In Upla, an Indian village, the king of the jungle is the monkey who the villagers cherish and protect with utmost care. They don’t stop at tossing a few bananas and keeping them under their roof on a rainy day, the residents worship monkeys and transfer the land ownership to the animals’ names. The smart simians don’t need to seek refuge from extreme conditions when they can sit in pride as the rightful owner.
Land ownership is a prestigious endeavour for Indians and families engage in land disputes to acquire generational wealth. Instead of passing on the land to their children, the people of Upla registered 32 acres of land in the monkeys’ name.
The monkeys are respectable members of society who participate in rituals and now are taking on the title of landowner acknowledged by the village leader. “While documents clearly state that the land belongs to monkeys, it is not known who created this provision for the animals and when it was done,” the village head, Bappa Padwal, said. “The village is home to nearly 100 monkeys now and their numbers have dwindled over the years as the animals do not stay in one place for long.”
The new landowners won’t be voicing any complaints, even monkeys aren’t fools to turn down the wealth. They also aren’t as greedy as humans to brawl over wealth accumulation either.