Rishimukha Flashback — S1/E4: The Squirrels Still Chat at Kishkinda
Anjanadri Hill, Hampi, Karnataka · April 2025
I first noticed them on the climb
I was climbing the front route of Anjanadri Hill: 575 steep steps toward the place traditionally identified as Hanuman’s birthplace.
It was an April morning. The rock was already warming in the sun. Below the steps, the Tungabhadra and the green fields of Kishkinda stretched between the hills.
That was when I began noticing the squirrels.
They moved through the trees beside the route, close to the people climbing. They did not behave like animals startled by every human movement. They seemed completely accustomed to us.
At first, I simply filmed them.
Watch Video 1 — The squirrels as I first noticed them:
They seemed to notice that I was watching
The longer I watched, the less one-sided the encounter felt.
The squirrels remained busy—running along branches, stopping, looking and moving again. But they also seemed aware of my attention. When I paused, they paused. When I continued climbing, I would notice another squirrel farther along the route.
Were they following me?
I cannot know that. A busy hillside can turn separate encounters into a single story in the observer’s mind. The squirrels may simply have been moving through familiar territory while I happened to be moving through it too.
But that is not how it felt in the moment.
It felt as if they knew I was watching.
Watch Video 2 — Busy, alert and aware of the observer:
The water tank and the painting
Partway up the hill, I stopped beside a rock structure that appeared to be a small water tank or water station. There may have been a bench or resting place on the other side. It was exactly the kind of place where a tired climber would pause.
Painted on the wall were Rama, Sita and Lakshmana.
Squirrels were moving around the structure. I saw some running away as I approached. Perhaps they also came there for water, although the footage alone cannot establish that.
Then one squirrel stopped near the stones.
The camera moved from the painting toward it. The squirrel began making a clear, repeated sound.
It may have been an alarm call. It may have been communicating with another squirrel nearby. It may have been reacting to my presence. I had no way to translate it.
But from where I stood, it seemed to be trying to catch my attention.
It seemed to be chatting with me.
Watch Video 3 — At the water tank:
What the footage shows—and what it does not
The camera recorded several things clearly:
- squirrels moving through the trees beside a heavily used human route;
- squirrels remaining nearby while I watched them;
- squirrels moving around the rock and water-station area;
- one squirrel stopping near the stones;
- and a distinct vocalization during the encounter.
The camera cannot tell us what the squirrel intended.
To say, “The squirrel spoke to me,” would go beyond the evidence. To say, “The squirrel vocalized while watching or responding to its surroundings,” is safer.
Still, field experience contains something that careful language can flatten. I was there. I had been noticing squirrels throughout the climb. At this particular place, one stopped and called repeatedly while I watched.
That sequence is why the moment stayed with me.
Palm squirrels are listening too
Calling these squirrels “smart” is not a scientific measurement. It is an impression formed by watching how alertly they moved through a shared human-and-animal landscape.
What research does support is that palm squirrels are vocal animals whose calls occur in meaningful behavioural contexts. A published field note documents whistle alarm calls in three-striped palm squirrels. More recent field research is examining alarm, contact and mating calls across multiple Funambulus species.
That matters because the sound in the video was not meaningless background noise. It belonged to an animal monitoring and communicating within its environment—even if I could not determine the recipient or meaning of that particular call.
The obstacle course that squirrels learned to solve
There is a wonderfully entertaining demonstration of squirrel intelligence in a very different setting.
Former NASA engineer Mark Rober built what he described as an eight-part “Ninja Warrior” obstacle course between the squirrels in his backyard and a food reward. The course was designed to be extremely difficult. The squirrels encountered unfamiliar moving platforms, barriers and apparent dead ends.
They did not solve everything immediately. They investigated, failed, adjusted and tried again. Eventually, they learned the route and completed the course.
The video is charming because the squirrels are not passive subjects. Their individual personalities become visible as they interact with the obstacles and with the human experiment built around them. Persistence, memory, balance and problem-solving all become part of the story.
This does not tell me exactly what the squirrel at Anjanadri intended. These were different squirrels in a different environment. But it explains why I hesitate to dismiss the interaction on the hill as meaningless. Squirrels pay attention. They learn quickly. They respond to opportunities—and often to the humans who create them.
Watch Mark Rober’s Backyard Squirrel Maze 1.0:
Rama and the squirrel
The location made the encounter difficult to separate from an old and beloved South Indian Ramayana tradition.
As Rama’s army built the bridge to Lanka, a small squirrel carried sand and pebbles to help. Rama recognised that the squirrel was giving all it could. He stroked its back, and the marks of his fingers became the three pale stripes carried by Indian palm squirrels.
It is more precise to call this a Ramayana tradition than to imply that it appears in every version of the epic. The episode is famously preserved in the medieval Telugu Ranganatha Ramayanamu and has lived far beyond the written text through retelling, performance and family memory.
I am not saying that the squirrel beside the water tank knew that story.
But it stopped and called on Hanuman’s hill, beside a painting of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana.
The ancient story and the living animal occupied the same frame.
The landscape of Kishkinda
As the climb continues, the view opens across the Tungabhadra, cultivated fields, boulder hills and settlements below.
The landscape is not a backdrop placed behind the Ramayana. It is the physical world through which the tradition is remembered: hills identified by name, routes still climbed, animals living among the rocks, and stories attached to particular places.
Nambikke
Nambikke is knowledge that lives in a place without requiring a signboard.
It is not the same as proof. It is the memory carried by routes, names, repeated practices, stories and attention.
The painting on the water tank said one thing. The three stripes on the squirrel carried another association. The sound itself said something I could not translate.
None of it needed a written explanation to become part of the encounter.
You only notice such things when you slow down.
Travel information
Location: Anjanadri Hill, also called Anjaneya Hill, near Anegundi and Hampi, Karnataka.
Front route: Approximately 575 steep steps. Start early, carry water and allow time to rest.
Wildlife: Observe squirrels and monkeys without feeding, touching or crowding them. Give them room to move away.
Best approach: Pause occasionally. Look into the trees beside the steps, not only toward the summit.
Rishimukha Flashback Series
- S1/E1 — Jatayu, Rishimukha and Rama’s Two Trails
- S1/E2 — Hanuman’s Birthplace Has a Back Route
- S1/E3 — Kishkinda: The Monkey Kingdom
- S1/E4 — The Squirrels Still Chat at Kishkinda ← you are here
▶️ Watch the S1/E4 reel: The Squirrels Still Chat at Kishkinda
🎧 Listen to the full investigation: timelenspodcast.com
📍 Instagram: @timelenspodcast
References and further reading
- Koli, V. K., Bhatnagar, C. & Sharma, S. K. (2011). “A Note on Whistle Alarm Calls of Three-striped Palm Squirrel Funambulus palmarum Linnaeus in Sitamata Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajasthan, India.” Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 108(1). Article record
- Muni, R. & Rajamani, N. (2026). “Context-dependent vocal repertoire and functional analysis of palm squirrel vocalisations.” Conference abstract, Indian Wildlife Ecology Conference. Abstract book
- Ranganatha Ramayanamu, the medieval Telugu retelling in which the squirrel’s assistance and Rama’s blessing are preserved. Telugu text portal
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