Villagers of Kurki in Davangere taluk take special care of their monkey friends

Jan. 1: While drunken revelries mark New Year celebrations across the globe, the people of the little hamlet Kurki in Davangere taluk, celebrate the occasion every year in a unique way, by paying homage to the monkey on its death anniversary.

The villagers also sing bhajans and devotional songs all through the night at its grave, in memory of the animal. They also perform mass marriages of the poor. Hordes of monkeys normally visit the village, and people take special care of them.

However, one of the monkeys died on December 30 2002, after it was bitten by a dog in the village. Later, the villagers performed the last rites of the monkey, and buried it adjacent to the Hanuman temple. They also took out a grand procession of the body on a bullock cart, and thousands of villagers took part in the programme.

The villagers decided to observe New Year as a mark of respect to the deceased monkey, and stopped consumption of alcohol on that day. “We consider the monkeys as God incarnate, and we believe that the death of the animal would cause harm to the village. Therefore, we began to observe the New Year by performing pooja at the grave of the monkey. We also provide free meals to the villagers, who take part in the celebration,” a villager K.S. Shanmukappa said.

The people clean the idols of all the temples in the nearby lake. They paint the temples and decorate all the streets of the village.

They also contribute food grains, vegetables, and money, for the programme. The food grains left over after the ceremony are auctioned for hefty sums, and the villagers believe that the purchase of these items is auspicious for them. The money accrued from the sale is utilised for next year’s celebration. The village has a population of more than 3,000, and a majority of them are agriculturists.

Many of them have stopped drinking. People of all castes take part in the ceremony, and this has created harmonious relations among them.

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