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The Macaque Connection pp 53–68Cite as

Songs of Monkeys: Representation of Macaques in Classical Tamil Poetry

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Part of the book series: Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects ((DIPR,volume 43))

Abstract

Human-macaque conflict is a problem of serious proportions in India today, much of it centred around the crop-raiding tendencies of macaques. Indeed in several parts of the country, macaques eclipse even the wild boar as a reviled agricultural pest. Interestingly however, (and unlike the wild boar), antagonism against crop-raiding macaques goes almost hand in hand with a cultural tolerance for their presence that usually has religious connotations. The seeming dichotomy of reverence and revulsion that simultaneously mark human-macaque relations in India gives rise to an interesting question: have human-macaque interactions in India always been marked by these deeply polarized elements? Or is this reflective of more proximate causes? In this chapter, I investigate cultural perspectives of animals as they are revealed through ancient writings; more specifically, I examine a body of classical Tamil literature from southern India to understand how interactions with primates, including macaques, were viewed by people in those ages.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    1  Geography: Book XV, Chapter 1, Section 37. Downloaded from http://penelope.uchicago.edu

  2. 2.

    2  Genesis 1:26. The Bible (King James Version).

  3. 3.

    3 The Panchatantra: Book 1. Translated from the Sanskrit by A W Ryder. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

  4. 4.

    4 The Panchatantra: Book 4. Translated from the Sanskrit by A W Ryder. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

  5. 5.

    5 Aeneid: 5:592–595. Downloaded from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu.

  6. 6.

    6 Aeneid: 12:100–106. Downloaded from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu.

  7. 7.

    7 Georgics (1: 191; 4:155; 3:101) Downloaded from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu.

  8. 8.

    8 Valmiki Ramayana. Kishkindha kanda: Sarga 1:16. From The Ramayana of Valmiki: An epic of ancient India, Vol. IV: The Kishkindha kanda (1994). Translated by Rosalind Lefeber, Edited by Robert Goldman. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

  9. 9.

    9 Valmiki Ramayana. Bala kanda: Sarga 1:1. From The Ramayana of Valmik: An epic of ancient India. Volume1: The Bala kanda (1984). Translated and Edited by R.P. Goldman. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

  10. 10.

    10 Valmiki Ramayana. Kishkindha kanda: Sarga 3: 6–8. From The Ramayana of Valmiki: An epic of ancient India, Vol. IV: The Kishkindha kanda (1994). Translated by Rosalind Lefeber, Edited by Robert Goldman. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

  11. 11.

    11 Valmiki Ramayana. Ayodhya kanda: Sarga 10: 4. From The Ramayana of Valmiki: An Epic of Ancient India. Vol. II: The Ayodhya kanda (1986). Translated by Sheldon Pollock, Edited by Robert Goldman. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

  12. 12.

    12  Selby’s discussion on zoomorphism and the portrayal of animals in Sangam literature in the introductory section of her volume is particularly stimulating, and this chapter owes its genesis to many of the thoughts expressed therein.

  13. 13.

    13 Ainkurunuru 272. From Tamil Love poetry: The five hundred short poems of the Ainkurunuru (2011). Translated by M.A Selby. New York: Columbia University Press.

  14. 14.

    14 Ainkurunuru 274. From Tamil Love poetry: The five hundred short poems of the Ainkurunuru (2011). Translated by M.A Selby. New York: Columbia University Press.

  15. 15.

    15 Ainkurunuru 276. From Tamil Love poetry: The five hundred short poems of the Ainkurunuru (2011). Translated by M.A Selby. New York: Columbia University Press.

  16. 16.

    16 Ainkurunuru 261. From Tamil Love poetry: The five hundred short poems of the Ainkurunuru (2011). Translated by M.A Selby. New York: Columbia University Press.

  17. 17.

    17 Ainkurunuru 267. From Tamil Love poetry: The five hundred short poems of the Ainkurunuru (2011). Translated by M.A Selby. New York: Columbia University Press.

  18. 18.

    18 Ainkurunuru 374. From Tamil Love poetry: The five hundred short poems of the Ainkurunuru (2011). Translated by M.A Selby. New York: Columbia University Press.

  19. 19.

    19 Purananuru 136. From The Purananuru: Four hundred songs of war and wisdom (1999). Translated and edited by G. L. Hart and H. Heifetz. New York: Columbia University Press.

  20. 20.

    20 Akananuru 82. From Poems of Love and War: From the eight anthologies and the ten long poems of classical Tamil (1985). Translated by A.K. Ramanujan. New York: Columbia University Press.

  21. 21.

    21 Kuruntokai 38. From Poems of Love and War: From the eight anthologies and the ten long poems of classical Tamil (1985). Translated by A.K. Ramanujan. New York: Columbia University Press.

  22. 22.

    22  See http://sangampoemsinenglish.wordpress.com/nature-in-sangam-tamil/ and http://animalsinsangamtamil.wordpress.com for information on classical Tamil terms for various animals and birds and a list of Sangam Tamil poems that involve animal and bird descriptions.

  23. 23.

    23 Purananuru 200. From The Purananuru: Four hundred songs of war and wisdom (1999). Translated and edited by G. L. Hart and H. Heifetz. New York: Columbia University Press.

  24. 24.

    24 Kuruntokai 121. From Kuruntogai (2010). Translated by R Butler. Ebook.

  25. 25.

    25 Kuruntokai 29. From Kuruntokai: An anthology of classical Tamil love poetry (1976). Translated by M. Shanmugam Pillai and David E. Ludden. Madurai: Koodal Publishers.

  26. 26.

    26 Kuruntokai 90. From Kuruntogai (2010). Translated by R Butler. Ebook.

  27. 27.

    27 Kuruntokai 26. From Kuruntogai (2010). Translated by R Butler. Ebook.

  28. 28.

    28 Kuruntokai 335. From Kuruntogai (2010). Translated by R Butler. Ebook.

  29. 29.

    29  See https://animalsinsangamtamil.wordpress.com for this translation. For an alternate translation of the same verse, see Selby (2011): “a female monkey…her stomach swelling/like a peddler’s sack”. A strictly literal translation of the original verse would be “the female monkey appears like …”.

  30. 30.

    30https://animalsinsangamtamil.wordpress.com.

  31. 31.

    31 Natrinai 353. From Love Stands Alone: Selections from Tamil Sangam poetry (2010). Translated by M.L. Thangappa. Edited by A.R. Venkatachalapathy. New Delhi: Viking Penguin.

  32. 32.

    32 Kuruntokai 153. From The Interior Landscape: Love poems from a classical Tamil anthology (1967). Translated by A.K. Ramanujan. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

  33. 33.

    33 Purananuru 128. From Poems of Love and War: From the eight anthologies and the ten long poems of classical Tamil (1985). Translated by A.K. Ramanujan. New York: Columbia University Press.

  34. 34.

    34  This verse was, in many ways, my real introduction to the world of classical Tamil poetry, and I am indebted to Anindya Sinha for awakening me to this thing of beauty.

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Acknowledgements

I am extremely grateful to Martha Ann Selby, Latha Raman and Anindya Sinha for reviewing this chapter; their perceptive comments helped to significantly improve an earlier version of this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bangalore, 560 012, India

    Sindhu Radhakrishna

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  1. Sindhu Radhakrishna
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Correspondence to Sindhu Radhakrishna .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India

    Sindhu Radhakrishna

  2. Kyoto University, Primate Research Institute, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama, 484-8506, Aichi, Japan

    Michael A. Huffman

  3. National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India

    Anindya Sinha

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Radhakrishna, S. (2013). Songs of Monkeys: Representation of Macaques in Classical Tamil Poetry. In: Radhakrishna, S., Huffman, M., Sinha, A. (eds) The Macaque Connection. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects, vol 43. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3967-7_4

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