[setum]

> can they really ambush a human, and push them over a ledge?

I would say male adult monkeys in my village can (males are bigger and stronger), although they don’t. They are fast, agile and acrobatic. Except for well prepared adult humans, monkeys can throw everyone else off a ledge.

Reason so many monkeys exist in India is because they are sacred animals (to Hindus, 80% population). In our village, no one can kill them. The most one can do is throw a stone to scare them away.

[xwolfi]

Do you think this could change ?

[fault1]

yes, could happen.

modernity tends to change culture (and especially homogenization that the interwebs promotes), and india is modernizing rapidly especially cities. culture can change very rapidly.

that being said, hanuman (rama's monkey companion) is a important diety in hinduism, and has been worshipped for many thousands of years in india and other parts of southeast asia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanuman#Historical_development

[riazrizvi]

Possibly but Hinduism is 4000 years old, so it might be a while before we see that change.