Perhaps wisely, though, they stay away from the live creatures, worshipping instead its representative in wood in an ageless February festival. Fourteen days before Holi, they gather around the wooden idols some distance from the foot of a mountain, dance and sing songs to Mogra Dev -- by which name they refer to the reptile -- sacrifice goats or peacocks and end the day with the evening feast.

Though it is a dying art -- the fact that crocodiles can only be made of teak, for which carpenters charge upwards of Rs 300 make it an expensive affair -- the replicas of the reptile scattered around the festival site epitomise the best in tribal art.

The crocodile's head is usually set slightly back. A concave forehead and a horizontal mouth, with two slits and a tongue stretching back almost to the base of the head, make up the face. The teeth are serrated at the edges of the opening for the mouth. Chiselled holes represent the nose and the eyes. Most idols have heads at both ends.

Relief work decorates either side of the angular, octagonal body of the crocodile; the most common motifs are the sun and the moon, followed by riders on horse-back. Hunting scenes, deer, fish, crabs, tortoises, musical instruments -- all depicting aspects of tribal life past and present -- enliven the blank spaces.

The worship is guided by the belief that the deity looks after the safety and security of the entire tribe. Says Chhaganbhai Ketia, 70, who performs the annual pooja, ``Mogra Dev protects us from evil. He takes care of our children, crop and health.''

Incidentally, the idols are also supposed to represent their ancestors; a Mogra Dev can also be installed to overcome bad luck and hard times. If a vow is fulfilled, the occasion is celebrated at home and at the festival site.

Says noted anthropologist D H Koppar, who is writing a book on crocodile worship among world tribes, ``The crocodile cult is fully integrated in (tribal) life. An individual in a tribal society has no independent existence except as a part of that society. What is good for the society is also good for the individual.''

Interestingly, the crocodile cult has followers among tribals of regions as disparate as Papua New Guinea and Mozambique. In India, the worship is common in Dhudhmogra (Mandvi), Devlimadi (Songadh) in South Gujarat, Vidharba (Maharashtra) and in 24 Parganas of West Bengal.

In Devlimadi, at least, the crocodile worship is reflected in a conservationism even among the growing number of non-belivers. ``Live crocodiles come here during the monsoon, when the area is flooded'', says Ketia. ``But even if the reptile attacks us, we don't kill it.''

Nevertheless, the sanctuary is in bad shape today. Not too long ago, it used to be home to close to two dozen crocodiles; now only six remain.

Like the live creatures, faith in the cult, too, seems to be endangered. Young tribals like Gothariabhai Gamit, who have been exposed to the outside world, have stopped caring for the deity. Says another, ``I don't know much about it, but since everyone worships the crocodile, we don't question it.''

And so, like other practices of indigenous peoples, crocodile worship, too, runs the risk of becoming a curiosity in anthropological books.