In India, hundreds of people came to the funeral of a "divine" crocodile that had lived in a Hindu temple for decades.

Temple secretary Ramachandran Bhat said Babia the crocodile had guarded the highly revered Sri Ananthapadmanabha Swami temple in the southern state of Kerala, hiding in a local lake for nearly 80 years.

The revered reptile was found breathless in the lake early Monday morning after reportedly not eating for several days.

The temple at Kasaragod, dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, is 3,000 years old and has been guarded for centuries by a lone "divine" crocodile, Bhat told AFP. "The last divine crocodile was shot by the British military sometime in 1940, after which Babia appeared in the lake," Bhat said.

Babia was considered divine because he never attacked any animal or human, including children who were brought to the lake shore to touch the reptile to receive its blessings.