‘Vegetarian’ crocodile in Kerala temple goes viral.

Crocodile enters temple, leaves after priest’s instruction.

Pictures of a crocodile inside the Sri Ananthapadmanabha Swamy Lake Temple in north Kerala’s Kasaragod were widely shared on social media, and the authorities say it’s nothing new. The mugger is not a surprise visitor at the ancient temple but has been the pond’s official resident guarding the temple for the past 70 years.

The priests at the Sri Ananthapadmanabha Swamy temple were in for a surprise on Tuesday as ‘Babiya’, the crocodile, stepped out of the pond and entered the temple premises for the first time. Some reports suggested Babiya entered sanctum sanctorum but it is not correct. However, it came to the temple premises on Tuesday evening and spent some time there and went back after Chandraprakash Nambisan, chief priest of the temple asked it go to its permanent habitat-the temple pond, Chandrasekharan, temple official said.

Even though the temple pond has enough fishes and other aquatic life, Babiya leads a vegetarian diet and consumes the food offered to the deity which consists of cooked rice and jiggery. According to temple officials, Babiya is fed twice a day by the temple priests, at times they even place the rice balls right in its mouth.

According Subrahmanya Bhat, a priest at temple said, “we don’t know how and from where the crocodile came from, but it is said that the crocodile has been in the temple pond for over 70 years now. Legend has it that back in 1945, a crocodile which was also later called Babiya appeared in the temple pond days after a British army officer was mysteriously killed by an unknown animal. It was said that the officer had shot a crocodile which was residing in the temple at that times,”