World News | Sri Lanka Mourns Death of Celebrated Indian Elephant; Body to Be Kept as National Treasure

Colombo, Mar 7 (PTI) Sri Lanka is mourning the death of a 69-year-old celebrated Indian elephant, considered to be the largest in Asia, after it died on Monday, with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa instructing that the body of the tusker be preserved for future generations and naming it as a national treasure.

The tusker named Nadungamuwe Raja, who was born in India's Mysore, has been carrying the main casket carrying the tooth relic of Lord Buddha in the annual pageant of the famed Buddhist Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy every August for 11 consecutive years.

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The elephant died in the country's Gampaha District.

President Rajapaksa condoled the demise of tusker Raja.

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"You won the respect of both local and foreign public for your meritorious work of carrying the casket of the Temple of Tooth. May you Rest in Peace by the power of the merits you had gathered by carrying the casket," Rajapaksa said in a tweet.

Raja was considered to be the largest elephant in Asia and was taken on foot every year on the 90 kilometer journey from his home in Nadungamuwe to Kandy for the Perahera for his safety, the Colombo Page news portal reported.

According to media reports, the tusker was 10.5 feet tall.

Dr Harsha Dharmavijaya, the owner of the tusker, said the last rites of the elephant will be announced later.

According to a statement issued by President Rajapaksa's office, he has instructed that the body of the tusker be preserved for future generations and named it as a national treasure.

The local folklore is that Raja was one of the two elephant calves gifted by the Maharaja of Mysore to a local monk near here for curing a long illness of one of his relatives.

The other elephant calf gifted to Sri Lanka, Nawam Raja, who carried sacred relics at the procession of Gangaramaya temple in Colombo died in 2011, another media report said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)