This is an old sculpture of Hindu God Hanuman, not American Monkey God - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 11, 2021
A post accompanying an image that resembles Hindu God Hanuman is being widely shared across social media platforms with a claim that the image shows a statue of an ancient American God known as ‘Monkey God’ in the Denver Art Museum. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Image showing statue of an ancient American God known as ‘Monkey God’.
Fact: According to Denver Art Museum, the sculpture was carved by an unknown artist during the 1800s in Southern India and the sculpture shows Hanuman, the Hindu monkey-god. As per the information the sculpture was purchased by the museum in 1991. This is not a sculpture of American ‘Monkey God’. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of the photo in the post led us to Denver Art Museum website which provides information related to the sculpture. According to the details provided on the website, ‘this wooden sculpture was carved by an unknown artist during the 1800s in Southern India (perhaps in the regions of Tamil Nadu or Kerala). This sculpture shows Hanuman, the Hindu monkey-god, kneeling in devotion to the god Rama’. Also, as per the information the sculpture was purchased by the museum in 1991. This establishes the fact that the sculpture is of Hindu God Hanuman but not American ‘Monkey God’.
The same image is being shared in other languages with a claim that the sculpture was excavated during the time of Obama’s Presidency and thus he is an ardent devotee of Lord Hanuman. Further, the posts recommend a book titled ‘The Lost City of The Monkey God’ to get more insights about the excavation. However, our research found that the sculpture has nothing to do with Obama as it was purchased by the museum much before Obama’s Presidential years. In an interview, Obama said that he carries a small statuette of Hindu God Hanuman which he received from a woman. However,  there is no credible evidence to prove that Obama is an ardent devotee of Lord Hanuman.
Further, the book recommended in the post is actually a book written by Douglas Preston about series of expeditions starting from the 1920s to the latest one using LIDAR in 2012 in which it is revealed that there is indeed a hidden city under the pristine forests of Honduras. The hidden city is also known as ‘City of Monkey God’ as it is believed by indigenous people that there is a huge statue of Monkey God under the forest. An article written by Douglas Preston about the expeditions much before he penning the book can be read here. However, the book has nothing to do with the sculpture shown in the post.
To sum it up, this is an old sculpture of Hindu God Hanuman, not American Monkey God.