Has anyone ever heard of the monkey man?? Me neither until I read this article on yahoo.com. Apparently in an Indian village in eastern West Bengal state there is a 27 year old man that the villagers and others around the world think is a Hindu monkey god Hanuman -- worshipped by millions as a symbol of physical strength, perseverance and devotion.
These people think this becasue this man has a 13 ft tail, mostly covered by hair and make up of skin, climbs trees, and collects bananas while in the tree.
Doctors say that yes the man climbs trees but is certinley not considered a "god". His physical condition is also not very good.
People are reported to wait for hours upon hours to see and touch the man's tail. They stronly believe that it has unbelievable healing powers to touch the tail of the "god".
Doesnt this sound a little far fetched or is it because I am catholic and stereotypically it is suppossed to sound wierd to me?
I would say yes and no.
Yes, it sounds weird to you in part because your catcholic, but mostly because you, unlike the majority of them, haven't grown up with the same belief system that they have. take transubstantiation, for example. To some people in other cultures that may simply be a laughable idea; much like this monkey-God one may seem to you.
I wasn't aware that Hanuman was a God. Maybe I forgot about his deification in the Ramayana. Oh yeah, if you read the Ramayana (I recommend R.K. Narayan's version), you can understand the history behind Hanuman.
--Mike
We are one planet with many worlds. If a child was born with a tail in North America it would be a very different story. Religious views aside, I find it ironic that we laugh at the idea of a man with a tail being worshipped instead of shunned but yet we re-elect someone like Bush for president. Pretty loaded statement sure, but I felt like it needed to be said (even if the posters before me weren't the ones laughing).