Ananthapura Lake Temple The Temple Guarded By God's Own Crocodile
Ananthapura Lake Temple is one of the most divine places located in Karasaragod. Karasaragod is a famous place located in an isolated peaceful region of the hills at an approximate distance of 18 kilometres from the Karasaragod town. Ananthapura Lake Temple is an exceptionally old sanctuary and it fits in with the ninth century. The sanctuary is devoted to Lord Ananthapadmanabha swamy commonly known as the Lord Vishnu. The individuality of this region is that, this is the main lake sanctuary in Kerala. The sanctuary bears an elevated perspective of the green scene around with lots of meadows and landscape. The place is encompassed by a rectangular lake which measures around 302 square feet. This comprises of around 2 acres of land.
The legend of the sanctuary is connected with an extraordinary sage Vilvamangalam Swami, who was a sincere enthusiast of Lord Vishnu. At the point when the sage was busy worshiping Lord Vishnu in the sacred spot of the sanctuary, Lord Krishna used to visit him masked as a young man, with a few devilish and naughty tricks. Then these small mischievous acts started annoying him and it actually resulted in the discovery of the holy cave. The cave is for some reasons believed to be the place where Lord Krishna disappeared. This very cave is there for quite a while now and is being guarded by a holy crocodile naming Babia. Babia is believed to be residing there in the lake for about 60 or more years.
The authorities at the temple claim that he crocodile at the temple is totally harmless and as a matter of fact, it doesn't even harms a fish in the surrounding pond in which it resides. Babia is a vegetarian crocodile and is separately fed after the evening or the noon worships conducted at the temple. The offerings from the devotees is given to the Holy crocodile. Moreover, a special feed is prepared for the crocodile that is given to him by hand. The authorities also claim that there is also only one big crocodile present in the lake at a time. On the off chance that a crocodile dies, another appears right in the cave. But only one remains in the pool at a time.
The people surrounding the cave have a strong faith in Lord Vishnu and the crocodile. They believe that the crocodile is true messenger of god, send to them to protect and to guard the cave. Whenever there is a strange thing that is going to happen inside or in the surroundings of the cave, Babia alerts the administration and the authorities to take the right action. Firstly it was believed that there were two Crocodiles. A male and a female, yet one was killed by the British when they were attempting to invade the temple. Now only the male one is left.
The temple remains open at all times of the day and never closes its gate to any one, apart from the differences in colour, religion, caste or creed. The water level at the cave remains more or less the same regardless of the climate and weather changes in the region. The holy temple, therefore, is one of the most visited divine place of Karasaragod and the fact that it is being guarded by a crocodile makes it even more interesting and worth visiting for sure.