A thinker! Socrates Monkey!

Written by London Swaminathan

Post No. 16,038

Date uploaded in London – 31 July 2026

Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com

Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.

this is a non- commercial blog. Thanks for your great pictures.

tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com

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46Purananuru wonders-46, Tamil Encyclopedia-86, One Thousand Interesting Facts -Part 86

Sangam Age Tamil Hindus observed forest  animals very closely and recorded them as well.

They reported a monkey’s wife committing SATI, monkeys feeling shy after having sex, monkeys using tools etc. Only now western biologists report all these things as facts. Panchatantra stories showed how intelligent animals were. Even Tiru Valluvar used six or seven Panchatantra Stories without naming the book.

Greedy like modern city people!

Item 691

MONKEY= MANTHI IN TAMIL.

The exact origin of the word MONKEY is uncertain according to encyclopaedias.

All the words in ancient languages can be traced back to Sanskrit or Tamil is my theory, because Panini and Bharatiyar say both these languages came from Lord Siva. We already knew that the word APE is derived from Sanskrit KAPE.

K+APE= Kape, Kapi; Kavi is monkey in Tamil.

But my research shows that Monkey is a Tamil word.

A 1498 Low German version of the medieval beast story features a character named Moneke, who is designated as the son of Martin the Ape

Manthi for Monkey is used in several Sangam poems. Following are examples.

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Item 692

Manthi is used in

Akam 82, 92, 241, 288,378, 382, 396;

Puram. 128,247 And 30 to 40 places in Sangam poems.

In Ainkuru,276, manthi is used. A monkey takes the narai plant stem and beats the thin cloud approaching it.

This and several other poems show animals use tools. Now we read such articles in magazines like Nature and Scientific American; last part of Panchatantra stories show how crows used tools and fire to destroy owls. When a

Asvathama saw that he got the bad idea of killing Pandavas by setting fire to their tents at the dead of night. It is said in Mahabharata,

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Item 693

Monkeys use mirror like Andal

Andal , the great Vaishnavite saint, garlanded herself and used the crystal clear well water as mirror to enjoy her beautiful face. That garland was made for Vishnu and not for her.

Probably Andal read Narr. Poem 151 and got this idea. The poet says,

A female monkey has clandestine union with a male monkey and trying to escape the notice of its group, looks into a deep pool of crystal clear water, uses it as mirror,  and sets right its hair on the head- Narrinai 151.

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Item 694

Husband dead; wife commits suicide like committing SATI.

SATI was a Hindu custom where wives willingly die in husband’s funeral pyre. We see it in Purananuru and Mahabharata. But Ramayana women don’t do it when Dasharatha died. It was a voluntary one even during Mahabarata period.

Kishkinda Kanda and Sundra Kanda of Valmiki Ramayana have beautiful descriptions of nature and monkeys’ antics. When the monkey brigade failed to find Sita on the main land, their leader Angada even thinks of committing suicide. But in Tamil literature we have a reference of another monkey actually committing suicide.

Kuruntokai 69 says,

A bereaved female monkey , when her husband died, hands over its young one to its kith and kin and commits suicide by falling from a cleft. Some may think that the poets introduced humanity into the scene and coloured nature by human feeling. It is wrong. Modern research shows that animals, particularly monkeys and apes, behave just like human beings. This is confirmed by other Tamil poets where animals reacted to human feelings.

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Hindus used to close their mouth with one hand when they meet saints; this is to avoid our spit falling on them by mistake. this monkey imitate the act.

Item 695

Animals do dream

Latest science articles report that animals do experience dreams like human beings. But Tamils reported it 2000 years ago. A lot of poets sang about it, here are two examples,

Deer dreaming – Pathitr 11;

Sea gulls dreaming – Akam. 170.

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Item 696

No entry ban

Throughout Tamil poems under Marutham genre, we see wives banning entry to husbands who returned from brothels. even a sparrow followed this moral.

A philandering male sparrow returned late to its nest, and, on its return, its mate refused admission and made it wait outside in drizzling. When night set in,  it pitied and admitted the male into her nest.  This is in Naarinai poem 181.

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Item 697

Monkeys and boys

Young boys ride on the back of buffalos in villages. A poet compared it to monkeys on a black rock- Akam. 206

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Item 698

Monkey’s  drum , Monkey Cap, Monkey Ornaments

A monkey thought that the jack fruit is a drum and beat it like a drummer- Akam 352.

Monkeys imitate human beings. It is taught to children through a story in elementary school text books.

The story is as follows,

A hat or cap selling vendor became very tired during lunch time and slept under a tree keeping his basket by his side. The monkeys on top of the tree saw him wearing a cap, took all the caps and wore them on their heads. When he woke up, he was shouting at them to drop the hats; nothing happened. An intelligent wayfarer came to help him. He asked the cap vendor to throw his cap and on seeing it, all the monkeys threw their caps. When they went afar, he collected his caps and thanked the wayfarer. Monkeys imitae!

Another Sangam poem Purananuru (Poem 378) shows that monkeys imitated human beings. It is a scene from Ramayana reported by Sangam poet,

Composed by Unpothi Pasungkudaiyar, this verse describes monkeys picking up and wearing Sita’s discarded ornaments topsy-turvy after she dropped them while being abducted by Ravana. The poet compared it to a scene he saw. Dancing women who accompanied the bards were given many expensive ornaments by a philanthropist, which they have never seen in their lives. So, they used the ornaments in the wrong way.

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Item 699

Day light Robbery!

There is a funny account of a cunning monkey in Natrinai poem 57 by Pothumpil Kizar:
A wild cow came and rested under a Venkai tree in the forest. A female monkey wanted to take advantage of the sleepy (stupid) cow. It signs to its troupe to keep quiet. It went and milked the cow and distributed it to its little ones. They had hands full of milk. It is nothing but a day light robbery!!

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Item 700

Tamils enjoy watching nature and immortalise it in writing. Poets who lived 2000 years before our time enjoyed the antics of monkeys. Monkeys were the clowns in the jungle dramas. Among the animals, the monkey is depicted most playful. A group of monkey bathes in the mountain torrents, swings in the swing left hanging by the owners of the Tinai (millets) fields and plays among the branches of the Venkai trees, dropping down flowers on the rocks below (Natrinai 334).

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Item 701

Monkey fathers help monkey sons !

 ‘Kutrala Kuravanji’ by Trikuta Rasappa Kavirayar is a wonderful poem like Wordsworth’s poems on Daffoldils, Tintern Abbey and Shelly’s Skylark.
The beauty of monkeys in the back ground of a high water falls called Honey falls is painted in words. The female monkeys are dropping fruits by shaking the branches of the fruit trees for which the males are longing. The Honey falls sends its water so high that even the chariot of the Sun finds its path slippery ( In Hindu mythology Lord Sun is supposed to ride a chariot with seven horses (VIBGYOR colours) or with one wheel. The Siddhas who do miracles frequent the place by using air routes! It is a modern work.

In ancient Kuruntokai 278, we see a similar picture where the father monkey climbs over the trees and drops the ripe fruits from there when the young ones peck at them from below. Monkeys and apes are just like human beings in their show of love and affection towards their kith and kin.

To be continued

Tags Tamil Monkey Wonders, Purananuru wonders-46, Tamil Encyclopedia-86, One Thousand Interesting Facts -Part 86