People of Gurang village in Angul district here came together to celebrate the Ekoisia (a naming ceremony held after 21 days of birth) of an elephant calf on Tuesday.
The rituals included a puja and a feast organised for the well-being of “Buddaditya” or “Guru” as he is affectionately called.
Aurn Nayak, a villager and a member of the local Vana Surakshya Samiti, told The Telegraph, “On the evening of March 12, we suddenly heard the sound of an elephant wailing. We were scared at first, then we came out and saw a herd of elephants. All the elephants moved to the dense forest except for one elephant that stayed near the village. We realised she was pregnant and about to give birth to a calf.”
“We decided to celebrate the birth of the new calf. Accordingly, we organised a prayer ceremony for the well-being of the calf. We even organised a feast with everyone’s contribution. Nearly 500 villagers participated. All of them contributed money for the feast. The villagers were treated to rice, dalma and khatta,” said another villager, Kandarpa Nayak.
The news of celebrating the birth of an elephant comes at a time when deputy chief minister K. V. Singh Deo on Wednesday informed the state Assembly that as many as 27 elephants died due to electrocution in the state in the last five years.
The issue of fatal elephant electrocution was also highlighted in the report of the CAG, which lashes out at the forest department for failing to protect elephants.