MYSURU: Moved by the death of a monkey in front of them, children and youths of a village on the Karnataka-Tamilnadu border raised funds and took a lead to cremate the animal.
On August 10, a few kids and youngsters of Palyam, a village at Talavady taluk, Erode district were playing cricket when they saw a monkey struggling for life on the playground after falling from a tree.
The kids came closer and offered water to the animal, but before they made an attempt to shift the monkey to a nearby hospital, it died on the spot. Shaken by this, the kids and a few youngsters from the village took a lead to cremate it and raised funds from the villagers.
The villagers extended their support to the decision taken by the kids and gave them the required money to purchase garland, incense sticks and other essentials. The kids with the support of the village leaders cremated it and gave a teary farewell to the animal.
The kids had also invited Mallu Swamy, a priest from nearby Kongalli Temple during the cremation to carry out the funeral as per the rituals. On Monday, the youngsters also observed the third-day ritual and arranged a feast for the whole village to pray for the monkey's soul.
Over 200-250 people in the village attended the feast organised at the government primary school in the village.
"The kids were disturbed by the death of the monkey and this made them cremate it as per rituals," said Madesh S, a villager.