The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1905-08-16


most sacred animal in India, he has
many competitors. There are more
gods than worshipers in India. Beast
worship seems to be natural to the
Hndoo, and it is certainly one of the
foundation stones of Brahmanism. Fol
lowers Of the purer forms of that faith
may say that the sacred beasts are
only symbols and not gods, but re-
ligion must be judged by the effect
which it has OH the mass of its
devotees. The monkey, the crocodile,
the crane, the ibis, the cobra and other
serpents are among the creatures that
share with the bull the reverence of the
people, If not their worship. Benares
is the headquarters of all the numer-
Gus cults of Brahmanism that especial
ly worship one or other of these sacred
beasts.
one of the holiest places in Benares
is the DoorGa Khond, or monkey tenn
pie. The monkey comes next to the
Brahmanee bull in order of Sanctity.
An English resident in the city assured
the writer that anybody who killed or
even i'll treated monkey would run
very good chance of being torn to
pieces by the fanatical natives. That
is not generally true of India, for
have seen monkeys killed there with
out any trouble resulting, but | believe
it is true of Benares.
At the Doorga Khond hundreds of
monkeys are kept as pets by the
priests. They run about all over the
place just as they please and are never
Gagged or restrained in any way. As a
consequence they are jolly, good tenn
savage sulky brutes you see in an
American ZOO. 1t is mistake to sup
pose that a monkeys nature is essen
tally vicious.
The temple is simply large paved
yard surrounded by high walls on
which there are lot of wooden boxes
and houses in which the monkeys live.
There is a big tank for the monkeys to
drink from and swim in, if they choose
TO do 50, and huge banyun tree gives
tltlll all llt SNlllluSllN tANlNlSt lI'N
want. Visitors are welcomed, but they
are expected to buy food for the mon
keys from the priests at an eXOrbitant
price. As soon as they get inside the
monkeys mob them, climbing all over
them, snatching the food from their
hands and then scampering off to eat
it in the banyan tree.
These monkeys and all of their kind
the grayish brown, short tailed common
monkey of northern India-are sup
posed to be the descendants of Hunu-
man, the monkey god of southern In
dia. According to the myth of the
Brahmans, Hunuman aided Rama TO
conquer Ceylon by building a bridge Of
rocks from India to that island His
image is to be seen in most IIindoo
temples in the form of man with a
black monkeys face and tail
Sacred monkeys scamper along the
streets and over the house+ops in most
Indian cities and villages The shop
keepers are constantly worried by their
foraging escapades, but they dare not
resent them any more than those of the
sacred bull. These monkeys are often
the companions Of the lermits and
fakirs with which India swarms, and
they are the chief part of the congre-
cation in many temples where they are
fed and protected
Tanks in which sacred crocodiles are
kept are attached to some temples in
Benares. In former days they We're fed
with children and other human sacri-
fees, but the British government,
though very indulgent toward native
superstitions, will, of course, not allow
that now. Some Anglo-Indians assert,
however that such sacrifices are still
made on the sly Wheth," this is true
or not, it is fact that many fanatical
Hindoos would not kill a crocodile
which had killed their wife or child.
Some Hindoos are unspeakably cruel
to animals that are not sacred, but in
general the faiths of India enjoin kind
ness to dumb animals as religious
duty. Buddhism does so most en-
phatically, for the whole tendency of
its teaching, rightly given, is to make
man gentle and mild. The Parsees
are noted for their kindlness to all
creatures, man and beast, and they
give largely out Of their boundless
wealth to the support of the Jain tenn
pies, which are perhaps the most de-
lightful places in all India.
All the best elements in Brahmanism
flock to the Jain cult as the needle
flies to the magnet The Jains recog-
nize all the gods of the Hindoo creed
wear the Brahmanical thread and ad-
here to Hindoo caste law. Yet they
are utterly unlike the average Brah-
man. They have agreed to ignore all
that is vile in Brahmanism and to de-
vote themselves to all that is noble.
They reverence the sacred animals,
but they give to the worship a prac-
tical twist by adoring all animals, all
living creatures, and by making veter-
mary surgery at once their vocation
and their religion.
Every Jain temple is hospital for
the lame, the blind, the sick and the
mn1trnqt ted among ouimals Tho nriactc