Babiya, the male crocodile have been a chief attraction for devotees at Sree Ananthapadmanabha Swamy Temple.
Babiya, a vegetarian crocodile of Kasaragod’s Sri Ananthapadmanabha Swamy Temple, died on Sunday night. The seventy five-yr-antique reptile was a sight of curiosity for devotees. The male crocodile lived in the pond and consumed handiest the rice and jaggery offerings at the temple.
Devotees offered the Prasada twice a day after the pujas on the temple. According to a file via The Hindu, it’s miles believed that during 1945 a British soldier shot a crocodile in the temple and within days, Babiya seemed inside the temple pond.
The in any other case carnivore animal changed into never a chance to every person and shortly received the call of a vegetarian crocodile. The crocodile changed into now not preserving nicely for the past few days and turned into taken to veterinary surgeons from Mangaluru’s Pilikula Biological Park, Udayakumar R Gatty, trustee of the temple instructed Manorama. He in addition said, “In the past days, Babiya did now not arise for meals. We launched a seek but couldn’t discover it. Sunday night, we saw it lifeless within the lake.”
To honour the crocodile, the temple will bury Babiya within the temple floor.
Babiya had get entry to to all of the locations in the temple and could be in the lake around the temple or basked on the temple stairs. During the recent months, Babiya stayed at Vana Shastara, a laterite pond for farm animals, 60m away in the temple compound.
Many devotees paid tribute to Babiya and its frame is located in a cell freezer.