I BHAKTA RAMA- HANUMAN LANGUR - The Hanuman Langur (Semnopithicus entellus) ranges throughout the Indian subcontinent, from southern Tibet to Sri Lanka. It is named for Sri Hanumanji, the Hindu demigod and incarnation of Lord Siva who took the form of a monkey. The brave and wise Hanumanji was the most intense devotee, or bhakta, of Lord Rama, whom he accompanied and protected throughout Rama’s life as a human on earth. Hanuman Langurs are considered sacred by modern-day Hindus, and are seen as contemporary manifestations of Sri Hanumanji, who through them, continues his watch over mankind to ensure that Rama’s praises are still being sung.

II MAN OF THE FOREST - ORANG-UTAN - The lush forests on the Indonesian islands of Borneo and Sumatra are home to the spectacular arboreal apes called Orang-utans (Pongo pygmaeus). The word “Orang-utan” means "forest man" in Malay, and the Sumatran Malay people traditionally considered them to be a different type of human, as did the Dayaks of Borneo, who were said to explain their failure to speak as a ruse to avoid having to work. Presently, Orang-utans are critically endangered on both islands. Their main threat today is from habitat destruction from commercial logging, but their diminishment began earlier in this century when the Dutch colonial government (and later on, the Sukarno regime) prohibited ritual cannibalism among the Dayaks, who turned to the Orangs as substitutes.

III ORACLE IF THOTH - HAMADRYAS BABOON - Although it is the smallest member of the baboon genus, the male Hamadryas Baboon (Papio hamadryas) of the arid horn of Africa and adjacent southwestern edge of the Arabian peninsula, with his great pallid mantle of long coarse hair, has an imposing countenance. The ancient Egyptians considered him sacred, and an intimate of Thoth, the god of scholarship and inventor of writing and mathematics. Expeditions to the wondrous southerly land of Punt, the location of which is unknown today, trapped these holy monkeys, which were brought back to the Nile and kept in revered captivity. Roman authors wrote of their being offered writing utensils. Those that used them were consecrated.