01Where Padmanabha first rested
The kshetra’s katha is tied to Vilwamangalam Swamiyar, the saint of the Padmanabhaswamy temple. While he worshipped here, the Lord came to him as a mischievous boy; when the saint pushed him away, the boy vanished into a cave in the corner of the tank, saying he could be found at Ananthankadu, the forest of Anantha. The saint followed and found him in the south, where the Thiruvananthapuram temple stands. So Ananthapura is held to be the moolasthana, the first seat. The murti here is of Vishnu seated on the five-hooded Adishesha, not reclining.
02Babia
A footbridge crosses the water to the shrine. For more than seventy years a crocodile lived in the tank and was fed only the temple’s rice prasadam, never harming the fish or the people; the priests called her Babia, and devotees held her to be the guardian of the Lord. She died on 9 October 2022 and was given a funeral with full rites, attended by thousands.
The life of this place
- 9 October 2022Babia, the temple crocodile, dies and is given full funeral rites.
About 30 km north of Kasaragod near Kumbla; best combined with a trip to Mangaluru.
