Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-12-28
Sacred Animals in India.


Sacred Animals in India.
From Curiosities of Superstition 10y Felix L. o.
valid, IN Popular Science Monthly.
In every large city there are walled tanks
where sacred crOcodiles await the contributions
OF the piOus. In Benares they subsist upon the
rent of real estate legacy and occasional dona-
tons of the wealthy produce merchants. But
even the poorest of the poor contribute to the
support of the sacred balloons. The bhunder
baboon and the hanuman (cercopithecus entel-
lus) have every reason to regard themselves as
the primates Of the animal kingdom and man as
humble relative. gifted with certain hortcul-
tliral talents for the purpose of ministering
to the wants of his four-handed superors
Northern India is dotted with mahakhunds. or
monkey farms, where thousands of long-taiied
saints are provided with shelter. respectful at
PENDANTS, and three substantial meals day. on
the sole condition that they shall renounce their
sylvan haunts and bless the neighbOrhood with
the influence OF their holy presence. Sick mon
keys are sent to the next bhunder hospital gen
orally well-endowed and well-managed insti-
tuition, with special dheyadar or responsible
maj -domO. The little town of Caynpore has
eight such nirnaries. Benares twenty or twenty
nve. some OF them with S;bdiY iSion for incura-
bles and chronic dyspeptcs!
victor JacquemOnt estimates that the Bengal
supported chiefly by the very poorest class of
the population. In the rural districts of Ncpan
the hanumans have their sacred groves and
Keep together in troops of fifty or sixty adults.
and IN spite OF hard times. these associations
multiply like the mOnaStic orders of medieval
Europe; but they must all be provided for
though the natives should have to exc out their
crops with the wild rice of the Jumna swamp
jungles
The strangest part Of the superstition is that
"a Itr-r 70 lr-y,
OF benevolence toward animals in general, but
from the exclusive veneration Of a special sub
division OF the monkey tribe. An or
thodox HindOo must not willingly
take the life of the humblest fellow
creature, but he would not move a finger to
save starving dog, and has no hesitation in
stimulating beast of burden with dagger
ike goad and other contriyances that would in
yoke the avengng powers of the Society for the
prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Nor would
ne shrink from extreme measures i'm defending
his fields from the rayages of low caste monkeys.
Dr. Allen Mackenzie once saw a swarm of ex-
cited natives running toward an orchard where
the shaking of the branches betrayed the pres
ence of arboreal marauders. Some of them car
RED sings, others clubs and cane spears. But
soon they came back crestfallen. whats the
matter! inquired the doctor; did they get away
from your
"kapa-mnni." was the laconic reply, "sacred
monkeys'-hOly balloons that must not be inter-
rupted IN their little pastimes. They had eX-
pected to find troop of common makaques,
wanderoos. or other prOfane four-handers, and
returned on tiptOe. like Marryats sergeant, who
went to arrest an ObstreperOus drunkard and
recognized his commanding officer. Unarmed
Europeans cannot afford to brave these preiu-
dces. Captain Elphinstone's gardener nearly
lost his life for shooting a thievish hanuman;
mob OF raging bigOts chased him from street to
street till he gave them the slip in a MOhamme-
dan suburb, where sympathlzing Unitarian
helped him to escape through the back alleys.
The interference of his cOuntrymen would hardly
have saved him, for the crowd increased from
minute to minute, and even women joined in
the chase and threatened to cure his impiety
with turnip-masher.