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Rajgarh, Nov 19 (IANS) In an unusual incident, over 4,000 people attended a ‘death feast’ organized for a monkey in a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh district on Wednesday. The villagers believed that the monkey was an incarnation of Lord Hanuman, and performed all the rituals normally reserved for human family members.
Twelve days ago the monkey had died after being electrocuted by a high tension power line. On November 8, the villagers decorated the monkey’s bier and took out a funeral procession with a DJ, in which the entire village participated. The monkey was later cremated at Shanti Dham following traditional Hindu rituals.
Eleven days later, villagers including Patel, Biram Singh Sondhia of the village reached Ujjain to immerse the ashes in the Shipra river. Priests performed rituals, and the monkey was symbolically treated as a member of the family, even the shaving of the “beard” and the traditional eleventh day ceremony were observed.
On returning to Darawari, the villagers organized a large funeral feast on the twelfth day. He raised around one lakh rupees in donations for this event. The feast included ‘puris’ made from about five quintals of flour, 40 kilograms of sev, curry made from 100 liters of buttermilk, a quintal of sugar and a variety of vegetarian dishes. Invitations were sent to neighboring villages and more than 4,000 people attended from areas within a radius of 30–35 kilometres.
A similar incident took place in 2022, when around 1,500 residents of Dalupura village in Rajgarh district cremated another monkey. A young man named Hari Singh even got his head shaved as part of the mourning ritual. In that case the monkey was not a pet but a frequent visitor to the village. In many parts of India, monkeys are considered sacred due to their association with Lord Hanuman.
Following those rituals, the villagers raised funds and organized a feast for more than 1,500 people, printing and distributing invitation cards for the occasion.
–IANS
JK/DPB