Thiruvananthapuram: Ananta Padmanabha Swamy Temple is located in Ananthapura, Kerala. For more than 75 years, a crocodile named Babiya lived in the Theppakulam of this temple. This crocodile visits the temple from time to time and visits the source.
Babiya has not caused any disturbance to the devotees who come to Theppak Pond. This crocodile, which was completely avoiding non-vegetarianism and lived only on temple offerings, died of old age the day before yesterday. Following this yesterday, the crocodile was placed in the refrigerator as a tribute to the devotees. Temple employee Chandra Prakash told Hindu Tamil Vektik: Crocodiles eat non-vegetarian food. But Babiya does not eat non-veg. It is a god-favored crocodile. Babiya in the temple Theppakulam did not even eat the fish there. We had 2 meals daily from the temple. After offering Naivedya to God, we give that rice ball to the crocodile in the morning and in the evening.
If the priest of the temple sees Thirukkulam and calls Babiya, it will come from the pond to the shore to eat. There were also moments when the temple priest put food in the crocodile’s mouth. As for the devotees, they wait for Babiya’s darshan. Its darshan does not come easily. Babiya will come to visit the Moolah when no one is around. Many times it has entered the temple like that. A photo taken by Archakar on his cell phone also went viral. Babia suddenly disappeared a few years ago. So word spread that it was dead. But Babiya came back. Even now Papia was missing last Saturday. In this case, he died at 11.30 pm on Sunday. He said this.
Once upon a time sage Divakara Viswamangala sat on the bank of this pond and did penance. The legend of this temple is that Vishnu himself appeared in the form of a boy and ran and hid in a cave. It is said that Babiya crocodile also lived in the cave where the sage stayed. Thus the devotees saw Babiya as the messenger of Ananta Padmanabha Swami. This temple is also revered as Moolasthan of Padmanabha Swamy Temple, Thiruvananthapuram. If the priest of the temple sees Thirukkulam and calls Babiya, it will come from the pond to the shore to eat.