Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Villagers Worship Monkey Man

The weirdness in this world is endless:

Thousands of people are flocking to an impoverished Indian village in eastern West Bengal state to worship a man they believe possesses divine powers because he climbs up trees in seconds, gobbles up bananas and has a "tail."

Devotees say 27-year-old villager Chandre Oraon is an incarnation of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman -- worshipped by millions as a symbol of physical strength, perseverance and devotion.

"He climbs up trees, behaves like a monkey and is a strict vegetarian, but he is no god and his condition is just a congenital defect," says Bhushan Chakraborty, the local medical officer.

Tucked away in a hamlet in Banarhat, over 400 miles north of Kolkata, the state capital, devotees wait for hours to see or touch Oraon's 13-inch tail, believing that it has healing powers.

Doctors said the "tail" -- made up of some flesh but mostly of dark hair -- was simply a rare physical attribute.

"It is a congenital anomaly, but very rarely do we find such cases," B. Ramana, a Kolkata-based surgeon, told Reuters.

STORY

2 comments:

Michael Bains said...

"Ohhh I am the Monkey Man
The Monkey Man I am
Oh, the Monkey Man I am"

I used to sing that silliness over and over again to my buddy's 2 year old daughter while playing the melody on her teeny little plastic piano. She just kept "sort of" (LOL!) singing along and saying "Sing it again!" at the end of every bar.

Thanks for the reminder.

Stardust said...

michael - that's the stuff kids love! Glad I brightened your day. :-D

That song and my post is so fitting for your funny monkey icon. LOL!