The Lake Charles echo., 1894-04-27
IaplA,s gAoRgp MoNkgY TgMaLE.
An l;diiiee Where Long Tailed Quadrupeds
1.-Two Free From Interference.


1.-Two Free From Interference.
Among the thousand or more temples
and shrines with which The holy Hindoo
city OF Benares is endowed, visitors gem
orally find the great temple dedicated to
the worship OF tho goddess Durga ono Of
the most interesting, 1t Is known to
Europeans as the monkey temple, be-
cause in and around its precincts many
hundreds of sacred monkeys roam about
without interference, The temple il sit
uated in the southern extremity Of the
city, 1t was erected during the last CEN
tury by the Rance Bhawani OF Natre, In
honor of Siva's wife, the terrific god
dess who is supposed to delight ia death
and slaughter, and of whom the poor be-
levers in the various attributes Of the
deities comprising the Hindoo pantheon
stand In the greatest dread A coTTe-
spondent Of the london Graphic writes
as follows regarding the place!
''The Durga Kund Ia conspicuous in
this city Of temples FOR the grace and
simplicity Of its architecture, 1t adjoins
a tank which Is the finest In Benares
and occupies the central portion Of
quadrangle, the wallis being stained red
with ocher. The sacred portion Of the
temple consists Of 19 finely carved pill
lars standing on marble platform and
supporting heavy roof, The platform
Is about four feet from the ground and
is assembled by flight of low steps on
each side Of the square, The temple is
well provided with the necessary instru-
ments for creating the frightful noises
| which emanate from these abodes of
idolatry all over India, Drums Of huge
Dimensions, gongs, bells and tomtoms
are all at the service OF the priests III
performing the rites required Of them,
But the antics Of the monkeys which
make this temple their home ure, next
to its architecture, the most attractive
feature Of the place,
"The goats blood with which the walls
are sprinkled and the sacrifices that are
known to take place here to appease the
wrath OF silva aud his terrifying spouse
are rather revolving to Christian, but
tho grotesque play of the monkeys, their
importunate begging, the prauks they
enact on one another and tho graceful
agility they are constantly displaying
supply perpetual source Of amusement
which one is apt to think must prove
rather distracting to the deYout Hindoos
who come here TO worship, These sa-
cred monkeys are of the genus Semno-
petheGus entellus, popularly known as
| the long tailed Indian monkey,
"a few years ago, as no one dared TO
\ modest these animals, they not only iu-
creased rapidly In numbers, but grow
ing to bo extraordinarily bold, developed
alarming thiNYing propensities, The
annoyance they caused amounted 10 a
public nuisance, for no house In the
place was safe from their depredatiOps.
At last tho trouble grew SO serious that
some reduction in the number of these
adept thieves became necessity, al
though the prejudices Of the people We're
against any such steps being taken, In
the end the government was requested
to interfere, and waving aside all other
considerations but that Of public polity
the authorities had many hundreds re-
port Gays many thousands--ca captured
and sent away, Nevertheless there are
plenty Of them left, and they certainly
constitute one Of the sights Of a, city
I that is probably in many respects tho
most interesting In the world