In Culture
The lizard is known as bis-cobra in western India, guishaap or goshaap in West Bengal and Bangladesh, goh in Punjab and Bihar and as ghorpad in Maharashtra. Folk belief has it that they are venomous, and in Sri Lanka their breath is believed to be poisonous. In Rajasthan, they are believed to be venomous only during the rainy season. These lizards have strong claws they use for climbing. A popular legend has it that Shivaji's general, Tanaji Malusare, used a monitor with ropes attached for climbing the walls of the Sinhagad fort in the Battle of Sinhagad. The Bengal Monitor's skin has traditionally been used in making the drum head for the Kanjira, a South Indian percussion instrument.
Monitor lizards are hunted, and their body fat, extracted by boiling, is used in a wide range of folk remedies.
Read more about this topic: Bengal Monitor
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