मोन्केय्

यन्त्रोपारोपितकोशांशः

Purana Encyclopedia

पृष्ठभागोऽयं यन्त्रेण केनचित् काले काले मार्जयित्वा यथास्रोतः परिवर्तयिष्यते। तेन मा भूदत्र शोधनसम्भ्रमः। सज्जनैः मूलमेव शोध्यताम्।

VĀNARA (MONKEY) : Monkeys are given a prominent place in the Purāṇas. Considering them as born in the family of Hanūmān, an ardent devotee of Śrī Rāma, some worship monkeys. It is mentioned in Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa that the monkeys got a prominent place first among the gods and spirits. It is stated in Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Kiṣkindhā Kāṇḍa, Sarga 33, that the leaders of the monkeys were Bāli, Sugrīva, Aṅgada, Mainda, Gavaya, Dvivida, Gavākṣa, Gaja, Śarabha, Sūryākṣa, Hanūmān, Vidyunmālī, Vīrabāhu, Subāhu, Nala, Kumuda, Jāmbavān, Tāra, Supāṭala, Sunetra, Nīla and Dadhivaktra.

The social life of the monkeys, is described as follows in the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Kiṣkindhā Kāṇḍa, Sarga 33. “Mahendra mountain, the Himālayas, the Vindhya mountain, the peaks of Kailāsa and Śveta mountain, Mandara mountain etc. are the places mostly inhabit- ed by monkeys. On the mountains shining like the rising sun, on the east of the western ocean also monkeys live. The Monkeys which inhabit black soil are blue in colour. Monkeys which live in red arsenic caves are yellow in colour. Those which live in Mahā Meru and Dhūmra (smoky) mountain have the colour of the rising sun and are drunkards.”


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*5th word in right half of page 825 (+offset) in original book.