The Monkey Man of New Delhi ( English: ''The Face Scratcher,''
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
in mid-2001. The entire incident has been described as an example of mass hysteria in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
History
In May 2001, reports began to circulate in the Indian capital
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
around a strange
monkey
Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...
-like creature that was appearing at night and attacking people. Eyewitness accounts were often inconsistent, but tended to describe the creature as about four feet (120 cm) tall, covered in thick black hair, with a metal helmet, metal claws, glowing red eyes and three buttons on its chest. Some reports also claim that the monkey-man wore roller-skates. Others, however, described the Monkey-man as having a more vulpine snout, and being up to eight feet tall, and muscular; it would leap from building to building.
Over 350 sightings of the Kala Bandar were reported, as well as around 60 resulting injuries. Two (by some reports, three) people even died when they leapt from the tops of buildings or fell down stairwells in a panic caused by what they thought was the attacker. At one point, exasperated police even issued artist's impression drawings in an attempt to catch the creature.
In popular culture
Film
* The appearance of Monkey Man in
Old Delhi
Old Delhi or Purani Dilli is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan (the Mughal emperor at the time) decided to shift the Mughal capital from Agra. Th ...
is the centre-point of the 2009
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
as ''"Kala Bandar (Black Monkey)"'' is used as an allegory to represent the evil that resides inside every man alongside God (virtue). The monkey man has never actually been caught on tape.
Television
* In 2012, the Hindi TV series ''
Mrs. Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuein
''Mrs Kaushik Ki Paanch Bahuein'' (eng: Mrs Kaushik's Five Daughters-In-law) was an Indian television series that aired on Zee TV, from June 20, 2011, to March 15, 2013.
Plot
The story revolves around an upper middle-class Rajasthani joint fami ...
'' featured a story track around the mystery of "Kala Bandar" (Black Monkey).
Music
* The Monkey Man is referenced in track 12 "Mysterious Man-Monkey" from American
cello rock
Cello rock and cello metal are subgenres of rock music characterized by the use of cellos (as well as other bowed string instruments such as the violin and viola) as primary instruments, alongside or in place of more traditional rock instruments ...
* In the 2011 graphic novel ''Munkeeman'' by '' Tere Bin Laden'' director Abhishek Sharma, the creature is interpreted as a misunderstood superhero, who was the result of a science experiment gone wrong. The first edition, ''Munkeeman Vol 1'' chronicled the creatures brief appearance in Delhi, and the second edition will feature the creature in Kanpur, based on the incidents reported in February 2002.
See also
*
Vanara
In Hindu, Vanara ( sa, वानर, , forest-dwellers) are either monkeys, apes, or a race of forest-dwelling people.
In the epic the ''Ramayana'', the Vanaras help Rama defeat Ravana. They are generally depicted as humanoid apes, or human-l ...
*
Superstition
A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and ...
*
Spring-Heeled Jack
Spring-heeled Jack is an entity in English folklore of the Victorian era. The first claimed sighting of Spring-heeled Jack was in 1837. Later sightings were reported all over the United Kingdom and were especially prevalent in suburban Lon ...
Urban legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
*
Hanuman
Hanuman (; sa, हनुमान, ), also called Anjaneya (), is a Hindu god and a divine '' vanara'' companion of the god Rama. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is an ardent devotee of Rama and on ...