Tailing a monkey man in search of healing powers
Tailing a monkey man in search of healing powers Tue Jun 20, 8:16 AM ET KOLKATA (Reuters) - Thousands of people are flocking to an impoverished Indian village in eastern West Bengal state to worship a man they believe possesses divine powers because he climbs up trees in seconds, gobbles up bananas and has a "tail." Devotees say 27-year-old villager Chandre Oraon is an incarnation of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman -- worshipped by millions as a symbol of physical strength, perseverance and devotion. "He climbs up trees, behaves like a monkey and is a strict vegetarian, but he is no god and his condition is just a congenital defect," says Bhushan Chakraborty, the local medical officer. Tucked away in a hamlet in Banarhat, over 400 miles north of Kolkata, the state capital, devotees wait for hours to see or touch Oraon's 13-inch tail, believing that it has healing powers. Doctors said the "tail" -- made up of some flesh but mostly of dark hair -- was simply a rare physical attribute. "It is a congenital anomaly, but very rarely do we find such cases," B. Ramana, a Kolkata-based surgeon, told Reuters. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&e=6&u=/nm/20060620/od_nm/india_monkeygod_dc