pilgrims from various religious backgrounds, particularly Hindus and Buddhists, gather here to seek the divine intervention of Lord Murugan, God Skanda or Kataragama deviyo. In fact, Kataragama is considered the home of true sanctity.

The annual Kataragama Esala festival in 2024 July is another spectacle of devoutness. The Hindu devotees from the North and the East make their annual foot pilgrimage, Pada Yatra, to the holy city of Kataragama to take part in the 15 day-annual festival.