There is no dearth of the unique initiatives taken in India on the basis of religion and belief. One of the latest initiatives is being taken by the residents of Bawamohatra village in Bemetra town of Chhattisgarh. They have reportedly collected money to build a temple for a 130-year old ‘human-friendly’ crocodile, who lived in the village. The crocodile, however, died on January 8 and was buried near a pond in a temple of Radha Krishna.
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Temple is being built in memory of the crocodile
According to the reports, the villagers have collected money to build a temple for ‘human-friendly’ crocodile right at the place where it was buried. Crocodile was popularly named as ‘Gangaram’ by the locals hence its temple will be ‘Gangaram Magarmachch ka Mandir”. Vijay Kumar Goswami, the conservator of the Radha Krishna Temple said that after the death of crocodile, people want to build a temple as everyone in the village believes that it was a divine soul. In the temple, the statues of crocodile and Goddess Narmada will be installed. Once the statues are installed, they will congregate and feast everyone in the village.
Last rites were performed as per the rituals
Villagers said that they were attached to the crocodile because he was friendly with the humans and his nature was passive. They said that they have buried the reptile with all the local rituals. The crocodile was carried to the funeral on a tractor decorated with garlands and flowers. More than 500 people attended the funeral of Gangaram.
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Villagers protest before the Forest Department Officials
It is reported that when Gangaram, the crocodile has died, villagers protested against the Forest Department Authorities that had arrived at the village to collect the body of the dead crocodile. The villagers were so much attached to the crocodile that they protested for more than four hours to bury the reptile in the village. A sub divisional officer at the forest department, RK Sinha said that the post-mortem of the crocodile was conducted right before the villagers and after that the body was given to them for burial. As per the post-mortem reports, the crocodile died of the natural causes.