The Monkey God

I have written many times about the beautiful Langur Monkey residing around Arunachala. To find out more about the Langur go to this link here and to read about the lovely Anjaneya Temple off the Girivalam Roadway, check out this link here.

The Langur monkey is held in high regard because of its historic association to the God Rama, so was particularly enchanted with the following story and video about a special event at a Temple in North India between the God Rama and the Langur.

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The photographs below are of an event that occurred in April (2011) at the Kalika Mata Temple in Ratlam M.P.





During a recital of the Ramayana (story of Rama, Sita and Hanuman) a Langur monkey appeared. As Langurs are regarded throughout India as manifestations of the monkey God Hanuman, the crowds believed that the Langur had come to bless the function.



The Langur first went and sat near the singers and listened to their singing, then moved amongst the Swamis, blessing them and thereafter sat in front of the painting of Rama. He thereupon took prasad in front of the picture (sitting in the same way as the Monkey God in the painting) and after left quietly.





To see the whole lovely event, view the below video.

Video of Langur at Temple Function

Human Influence on Local Monkeys

Below the four photographs is a short extract of a narrative taken from a Report entitled, “Measures of Human Influence in Habitats of South Asian Monkeys” The Report which attempts to define the potential influence of humans on monkey habitats and behaviour in South Asia, is based on four variables: description of the home range, level of harassment of the animals, habituation of the animals to humans, and the presence of predators.

In addition to this particular cited Report, many studies have been undertaken on the consequences of human disturbance upon non-human primates. In the case of Tiruvannamalai District, the most common non-human primates are the Bonnet Macaque and Langur Monkeys. Even though most of the monkeys around the Tiruvannamalai area are accustomed to the proximity of humans; groups within the area differ in their response to people based on past experience and learned behavior within the group.

Socialised Bonnet Macaque at
Ramana Ashram

Bonnet Macaque living off the
Girivalam Roadway

Langur Monkeys at
Pavala Kundru Temple

Extract from Report:

"Briefly the monkeys’ response to humans falls into four basic categories:

(1) Wild. The monkeys flee and hide when humans appear. Such an extreme reaction would be expected in areas where humans are encountered infrequently but would also include the rare cases where monkeys have been hunted. Habituation of such animals is extremely difficult.

(2) Semi habituated. The monkeys move away when humans actually approach, but are accustomed to occasionally disinterested human traffic through their habitat (as in the case of woodcutters).

(3) Habituated. The monkeys are accustomed to human presence, although they usually do not tolerate people coming too close to them unless food is thrown.

(4) Habituated and Routinely Commensal. The monkeys do not move away at benign human approach and are able to mingle with humans with minimal caution. They typically live on human refuse and provisioning."

To read the full report in PDF format, please click the following link:
Measures of Human Influence in Habitats of South Asian Monkeys

The Beautiful Langur Monkey

Yesterday (i.e. Monday afternoon) while visiting Temples on the south-east side of Arunachala kept a close look-0ut for the beautiful Tufted Grey Langur Monkey to point out to friends who I was showing around the Hill.

The Bonnet Macaque, of which I have written extensively in previous postings (see: Moral of the Monk, A Mother's Love, Love That Watermelon, and many others) is commonly found throughout Tiruvannamalai District and in fact in the view of some folk the Macaque is much too common and cheeky, particularly when it decides to go on scavenging hunts in residential areas by breaking into homes and raiding kitchens! Now that I live in an area not often visited by the naughty Macaque I can be more philosphical and good-natured about them and generally carry buns and snacks while performing Hill Girivalam in order to feed the Macaque Monkeys hanging about the sides of the Girivalam pathway. However I do have memories of certain incidents of maraudering naughty monkeys while I was living in a more urbanised part of Tiruvannamalai!

The below are photos I took yesterday of the beautiful Tufted Gray Langur Money. The colony was hanging about in trees feasting on leaves. They were playful and charming and continued with their romps as we were looking on.

On writing this posting did a bit of research on the Langur Monkey and came up with the following:

Gray Langurs are a group of Old World monkeys made up of the genus Semnopithecus which includes:

Tufted Gray Langur
Nepal Gray Langur
Kashmir Gray Langur
Tarai Gray Langur
Northern Plains Gray Langur
Black Footed Gray Langur
Southern Plains Gray Langur

It is the Tufted Gray Langur that is found inhabitating the slopes of Arunachala specially on the south east side. All of the Langur species are largely gray with a black face. In Indian mythology, this is because Hanuman, the monkey warrior, burnt his hands and face trying to rescue Lord Rama's wife.

The Langur feeds on leaves, fruit, buds and flowers. However their diet is seasonable, with mature leaves being eaten only as a fall-back food during the winter months. In the summer, especially before the monsoon season, fruit is their chief diet supplemented with insects, tree bark and gum.

Though the Langur sleeps in trees, it spends more time on the ground and lives in medium to large groups, usually with a frequently changing dominant male.

To read more about the delightful Langur Monkey you can visit this link HERE.