“_Apoota._”—Possibly from the Hindustani word “poot,” meaning upside
down, inverted, or from the Sanscrit word “Apoot,” meaning an undutiful
son. The son’s shoes, which he left the night before as he withdrew his
feet from them, were found by him the next morning turned round, an
understood custom to indicate dismissal, or banishment.
“_Bucha._”—A Persian word, signifying son, or child, and often used as a
term of affection from old to young.
[Illustration: A MONKEY TEMPLE IN INDIA. (_Copied_).]
“_Lungoor._”—The word is Sanscrit and means baboon, but baboons
generally inhabit Africa, but there is a Bengal Langūr (Presbitis
entellus) and to these large monkeys the tale would no doubt refer.
Monkeys play an important part in many folk-tales, and naturally so, for
they are held in high respect by all Hindus, and indeed are objects of
worship by most of that faith. “Hanuman” is the name of the “monkey god”
of the Ramayana, who assisted Rama in his campaign against the giant
Ravana to recover Sita. (See Crooke’s “Popular Religion and Folk-lore of
Northern India.”) It is a belief with many that they were once human
beings, and that they refrain from using the voice of man lest they
should be compelled to work. In Northern India these “Lungoors” are
called “Ghunee.” The story is told of a “Gujuri,” or milk seller, that
she got married and left her own village. After some time, by an adroit
habit of adding half water to her milk, she put together a good sum of
money. The husband died, so she determined to return to her village, and
she put her rupees in a bag, or what is called a “humyāni” (made of
cloth or netting, and arranged to tie round the waist). Passing through
the town of Ajudhya, where is a great Shrine to the monkey god Hanuman,
and where many monkeys live in the trees that overhang the tank near the
Shrine, she made up her mind to bathe in the holy water. Divesting
herself of her clothes, she placed them on the bank, and the “humyani”
she hid beneath them. Occupied with her bathing and praying, she did not
perceive that the monkeys had come down, and were overhauling her
garments. At last to her surprise and regret, she saw her “humyani” in
the hands of a big monkey, and that he was off up the trees with it. “Oh
Hanuman! Oh Hanuman!” she besought him, “restore to me my money.” But
there he was, opening the bag, and soon he threw down one rupee to her
on the bank, and the next rupee into the water, and thus he continued to
do until he had emptied the bag. Then he called out, “See! I have given
you the half for your milk, and the other half has gone to the water, to
which it rightly belongs, and not to you.”
Hanuman is a Hindu deity, and said to be a son of Siva. He is set up in
temples, and supplicated on birth-days to obtain longevity.
_Note._—Monkeys, we know, chatter and gibber, and are celebrated for
tricks. A voice is produced by most mammals, birds, and reptiles, by
which they make known their wants and feelings; but to speak with the
human voice by imitation merely, is given only to birds, and to very few
of those. The power of the lower creation to speak and to understand the
human language passes, however, through the folk-tales of every country.
On the hill Jako, near Simla, it is well known that the Monkeys are fed
by a Fakir, who has taken up his abode amongst them, and they come down
in troops at his well known call. (See page 114, Royal Natural History,
edited by Richard Lydekker, F.G.S., F.Z.S., etc., etc.
“_Shrines._”—In many towns and villages there are shrines of celebrated
Saints which are called “Chillas” and in some places “Astanas.” They are
also termed “Karbala,” after the place where Hussain, the son of Ali,
was killed and buried. Throughout the whole of India the common belief
is that the spirit of their ancestors is, in some form or another, in
many animals and birds, and that when they choose they can speak to man
and understand what he says.
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