Monkey dies after falling from tree, locals give a human-like burial

Residents of Panapakkam colony, near Arakkonam, were taken aback when one of a band of monkeys playing among the trees of the local Gangaiamman temple missed its footing, and fell to its death. The other monkeys all clambered down and were in mourning. They would not allow locals to come near their dead mate. 

However, as crowds gathered, the monkeys scampered away, and many of the youngsters wept copiously, as they considered the simian a god. They followed ritualistic norms, applied kumkumam on its forehead, garlanded it, offered fruits and prayed. 

It was then placed on a specially made small bier, after which the funeral procession began. Drums were also beaten, as the procession procceded to the monkey’s final resting place in Sandaithoppu, adjacent to the Panapakkam Government Girls Higher Secondary School, which was recently in the news for the suicide of four Class 11 students. After burying the monkey, locals lit camphor and prostrated full length before the new mound.

Nearly twenty years ago, when a monkey was knocked down by a speeding vehicle in front of the Vellore district Collectorate at Sathuvachari, a fully functional Hanuman temple came up on the site of the accident. Monkeys are often seen as an avatar of Hanuman.