Monkey mourns death of Odisha woman, prevents relatives for 4 hours from carrying body to crematorium

By Pravakar Sahoo

Jagatsinghpur, March 5: A wild monkey in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur was seen seriously mourning the death of a woman by sitting beside her body for hours and shedding tears like a human being.

Reports said 46-year-old Manju Das of Nuagaon village died on Thursday morning. While neighbours of the deceased were making preparations for her last rites and tying the pyre, the langur crawled near the body.

At first, the monkey sat near Manju’s body. Moreover, the physical gesture of the monkey was just like mourning a family member’s death.

It sat close to the body for long hours. At times, it caressed Manju’s leg and even bowed its head.

“My mother had no connection with the monkey. It came from the wild. But, the way it came near her and mourned her death, it seemed like they were connected in some way. The monkey took the cloth off my mother’s face and mourned near the body,” said Manju’s son.

He further added, “When we went to bring her body to the pyre, the langur blocked the path by sleeping on the way, Later, when we went to the cremation ground, it followed us.”

“The langur sat near the body and didn’t leave it for around 4 hours. The animal’s expression was as if it had lost its family member,” said a neighbour.

The behaviour of the wild monkey stunned everyone as it was in no way connected to Manju.