An entire village of over 500 households came out to mourn the demise of a 130 year old crocodile. The village is called Bawamohatra, it is 80 kilometers away from the city of Raipur in Chhattisgarh.
The villagers had named the crocodile “Gangram”, the crocodile and the villagers shared the same pond.
On Tuesday morning the villagers gathered at the the pond and started weeping because they found Gangram dead. The forest officials were called in to fish out the body, a post mortem was conducted and then the body was handed over to the villagers.
The post mortem concluded that the crocodile died of natural causes. It was 2.4 metres long, weighed about 250 kilograms.
The crocodile was decorated with flowers and garlands. It was carried on a tractor to its final resting ground.It was buried on the banks of the pond where it used to live. Villagers say —
“Even the kids of the village could swim around him and Gangram had never harmed or attacked anyone. Gangram was not a crocodile but a friend and a divine creature for us who was worshipped in this village.”
Villagers considered Gangram as a protector and guardian of the village as he lived for close to 3 generations.
The entire village worshipped the reptile who never ever harmed anyone. Reportedly the crocodile would even eat rice and dal served by the villagers.
Villagers now want to build a statue over the burial ground to commemorate Gangaram.