Skip to main content

Mass animal sacrifice at Nepal festival goes ahead despite protests


Ad
Thousands of buffaloes, goats and birds killed at Gadhimai festival, Bariyarpur, as act of gratitude to Hindu goddess

Millions of devotees attended a mass animal sacrifice in Nepal on Friday, despite efforts by animal rights activists to end the practice.

The organisers of the Gadhimai festival, which is held in Bariyarpur, near the border with India, claimed about five million worshippers came to sacrifice tens of thousands of animals, including buffaloes, goats and birds, as an act of gratitude to the Hindu goddess.

However, in a sign that the campaign to end the practice may have had some impact, the number of buffaloes killed dropped to about 5,000, half the number slaughtered when the festival was last held five years ago.

“The numbers went down because the Indian court banned the ferrying of animals from India to Nepal,” said Ram Chandra Shah, chair of the Gadhimai temple management committee. “The animal rights activism has had some effect.” However, he said that although the numbers sacrificed have decreased, the worshippers are as enthusiastic as ever. “More people are still coming from India and Nepal, so the final numbers will be very high,” said Shah.

Thousands of buses, tractors and carts packed with families cradling goats and birds for the sacrifice blocked the small dusty road leading to the Gadhimai temple. Huge crowds massed around the temple to receive a blessing, while a constant stream of pleas from desperate parents who had lost their children blared out from the public address system.
For most festivalgoers the event is a special family occasion; a chance to thank the goddess, but also to shop for knick-knacks, enjoy the fairground rides and share a picnic.

“I promised the goddess that if I made good money in my business, I would sacrifice a goat for her,” said Rajesh Shah as he cooked the animal he had just killed. “I’ve heard of the complaints about this festival, but I had already prayed for my business to improve, so I had to keep my promise to the goddess.”

The climax of the day is the killing of thousands of buffaloes in a huge compound surrounded by a high wall. Hundreds of men, especially chosen for the task, walk among the animals, holding long curved machetes above their heads, and then decapitate the buffaloes with a blow to the back of the neck.

Joginder Patel, a veteran of five festivals, said the job of killing the buffaloes was a great honour. “I really look forward to this. God will bless me for it,” said the 44-year-old. “It is as easy as cutting vegetables. At the last festival I beheaded 300 buffaloes, but this year I killed only 175.”

That would come as little comfort to Shristi Singh Shrestha, an animal rights activist with Animal Welfare Network Nepal. “Today we are feeling sad because we were not able to stop the slaughter,” she said. “We feel we have been defeated. However, the positive thing is that the number of animals killed has come down … We hope there will be no killing of any animal at the next festival.”



Ad

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

प्रहरी सहायक निरीक्षक पदमा नयाँ भर्ना खुल्यो

Ad Ad

Nepali Actress Priyanka Karki's Oops Moment In Hongkong.

  Some days ago there was a hot news viral in the internet about the wadrobe fail of hot Nepali actress Priyanka Karki. The news hasn’t settled down but a new wardrobe fail of Priyanka Karki is going viral now.  Priyanka Karki is in Hongkong now to attend some programs for the Nepali community in Hongkong. The two wardrobe malfunction incidents of Priyanka Karki has made buzz in the Nepali entertainment industry.  The picture that was viral some days ago was from the success party of ‘ Nai Na Bhannu La 2’.  The picture got various critism as well open opinions from the viewers and the second picture has again heated the film industry.In the second picture, Priyanka Karki is wearing one piece in stage in Hongkong. Priyanka Karki herself posted  this  picture  in her social networking site. This can be her publicity stunt or she did it unknowingly it’s yet to be known. But the fact is tha...

Christina Aguilera Is Pregnant, Naked & Legendary: See The Pics

Stop. Everything. Christina Aguilera has posed nude with fiancé Matt Rutler for V magazine in all of her pregnant glory, and the photo spread is truly a legendary sight to behold. Is anyone else hearing “Lotus Intro” playing in their heads? Rise up, lotus. Rise. The “Say Something” singer told V: “As a woman, I’m proud to embrace my body through all stages of life, staying fearless and confident in surrendering to the unknowns the future has in store.” If those unknowns include a new album any time soon, consider us fully surrendered. Photographic evidence that Xtina is actually a goddess.