A lot of animals are seen as various avatars of gods in Hindu mythology. For eg, fishes are an avatar of Vishnu, monkeys are that of Hanuman etc. Crocodile is also considered auspicious and is considered to be the 'vahana' or vehicle of many gods and goddesses.

Crocodiles are also ferocious reptiles but people of Gujarat's Mahisagar district failed to realise this. A crocodile strayed into Khodiyar Mata temple on Sunday and one would expect the crowd to run in all directions but instead of being scared, people started gathering around it and offered prayers and aarti to it. They even showered some vermillion.