The tradition of christening the cubs has continued ever since and now the zoo officials are getting ready for yet another ceremony for the three cubs of Masti, which were born on March 17.

Interestingly, the baptism of the three cubs will not be an indoor affair. The zoo officials have come out with a unique concept of involving people, in the entire ritual.

During the baptism, the zoo officials will allow citizens to give their favourite name from the sun sign as per their horoscope, by paying donations. Whoever pays the highest amount as donation will have the honour to christen the cubs. The three cubs will be given names from the sun sign Scorpio that is Na and Ya.

Rajkot Zoo curator R G Maradia said most of what was written in Mauj’s horoscope has turned out to be true. “The tradition of naming the cubs as per their sun signs started under unusual circumstances, but we want to carry on with the ritual. We also want people to come close to nature and environment. Some interested people have already approached us to give their favourite names to the cubs, but we have decided to keep the ceremony after a month.”

Rajnikant Anadkat, popularly known as Rajubhai jyotish, is now used to prepare the horoscopes of lions. “We have named Krish and Crazy (offspring of Mauj), and Heer, Het and Helly (offspring of Masti), according to their sun signs. The concept is simple as all lives are the same. However, the age of lions is less than that of humans, so I had to do calculations accordingly. The main question about lion cubs is their lifeline, which becomes clear after reading the planetary positions,” he said.