On Monday, Babia was found lifeless floating on the lake near the Kasaragod Hindu temple, dead. Before it was buried, the temple held a religious funeral for it, attended by hundreds of devotees. For nearly 80 years, Babia was considered the guardian of the Hindu temple Sri Ananthapadmanabha Swamy, Ramachandran Bhat at the
temple told AFP . The 3,000-year-old temple dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu has had a "crocodile" in its lake for centuries.
But "the last crocodile was shot by the British in 1940" and then Babia appeared in the lake.
"We don't know where it came from, but this lake is connected to an underground cave." Bhat said it never attacked animals or humans, not even biting a child who touched him for good luck.
Many consider Babia to be a "vegetarian" who simply feeds on "Prasadam" (an offering made of rice and palm sugar blessed by the temple priest ). But Bhat was skeptical because he knew "there are fish in the lake".
On the day of the funeral, the body of the crocodile was decorated with flowers, and after the blessing, the weeping crowd carried it to the sedan chair of coconut leaves, and buried it in the courtyard of the temple.
Shobha Karandlaje, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, also paid tribute to the "crocodile of God" on Twitter, tweeting: "This crocodile of God has lived in the lake of the temple for over 70 years, eating Rice and sugar from the temple Prasadam, guarding the temple."
Bhat said that temple staff and believers believed that another crocodile might appear at any time after Babia's death.
Jiupai news reporter Liang Xia
[Source: Jiupai News]
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