Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1905-08-31

it is true OF Benares.
At the Doorga Khond hundreds Of
monkeys are kept as pets by the
place just as they please and are never
Gagged or restrained in any way. AS a
consequence they are jolly, good tenn
pered little fellows, quite unlike the
savage, sulky brutes you see in an
American zoo. 1t Is a mistake to sup
pose that a monkeys nature is essen
TALLY vicious.
The temple is simply n large paved
yard surrounded by high walls ON
which there are lot of wooden boxes
and houses in which the monkeys. live.
There is big tank for the monkeys to
drink from and swim in, il they choose
TO do so, and huge banyan tree gives
them all the gymnastic exercise they
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 or to eat
1t 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 bridge of
rocks from India to that island. His
image is to be seen in most Hindoo
temples in the form of a man with a
black monkeys face and TAIL
Sacred monkeys scamper along the
streets and over the housetops 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 hermits 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 were fed
with children and other human sacri-
fees, but the British government,
though very indulgent toward native
superstitions. win, CT course, not allow
that now. Some Anglo-Indians assert,
however, that such sacrifices are still
made on the sly. Whether this is true
or not, 1t Ia 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 enjoln kind
ness to dumb animals as a religious
duty. Buddhism does so most en-
phatlcally, for the whole tendency OF
its teaching, rightly given, Is to make
a man gentle and mild. The Parsees
are noted for their klndliness 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.
AL! the best elements In Brahmanlsm
fiock to the Jain cult ms the needle
flies to the magnet. The jams recog.
nlze all the gods OF the Hindoc creed.
wear the Brahmanicai thread and nd
here 10 Hindoo caste law. Yet they
are utterly unlike the average Brah-
man. They have agreed to ignore all
that Is vile In nrahmanism and to de-
IN all fhnf iu
They reverence the sacred animals,
but they give to the worship prac-
tlcal twist by adorlng all animals, all
living creatures, and by making veter-
mary surgery at once their vocation
and their religion.
Every Jain temple Is a hospital for
the lame, the blind, the sick and the
maltreated among animals. The priests
90 around the streets OF the crowded
city picking up dogs with broken legs,
eats that have been nearly starved TO
death and birds with broken wings.
IL they see an ass or n horse that Is
overworked and cruelty beaten, they
will buy II from the brutal owner All
the animals thus rescued are taken TO
the temple grounds and tenderly and
patiently treated and nursed back TO
health
india Is, OF course, not the only
oriental country In which animals are
regarded as sacred. In almost oil
eastern lands, save those which are
tightly In the grip OF Islam, certain
dumb creatures are the objects OF rev.
erence or OF superstition, IL not of
actual worship. Slams sacred white
elephant-a curious superstition graft
cd upon debased form Of Buddhism
IL the best known example, but dozens
OF others could be given.-Wllliam
Thorp In New York Post.